What do you do on wash day?

[swanson_eyes]

I mean hair washing day. I don't heat style at all because I don't want damage (trying to get to ridiculous length). Therefore, it must air dry and that takes 6 hours with it down. I've tried washing at night but it doesn't dry because I have to braid it, else it tangles. So I guess on wash day I just don't get to have vintage hair. I look like a hippie. Fortunately wash day is Saturday, but still. What do you all do?

 

[AnyaLynn]

It depends on the day! If I've got the energy to go full out vintage, I'll shower in the evening and keep it in pin curls over night. I don't work mornings, just afternoon/evenings so there is enough time to shake it out and let it dry a little more before working.

If it's a lazy day, I'll wash it right after I drop the kid off at school. It takes 4 hours to dry, if I just let it hang about in the air. It's usually just the slightest bit damp when I go to pick the kid back up. Then I'll just poof the front and comb the sides back, in a way that would look vintage if you squint.

How long is your hair now, Swanson?

 

[tarotcat]

Wash day can be a process lol

1. Shampoo hair in sink
2. Put on deep conditioner, walk around with a slimy head for a bit
3. Shower, wrap head in towel for 20-30 minutes
4. Roll Hair, with interruptions this *will* take an hour
5. Wrap hair in scarf rosie style, go about day. Take hair down the next morning.

 

[swanson_eyes]

How long is your hair now, Swanson?

I like 20s/30s fashion but my hair is Victorian. :/

 

[AnyaLynn]

I like 20s/30s fashion but my hair is Victorian. :/

Your hair is gorgeous. Definitely Victorian or Edwardian though. How long are you going to grow it?

 

[swanson_eyes]

Thank you! I dream of knee length but I wonder how long it'll be before I can't handle it anymore.

 

[AnyaLynn]

That's the rub, isn't it? Longer hair takes so much extra care.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I do mine on Tuesday or Wednesday, which are nights when I don't have to work and can be home at a reasonable hour. I dry in a towel for about an hour after watching -- I lie in bed listening to the radio and reading a book to let the towel soak up as much wet as possible. Then I comb it out, pincurl, put a wavenet over that, and a "slumber cap" over everything. (I tend to grind my head hard into the pillow at night if/when a headache hits, and unless everything's covered up it ends up a matted mess in the morning.)

I usually just comb out the front of my hair in the morning to make my roll, and tie a headscarf over everything else. It keeps my hair out of the way at work, and people have come to expect it. If I need to do something where a headscarf would be declasse, I can comb out the pincurls.

 

[swanson_eyes]

I find the actual hair care is easier because I wash less often and use less product since I'm not trying to have perfect curls. I practice what some forum-mates call "benign neglect" wherein I generally brush them out and wear it up in some way most of the time.
I supposed I should wash at night and then pin curl the front bits and braid the back before bed. At least that way it would have waves/curls at front. I guess I could run a cool dryer over it in the morning to get the excess moisture out. (It will not dry overnight in a braid).
Tonight before I went shopping I curled the front with my steam curlers and then bunned the length in back. It looked fairly '30s. I never seem to be up early enough to do that so doing it at night would be better.

 

[AnyaLynn]

Lizzie, I never would have thought of using a wavenet. It seems so obvious in hindsight! What sleep cap do you use? I've been looking for a good one.

Swanson, front curls and braiding the back is exactly what I did when I had longer hair. I completely forgot until you said it. Benign neglect sounds like what I do on my non vinatge days, haha.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Lizzie, I never would have thought of using a wavenet. It seems so obvious in hindsight! What sleep cap do you use? I've been looking for a good one .

I just get the cheap Goody sleep caps from the rack at the grocery store -- one will last me about three months before the elastic is worn out. They're made of a light eyelet lace and don't steam up your head in the summer like the thicker satin ones will.

 

[AnyaLynn]

I just get the cheap Goody sleep caps from the rack at the grocery store -- one will last me about three months before the elastic is worn out. They're made of a light eyelet lace and don't steam up your head in the summer like the thicker satin ones will.

I'll keep my eye out. They don't seem to be available in Canada, or at least in my part of it. I can find one for just shy of 30$ on Amazon though, haha!

 

[MissAP]

this is an semi oldthread but when i was airdrying my hair i didn't use a towel. just an old cotton t shirt. that dried it that fastest and soaked up lot of water. i also didn't use a lot of conditioner, it made my hair take longer to dry. when i got out ofthe shower sometimes i put half a pump of serum and run it through the ends of my hair and then sitting in front of a fan. might not work for some people it might get frizzy but i'm also not using an industrial fan either lol.

i know some of my friends use a hair product that drys your hair faster. maybe you're also product free?

 

[Miss Moonlight]

I'm a housewife, so days I wash my hair are not much different than others. My hair is past my waist- right now, just to my hips. When I wash my hair, I keep it simple. Usually in the morning. Shower, wash, rinse, put on conditioner and let sit while I attend to the rest of the shower, then I wash my face and then rinse my face and hair. After, wrap in towel while I re-insert contact lenses, apply lotions, then I do a little towel dry. Having lush and very long hair, people often expect I use expensive products, but I've used a generic from Target for years, and now I use a mid-price color-safe shampoo and conditioner I get at a natural foods sort of store. I think nutrition is far more important to hair health than product.

I finally had the patience to allow my bangs to grow out, so while the hair is damp, I comb through the 'bangs' locks gently, and add pin curl clips for waves- in the way that people use duckbill/alligator clips for a Veronica Lake style peek-aboo bang, you know, one back at the side/crown, one forward under that, and under that, one more back. Because although I have pretty decent natural waves all over, they don't exist on the hair that grows around my face and about five inches back. I wish I knew what was up with that! lol I'm not a fan of the longer clips, they dent my hair so much. And then I let the rest of my hair stay down while I prepare breakfasts, get started on the day. As it dries a little, I often put it up into a nautilus bun using a hairstick. This gets it out of my way while I homeschool and go about the rest of the day, and calms down the denser natural waves into a softer, more distributed wave.

It can take hours to dry in winter, but the front is faster and I remove the clips and do a brush out, followed by a smoothing with a little pomade (Suavacita). In summer, with my hair down, it takes a couple hours. In summer, I also like to wash my hair at night, put in wave clips, and sleep with my hair just tossed over the back of my pillows, because when it dries naturally like this overnight, it's so luxurious the next day! And it helps keep me cool.

 

[swanson_eyes]

I'm gonna guess you're on the LHC. I know what a nautilus is. It doesn't work as well for me with all this hair. For a while I've been washing only on Saturday so it air dries around the house. My long bangs will wave on their own but the bits over my ears are board-straigh. I could set it but I'm too lazy.