Since I haven't had much time lately, I've been experimenting with hairstyles that don't take much time. I'm still perfecting it, but I finally tried the Shake & Go. A S&G is about as easy as it gets. First, wash and deep condition, or conditioner wash/no poo your hair. While your hair is soaking wet, and I mean soaking wet, apply your favorite moisturizer/leave-in conditioner and curl definer. Then shake your head up and down and side to side several times like a wet dog. Then air dry, sit under a hooded dryer, or use a handheld hair dryer with a diffuser. Read more about conditioner washing/no pooing here. Read more about S&Gs here.
For my first S&G (pictured here), I pre-treated my hair with castor oil before conditioner washing (To pre-treat my hair, I put some kind of moisturizer on my hair, usually an oil, before shampooing and let it sit for awhile. It's like a hot oil treatment. You can use: castor oil, olive oil, jojoba oil (or Jehovah oil as ABK calls it ;-) ), or coconut oil.). Then I applied Kinky-Curly Curling Custard and aloe vera gel in sections to define my curls and shook my head. It's very important not to touch your hair too much after you've shaken your head, because this causes frizziness. You also should not towel-dry your hair by rubbing the towel on your hair. You should scrunch and blot so you won't disturb your curls. I used a turbie twist that I bought at Sally's, which worked pretty well (see here). It's made out of microfiber, which is more absorbent that other materials.
When I wore this style, I was getting ready to go to an outdoor hot tub get-together. I noticed that it took my hair a really long time to air dry, which is probably not that bad when it's hot outside (and it was). However, as the weather gets cooler, I think I'll try this with a diffuser so I won't catch the 'monia. Here are some more pictures:
Then, when the style got old, I pulled it up into my trusty puff (this was at my dad's birthday party):
Wearing a S&G has been quite a milestone for me. As pro-naturale as I am, I never really felt comfortable wearing my hair out unless it was in a defined style like a twistout or coily puff. To wear your hair au naturale, it requires not just a physical transition of your hair, but also a mental transition. I've come quite a long way from needing bone-straight hair, to needing every hair on my hairline to be in place, and now to wearing a S&G. Next stop, blowout fro!
