My plastic free wavy hair routine

Here are the products and strategies I use to maintain my naturally wavy hair, without plastic. Hair is a finicky beast, so all these tips might not work for you but I hope a few help you out or give you ideas for what might work for you.

During the pandemic, I started my wavy hair journey. Previously, I used to dry and straighten my half-Greek/half-Anglo hair after every wash and often re-straighten each morning. It was a chore. I want to thank Black women for inspiring me to embrace my natural hair. I stopped straightening it and began experimenting with encouraging the waves. It was a perfect time because no one had to see the failed experiments.

Now I avoid heat treatment as much as possible. It took time to grow out the damage. Styling naturally wavy hair will be more of a challenge for you if you also chemically treat your hair.

Brushing and combing

First off, I do not ever brush my hair except right before jumping in the shower to wash it. Brushing breaks up the waves and just makes it poofy. In the mornings, sometimes I use the pads of my fingers to rub my scalp and fluff a bit, but that's it. I only comb my hair while conditioner is in it…

Washing and conditioning

First off, don't wash your hair every day, if you can. I currently wash every 2-4 days, depending on my hair/scalp status. Every head is different but I noticed once I stopped shampooing as often, my scalp stopped generating as much oil.

Before I began the plastic free journey, I was using cowash instead of shampoo and conditioner. It got me used to a more vigorous application, if you will. So switching to bar shampoo and conditioner/cowash didn't feel like more work, but it might if you're used to liquid shampoo and conditioner.

Currently I use:

• Ethique Professor Curl (shampoo bar) - not great when your hair gets too oily but good for a lighter shampoo. I think this has been rebranded to Curl-Defining Shampoo, but I'm not a huge fan so I'm not linking to it. I have some other samples from them I'm eager to explore.
• dermaharmony Shampoo Bar with Pyrithione Zinc (dandruff shampoo bar) - for the occasional times my scalp feels itchy
• Ethique Curliosity (conditioner bar) - this has also been rebranded, I think to Curl-Defining Conditioner Bar

Ethique is nice because they use plastic-free packaging and shipping materials. Amazon only does plastic free shipping with their dedicated plastic free products, Amazon Aware, though I'm only sure about the toilet paper and facial tissues shipping materials. I have not ordered other items from this line yet.

Wirecutter has more shampoo bar recommendations here, though I have not tried them yet.

My tip would be to find a brand you might like, then explore their line of bars for a product that might work best with your type of hair. Ethique conveniently has sample sizes which is nice because shampoo bars last a long time. They might be more expensive than bottled shampoo, but they last longer.

In terms of technique, I focus shampooing around the scalp only unless I've used products on the length or it's dirty for some other reason. Note that rubbing the bars directly on your hair and scalp works better. Some don't generate as many suds so you might need to vary your usual lather routine.

When it comes to conditioning, I focus on the length not the scalp. At first, I did not like the conditioner bar above, but now it's my favorite wavy hair product. I apply it similar to the praying hands technique but with an adding light scrubbing back and forth with the conditioner bar down the length. I work it into my hair a bit more with my fingers, then I use a wide tooth comb to comb it through my hair and remove any residual tangles. My hair won't see a comb or brush until the next wash.

This conditioner leaves just enough conditioning so that I don't need to use any additional products on most days.

Drying

Every step after rinsing is important to minimize frizz and maximize waves. First, don't aggressively remove excess water. You can use praying hands to first remove excess water and then lightly scrunch, but use more of a grab and pulse than multiple scrunches.

Next, don't use a terrycloth towel to dry, and don't twist. I use an old, soft 100% cotton T-shirt to plop my hair for about 10 minutes while I get ready. Experiment with varying the time. Then I gently remove the T-shirt and gently squeeze more of the moisture out using the dryer parts of the shirt. After, I'll only gently scrunch or fluff anything that looks off then stop touching my hair as much as possible.

I leave my hair to air dry most of the time. I'll use a diffuser to speed it up a little if it's exceptionally cold, my scalp has been irritated, or I have a meeting. While air drying, it's important to not subject your hair too much to the elements (e.g., wind).

I found this video from Lab Muffin Beauty Science/Michelle has some good tips on hair drying. Her videos seem like great science-backed advice. If you're looking for similar science-backed content but for Black hair, I've learned some from Afope Atoyebi's videos as well, like her video on moisture. Sarah Ingle is not a scientest but a nerd with passion for research with some good content too.

Sleeping

I tried bonnets, but I didn't like the feel and felt like they would rub and break hair on the edges. The pineapple technique with a satin scrunchie works pretty well for me in the summer especially. It makes me too cold in the winter.

What really worked best was when I finally splurged on some 100% silk pillowcases. The frizz and bedhead are noticeably reduced with zero extra labor. It's not 100% perfect (especially on very dry days) but still noticeably better.

Refreshing

Let's be real, my hair looks best on wash days. However, on most non-wash days it looks good enough. The curls won't be as tight, but the waves are usually good enough. When I was experimenting more with wavy hair creams and products, I'd find that sometimes day 2 would be worse as they would cement the hair into unnatural shapes overnight while not using product just loosened the natural shape. I also get fewer crimps and bends from hair ties when I don't use products.

If I do want to jazz it up, I'll re-wet my locks with a spritz bottle and lightly scrunch/pulse. I have an oil-not-oil product I sometimes use at this point, but I haven't found a non-plastic alternative yet so I try to keep its use minimal.

From videos I watched on the above channels, I now know why on humid days, my hair actually bounces back better by itself. So on the very dry days, I'm experimenting with light spritzing to see if the increased local humidity will help my hair recover its natural shape.

Conclusion

Going plastic-free or plastic-minimal for hair care is definitely achievable. Experiment with different products, though try to find sample sizes if you can since shampoo/conditioner bars last a long time. Don't forget to use up what you have first regardless of whether it was packaged in plastic or not.

If you're newer on your natural hair journey, try out some of the techniques I mentioned like plopping, using a silk pillowcase, or learning from hair scientists to discover new things to try.

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