I never got into the routine of doing twistouts. I tried two-strand and three-strand twists. I tried them on wet hair, damp hair, and dry hair. I tried everything, but I just couldn’t get into all the manipulation involved, especially on wash days. So I had to stick with a variation of the wash-n-go which I call a wash-n-band. There is no real method to my madness, but I will order the steps I take to achieve the look below.
How to execute a Wash-n-Band
1. Perform your normal wash day routine.
2. After applying leave-in conditioner to wet hair, part hair into four sections and tie a no-snag elastic at the base of the head in each section without causing pulling of the hair or causing discomfort. Tie the ends of the hair loosely with small rubber band at the ends.
3. Apply a generous amount of curl cream (preferably with hold) to midshaft and ends of hair while in the ponytails, and squeeze the product into the hair to distribute the product within the hair but do not squeeze the product out of the hair.
4. When hair is 50% dry, loosen the base elastic as depicted in the picture below and allow hair to dry to 80%. This allows the hair to be stretched but still form a wave pattern to blend with the ends of the hair.
5. When hair is 80% dry, remove the base elastic but leave the end elastics on and allow to almost completely dry.
6. When almost completely dry, remove end elastics and shake hair or manually manipulate to separate. Carefully use a wide-tooth comb to blend the partings. In the bottom picture, I took two pieces of hair from the left side and pulled them through the right side to hide the middle parting.
To maintain this look past day 1, use your partings as a guide to loosely band the hair at night. The next day, lightly mist any band marks with a water bottle and smooth the hair with hands. Lightly spray ends of hair, apply a small amount of curl cream, and squeeze ends to form a curling pattern.
Control of the Hair
In cosmetology school, the concept of control of the hair was drilled into our heads. With natural hair, it is of even greater importance to have control of the hair at all times to minimize tangling and breakage and to retain length. The wash-n-band helps me to achieve a wash-n-go look without excessive shrinkage that can lead to issues down the road.
Styled hair after wash-n-band
Please let me know if this information was helpful! ❤ Ally
Mixolo'G™ 