First Time Stretching the Wash n Go for a WEEK!

Hola curlies! @:-) I am currently studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain right now and I travel a lot on the weekends. During these trips we tend to stay in hostels with communal bathrooms, and stay busy exploring whichever city. As well I have a very busy schedule for classes and extracuriculars here during the week. I've always been busy back home at school in the US too. Washing and styling my hair is always an hour long process, and the drying process around 4 hours since I didn't bring my diffuser... For this reason I decided to see if I could go a whole week without washing my hair. I have mastered 2nd day hair, but don't usually go past that, so I decided to give it a go. 

Day 1 - hair after a self trim. Good hair day. Styled with kinky curly knot today leave in, CVS personal lubricant, and LA looks sport gel.

Day 2 - still looking shiny and fairly frizz free, but a few curls are starting to go straight. Refreshed with water, kinky curly knot today and some devacurl set it free.

Day 3 - curls are starting to lose their form. For a quick styling fix I threw it up in a side pony tail and bobby pinned by bang pieces. I think I added more devacurl set it free.

Day 4 - Slept with my hair in french braid pigtails to readd some curls. Looking much better than I thought it would, but the frizz definitely comes out. Added some water, kinky curly knot today, and LA looks nutra curl gel to the hair.

Days 5 - Flew to Valencia, Spain this day. My hair ended up in a ponytail because it was raining cats and dogs there. I forgot to take "hair" pics, but here is me with a huge ChupaChup (brand of lollipops). My hair ended up frizzy that day from the rain; my umbrella actually broke in the middle of the stick from the wind!

Day 6 - Second day in Valencia, I styled my hair with water, curl junkie leave in, and LA looks sport gel (a dime sized amount). My hair started out fairly nice, but the continuos misty rain, and moving my hair in and out of a poncho, left my hair frizzy and dry looking by the end of the day. This picture is of me at the Ciudad de las artes y ciencias gift shop, a huge modern museum in Valencia. I'm posing with a Tri-cera-tops because my name is Sarah... get it? ;)

Day 7 - Hair in a bun to fly back to Sevilla. Not worth photographing. :) Washed my hair this day.

So after going a full week, I've established that my hair can survive. It was really nice being able to wear my hair down without too much effort. (Usually a mid week wash, means my hair is going up in a bun or pony for me.) 

However, this routine is really not perfect and my first experiment. (That's why I'm blogging instead of vlogging lol.) The kinky curly worked wonderfully as a moisturizer. I think I probably should use something besides devacurl set it free; although it leaves my hair shiny and smooth, it has beeswax, which may have sealed OUT moisture later in the week. Gel was better- the LA looks nutra curl works well, but I think a dab of stronger gel will give me more hold. I've found that I get better hair if I rewet and add gel each day. However my hair did start to feel producty on days 5 & 6. My sleep cap from SilkyCocoon on esty was great- it lets the length of my hair lay pretty much undisturbed while I sleep, or I can do braids.

Overall I am going to seek out some better 2nd day hair products--I wish I had a butter made of oils here as that's great for braid outs. I also need a moisturizing product for my scalp if I am going to go this long. I have a very dry scalp, and this week of not cowashing, left it extremely dry and flaky. :( I have my eyes on a product made by Moxie Original, because applying oil to my scalp just makes my hair look oily of course. I am also going to attempt the LOC method (liquid-oil-cream) to keep the hair more moisturized. Next time I am going to try water, then kinky curly, then jojoba oil or coconut under, and then LA looks sport because I don't have a cream. I am limited in experimenting until I get back to the states unfortunately!

I think I may need to make some changes to my hair washing routine, after going a full week. After a whole week without fully being wet, my hair felt dry even after washing out the conditioner. So I think a deep conditioner may be in order every time I attempt the week long wash and go. Also the tangles were rather bad, although I attempted to detangle with water and fingers every day. I also think I developed a few more single strand knots (SSKs) aka fairy knots (a single knot on a single strand of hair). I need to be more diligent about braiding my hair every night to help prevent this, instead of sleeping with it loose inside the cap. My hair was not overly frizzy after styling after this wash though, so I consider it a success. :)

In conclusion, the pro's for me included: 

• wearing my hair down for 6 days straight
• good hair days, days 1-4
• decreased time spent on my hair was awesome

The cons for me, or rather my hair:

• more tangles and SSks
• dry hair after washing
• touchiness of day 5/6 hair with humidity and rain
• scalp drying out

I think with product experimentation and braiding more often at night, I can diminish the cons. But for now I am just going to extend my hair to 3rd or 4th day--especially because of my dry scalp and SSKs. I was surprised by how long my hair could go though, and I definitely recommend some of you curlies see how long you can stretttttch your curls as well. Saves you some sleep and time, so you can spend less time thinking about your hair, and more about life!

Wishing everyone a good hair day @:-)

Sarah