Washing Yo Hair Don't Have To Take ALL DAY! (Rant and Tips)

Heya, curly naturals! It's about that time again... ranting time. LOL!

I just like to write, so I write down my frustrations with natural hair as well as other people's frustrations with natural hair.
I am a bit annoyed at the amount of time that people spend on wash day. It's really not that serious. No, it has nothing to do with hair type because I have several different hair types in my head and I still manage to shrink wash day time down to two hours MAX, and that includes styling.
Here are the basics of wash day:

1. Pre-poo- Lather your hair in conditioner or oil, leave in for desired time. If it's left on overnight, I don't count that as part of wash time.
2. Detangle- Optional... some people do this after washing instead of before.
3. Washing- Honestly, this shouldn't take that long, unless your hair is waist length or you don't wash your hair for a month so it's really grimy (gross)
4. Conditioning/Detangling- This might be where people spend the most time, because some people deep condition at this point instead of doing a five minute condition...
5. Rinsing- shouldn't take that long
6. Drying/Flat Iron- Another way some people go wrong... the use of a blow dryer is not necessary EVERY TIME you wash! I don't use one at all, and if I do, it's for styling purposes and not to dry my hair fast.
7. Styling- Honestly, this should be the longest step, depending on what style you're trying to achieve.

Now, the ranting part comes in where I say... you ain't gotta do all dat! I have heard some naturals dread wash day because it takes literally the entire day, which is ridiculous for the average working woman who doesn't even have the time for all that. They waste their entire weekends tampering with their hair, and the whole day is gone. I don't see how some people take 30 minutes just to WASH their hair, and then another 3-4 hours to deep condition, then they jump back in the shower to rinse it out. No wonder your hair takes up your entire weekend! Then when it's time to style, they use too way too many products for one style. Some swear that it's best to DC right after washing and get it over with, but if you honestly don't have time to do it, I wouldn't stress over it! You're only making wash day more of a chore for yourself. 
Wash day for me is therapeutic, not only because I am a SAHM (stay at home mom) and that's one of my only ways of ME time (LOL), but I don't blow dry my hair, I don't take ten years washing and rinsing it out, and I don't flat iron my hair. I have a lot of hair; that would take way too much time to do often. Plus, the best thing for me is that I don't have to go somewhere every day, so I can wear fat twists or braids around the house until God knows when.
Some people have TWAs and they still somehow spend the entire day on their curls... I don't get it. Try to track how much time you're spending on your hair on wash day and see if you can make some improvements. It doesn't have to be soooooo time consuming to be natural. It should be about simplicity. What's the point of being natural if you spent 100% more time on your hair than you did when you were relaxed? That's why some naturals revert back to relaxing, because they think that natural hair is such a chore when it doesn't have to be. Unless your hair is waist length, it should take the average natural no more than TWO HOURS (not including styling or DCing) to get the washing process done. I'm just saying... trying to help some sistas out!
Yes, I have UBER thick hair, yes, my hair is past bra strap length, yes, I have to detangle like everyone else, and yes, I have multiple curl patterns, which is sometimes rough to deal with. It's not always a walk in the park here, either. But I can get it done in a timely manner where I don't have to waste an entire day on the washing process. It's just not worth it.

Hope you guys enjoyed this post. Comment and join the Curls of Innocence community!
Until next time. Take care, curlies!
~Epic Realist~

Why Some Naturals PISS Me Off!

Okay, so before I tell you why some women who've gone natural piss me off to the utmost sometimes, let me post a new hairstyle I did on Syriah last week. She loved it. I used the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I think I've fallen in love with that stuff. Works so well with the shampoo!
Alright, back to the topic.
We all know that lately, ever since I don't even know when, there's been a rise in woman going natural with their hair. I think it was because of that Chris Rock documentary called "Good Hair". It was an interesting documentary, even though it mostly explained how bad perms were and not really enough about how to take care of your natural hair. But oh well. It has raised awareness in a lot of areas. Whenever this epidemic began, women have started to become more arrogant than ever about their hair, meaning that the ones who have gone natural tend to constantly look down upon the ones that aren't natural. And this is where I get annoyed. Really annoyed.
So, you've decided to go natural. You've whacked off your perm completely and are now rocking a TWA (teeny weeny afro). You're experimenting with curly puddings and mixtures and trying to figure out your true hair texture. You're seeing growth. You're doing your thing and you're loving it. Going natural, quite naturally, brings you a sense of independence, confidence, and freedom. You can be yourself and not worry about getting a touch up every six weeks, or whether or not a couple of drops of rain have settled into your bone straight locks and caused uncontrollable frizz and fuzz. You can be FREE and HEALTHY!
But who says that you have to go to work every day now and belittle your coworkers who you faithfully used to go get those six week touch ups with? Why do women like this suddenly become arrogant and walk around like, "Oh, I'm better than you. You still get perms. You need to stop using those chemicals; you're burning out your hair. Hmmph. You need to just follow me and be a real black woman." Well, just a couple of months ago, you were doing the same thing, fool! It's crazy how I've seen some women act. They just roll their eyes at people who still perm, or even people who've stopped perming but they still straighten. "You're not really natural. You're still straightening to look like a white girl. You still can't see your curl pattern." So what?! Did you really expect every black woman to want to transition the same time you did? All you're doing is making women NOT want to go natural because they don't want to follow the 'stuck up natural bitches' who think they're all that and a bag of chips just because they decided to transition when they did.
How about a reality check? There are thousands of women who decided to transition before you, honey. Did they rub it in your face? Nope. We naturals are supposed to lead by example, not go around and brag. We're not supposed to bring down the women who have not yet achieved the level of confidence that you have, and if you bring them down, it only shows that you DO NOT have any confidence in yourself at all. If you absolutely have to brag about ditching perms and sulfate-laced shampoos, then you going natural obviously hasn't taught you a damn thing.
I'm not going to ever brag about my natural hair. I'll show pictures, leave tips, offer encouragement to women to want to go natural but are scared or intimidated, but I will not fling my curls in someone's face and say, "You idiot, why don't you just go natural? Why don't you just leave the perms alone? Don't you want your hair to look like mine? Your hair is falling out; you need to fix that mess!" If I see a woman with nice looking hair, I still compliment them on it, whether it's bone straight, curly, or a head of nice looking weave. I don't do weave, but some women who are going natural do because they're still afraid to actually SHOW their real hair in public, so they wear weaves and wigs. That's their business. Everyone is not going to go natural at the same time you did, and some of these women need to realize that. Same with their daughter's hair. Some people perm their girl's hair, and the ones with daughters who's hair has never even seen a perm stick their noses up at them. Come on, people. It's their decision. You can't force someone to change their hair habits, just like you can't force someone to convert to your religion. Same thing. If we were all the same, this world wouldn't have any originality!
People are treating this natural/not natural thing like it's supposed to be some kind of a competition, and it's becoming something where women have to 'take sides'. It's not supposed to be that way. Black women have enough hair problems as it is to have to explain to someone why they haven't gone natural after being begged for seven months. Hell, I wouldn't, either! Stop pressuring everybody to do what you do. Just leave it alone.
Whew. Just had to throw out that little rant. There was another woman on YouTube who mentioned this topic and how frustrated she was with it, and I was like, wow, that's an interesting subject. I've come across women ONLINE who are that arrogant about their new found curls. Black women need to get it together and support one another, no matter what our hair looks like. I would never, EVER pressure someone into going completely natural. Like I said, tips, suggestions, advice is all I'm even going to do. If and when you decide to go natural is up to you. Not my job to make sure you have your curls popping some time this century. I'll do me and you do you. =)
Peace out, curly mamas!