I think I’ve finally nailed the “minimalist” natural hair regimenI have been searching for! I fell into this quick and easy regimen while on my honeymoon because I (understandably) didn’t want to spend a lot of time fussing with my hair yet I wanted it to look nice. They say necessity of the mother of invention! Here’s what I’ve been doing along with the products that I use:

Current Regimen

Cleanse. I wash my hair once every 3–4 days, alternating between a shampoo and a cleansing conditioner product.

• I no longer wash in sections; I just split my hair down the middle and work on each side

Condition. After washing, I add in a deep-ish conditioner and loosely detangle each side gently with my fingers and a wide tooth rake comb.

• I don’t spend much time detangling, just a few minutes total.
• I let the conditioner sit while I finish the rest of my shower duties.

Leave-in. Once I rinse all the conditioner out, I add about 20 pumps of a light-weight conditioner to each side of my sopping wet hair.

• This serves as my leave-in conditioning step and provides a great base for my styling products.

Define. Next, I add a gel and a cream styler to medium sized sections of my hair, raking the products through with my fingers and a Denman-style brush. I make sure to smooth each so that the curls clump, a la the Tightly Curly Method.

• Some of the curls in the front of my hair don’t clump very well, so I add a few twists there. When my hair dries, I unravel the twists and the wavy curly pattern matches the rest of my hair.

Air-dry. Lastly, I let my hair air-dry in a high, loose ponytail (a “pineapple”) so that my hair stretched as it dries. When it’s dry, I take it down and shake it out.

Current Products:

1. I alternate between Shea Moisture Raw Shea Moisture Retention Shampoo and As I Am Coconut Cowash to clean my hair. The coconut co-wash makes my hair feels great but I don’t feel like it cleans my scalp, which is why I like to go back and forth between the co wash and the shampoo.
2. Lately I’ve been using Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner as my rinse-out conditioner.
3. I love Tresemme Naturals Nourishing Moisture as a leave-in. It makes my hair feel very soft and smooth.
4. To style and define my hair, I use Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie under Argan Oil Eco Styler Gel. I find hat this combo gives my great shine, softness, and definition without the “crunch.”

I perform this routine about twice a week, every 3–4 days or so. It takes me about 35–40 minutes from wash to “pineapple” to finish.I love how simple this is because I can wash and style my hair when I get home from work, letting it air dry as I cook dinner and do whatever else for the evening. By the next morning, It’s completely dry and I’m ready to go!If I make any future changes, I think it'll be to shift to all natural products, but I'm content to use up my current stash for now.

Talk to Me:

How's regimen building going for you? Have you found your perfect routine yet? What’s your natural hair regimen look like?(Top image via hi-imcurrentlyobsessed)