Sundays are usually my days to do laundry, wash and do my hair and redo my manicure for the first half of the week. It’s my day to myself, after church of course, and just about everyone in my life knows that. My boyfriend even knows not to call me until after 7 because I’m too busy doing a million and other things. I have it down to a science though now. My hair takes me about an hour and a half to do, wash and curl manipulation, unless I’m doing a deep condition.
Like most naturalistas I once was a product junkie…I’m recovering but still fall off the wagon sometimes when it comes to Shea butter products. I typically use Suave’s Coconut shampoo every other week since I mostly co-wash my hair, and I use Aussie Moist’s Conditioner. I swear by that conditioner. I’m a bit of a rebel when it comes to shampooing my hair though, I don’t follow the exact instructions on the bottle. I wash and rinse, and don’t repeat. I know, uber rebel!! I ring my hair out, leaving it damp and wrap a t-shirt around it since I don’t have a microfiber towel and start the quick detangling process. It doesn’t take long and I’m forever grateful for that. Today I put a bunch of small two-strand twists in it and rolled them and I’ll get up in the morning and take them down and fluff my curls before pulling them back out of my face. My hair routine is actually quite simple.
My nail routine, on the other hand, takes a bit more time. My process goes like this:
- remove the polish
- wash my hands
- take care of my cuticles
- buff my nails
- put my base coat on, it’s NK’s Calcium Gel
- paint them whatever color my little heart desires
- drop 2 drops of Nicole by OPI’s drying drops on them
- let them sit for 5 minutes
- put my top coat on, NK’s Diamond Top Coat
- drop 2 more drops of Nicole by OPI’s drying drops on them
- go on about my merry little way
I love those drying drops! I know that NOPI isn’t the only brand that has them, but I’ve tried out theirs, OPI’s and Orly’s and not only do they all have the same ingredients, but they all dry nails at the exact same rate. I just don’t see the point of paying $2-3 more for a different brand.
I usually re-do my hair on Tuesday and Fridays and I’ll re-do my nails whenever I get tired of looking at the color…about every 3 or 4 days. I don’t really get much chipping on my polish, probably because I change it so frequently, but I do get tip wear. My polish collection is probably teetering at just over 100 bottles and steadily growing.
This is just a quick overview of my hair and nail processes, I will definitely be posting some how-to’s and other posts with pictures of my step-by-step process soon.