- Wrap them around my finger just like that,
just like you be wrapping these men around your finger.
Hello.
[light upbeat music]
Hey y'all, I'm Essence.
I am a beauty-director-turned-director-of-AD-studio
at Prose.
And this is my wash day routine for optimal scalp health.
So today, I'm gonna be doing my go-to twist out.
The steps to my wash day routine normally include
a hot oil pre-scalp treatment,
then I'll shampoo and condition,
and then I'll twist out my hair,
quickly hit it with a hair dryer before air drying,
apply my nightly DIY scalp oil,
and then I'll style my hair the next day.
Usually, my routine takes about anywhere
from two to four hours, just depending on the day.
And I do it about once a week.
So, my hair and scalp are
a lot.
So, I have Type 4 hair, 4C, 4B.
It's like a hodge-podge of curl patterns.
My scalp is also very dry.
So, if I go longer than a week without washing my hair,
it starts to feel really, like dry, itchy,
a lot of build-up on my hair from product.
It's just not a good feeling.
So, with my pre-scalp hot oil treatment,
I like to put it in an applicator bottle,
one with like a point tip,
so that I can get it directly to my scalp.
First, I put in the olive oil.
That's kind of like our carrier oil, a very kind of mild,
neutral oil.
It's also hydrating, but it really just helps
with that shine factor.
So then put in some honey.
Honey is a humectant,
so that's just a super important ingredient
when it comes to moisture for me, and hydration.
And then at the very end, I put in some tee tree oil,
anywhere from 6 to 10 drops depending on
how much of my other ingredients I already have
in the applicator bottle.
Tee tree oil is anti-bacterial.
It's in a lot of skincare products.
And so, I've found that it also helps with my scalp
because scalp is also skin.
So, I'll heat it up with warm water,
kind of the way that you would do, like, a baby bottle.
You don't want it really hot.
You just want it warm enough to where all of the ingredients
are like, you know, fusing together and melting.
And then I got to applying.
I told y'all it gets messy.
So, I like to put a towel around my neck
and I just like to part down the middle.
On each half,
part this way so that I have four separated sections.
Give it a nice, good shake.
We are just going to start applying.
See, it's already dripping. Told y'all.
Then, I just repeat through all four sections
until, like, the mixture is gone.
Ta-da!
My scalp has been dry
for basically as long as I can remember.
So, I had my mom take me to this dermatologist.
And they prescribed me the driest shampoo.
Like honestly, they might as well have given me a bottle
of rubbing alcohol and said, "Sis, just pour this all over
your head," 'cause that's what it felt like.
It was so stripping.
I used it and it just depleted my hair
and my scalp of all moisture.
It felt like a different head of hair.
It did not feel like my hair.
Like, I don't know her, in the words of Mariah.
It wasn't me, in the words of Shaggy.
I think that experience was one of my first
where I really understood all the more
the very critical value of Black doctors who just get it
and who have a more vested interest
into Black health concerns.
Prior to using this treatment, my scalp was so sad
and I really wasn't doing anything other than, like,
my standard wash day routines to take care of it.
So like, that first day
or first two days it would be pretty fine.
But then by the third day, I would still start noticing,
like, flaking again or dryness.
But with this treatment, I noticed that it would carry me
through the entire wash weeks.
I let this treatment sit on my hair for at least one hour.
But sometimes I let it sit on for four hours.
Honestly, it just depends on the day
and where the spirit leads me.
So as this is sitting on my hair,
I have a little bit of downtime, right?
I might watch TV, like I might watch a series,
anything that's like light-hearted and upbeat.
All right, it's been abour an hour so I am about
to go shampoo this out of my hair.
I like to get my hair wet first
because when it's wet it's just easier for me to work with.
So, I take out my hair ties.
I get it really nice and drenched all over.
And then, I resection it into very loose sections.
I am a a huge Buy Black advocate in everything
from fashion, to beauty, skin care, like all of it.
And with hair specifically,
I use a lot of Black-owned products because I want
to use something that just, like, gets my hair.
As I'm shampooing my hair section by section,
I start first by kind of working the shampoo in
from root to ends.
And I go through with my fingertips
and I'm just getting a really good clean in that section,
really focusing on my scalp.
And then, I'll rinse the shampoo out, do another shampoo,
go in with my fingertips again.
And then, I have this handy dandy scalp tool
called the Luxe Therapy Scalp Soother.
And girl, let me tell you.
This is like one of my favorite inventions ever.
It's curved and very flexible so that you can get
into your hair at any angle.
I like to think of it as a tool that can help me lift
any remaining dirt.
It's just kind of like my safety measure to make sure,
like, my scalp is nice, and clean, and fresh.
And it feels so good.
It also is like gently exfoliating,
which I find is very, you know, good for me
because I do have dry scalp.
If you're using products and you gave product buildup
or anything like that, it just kind of lifts everything out.
And I feel like it really helps with, like,
just kind of reviving and stimulating your scalp.
Going natural was not really my decision,
it was my older sister's.
My mom, for as long as I can remember, would like send me
to my sister's room for her to do my hair.
And she actually opened her own salon.
One day I'm at the salon, she's doing my hair,
and she's like, "I'm just not relaxing it anymore."
And you can't really argue when the person doing your hair
is doing your hair for free, so I was like,
"Mkay girl, like, as long as it still be cute,
that's fine."
And it was!
So as I'm shampooing my hair, once, you know,
I feel like my scalp is nice and clean,
I'll go through, I'll rinse out the shampoo in that section.
And before moving on to the next section,
I immediately put in the conditioner for that section
that I'm already working on.
So, I put in my conditoner.
I take my Felicia Leatherwood detangling brush,
I start at the bottom.
I detangle my way up, really get that conditioner in there
through every strand, make sure it's nice and detangled.
When my hair is super drenched and also has a product
in it that is very hydrating,
it really kind of maximizes that slip factor.
So, I can go through and really get a really, really,
really good detangling better than I can when my hair is,
like, dry.
And then, I'll do a really chunky, fat two-strand twist.
I'll do a Bantu knot and then I will clip it at the top
so that it stays secure.
And then, I move on to the next section
and repeat those same steps with every single section.
I let my conditioner stay in for as along as it takes me
to take a shower, and then I rinse it out.
So once the conditioner is rinsed from my hair,
I will shake my hair kind of like a wet dog
to get some of that excess water out.
And then I will put, I have this kind of like
cloth-bonnet-head-wrap-in-one situation.
But, it has a button on it and a drawstring on it.
And you put it on your hair, and you twist it,
and connect it.
And it kind of, like, keeps your hair up until you are ready
for styling.
And it also kind of, like, absorbs some of that water,
but like not too much.
So, I transitioned out with sew-ins.
It was my last year of undergrad.
And I was an HBCU Queen.
I went to Albany State University.
Any HBCU Queen, you're gonna be very visible
at all the games, all these community events.
And so, I had to figure out something that would, like,
work for me and also keep my hair healthy.
I did not want to have to straight my hair every day
to get it to all blend seamlessly,
so I would do sew-ins.
I don't think I felt empowered enough to do a big chop.
The natural hair movement, what it is now,
it was not that then.
It was still very early,
especially in like this very rural town in the South.
Everyone kind of had the same style, like very long,
either voluminous or like sleek and straight.
It did not feel like I would be received
with my texture of natural hair.
Looking back,
I don't regret even the process of how I went natural.
I feel like at that time, that's what I genuinely had to do.
And I still feel that way, even now.
Like, I knew that I was gonna be bombed, you know,
with my natural hair.
But, I knew that for me at that time,
other people would not perceive me as such
and it would be a hindrance to my own kind of, like,
advancement and development.
The hard past is done.
Now we're just going to put my hair
into some two-stand twists.
I like to part my hair into sections
and work on a section at a time.
Slightly mist with this bottle.
I love this bottle because it has a mist feature,
so it mists instead of, like, soaking the hair.
I just do that to get it a little malleable.
Then, I'm going to take some
Sealing Hair Butter by Wonder Curl.
I like this product because it's a good styler
but it's also very hydrating.
So because I'm not using a leave-in,
it still gives me that moisture factor.
I still know that my hair is gonna get
all of the nutrients it needs.
Pull off a section, doesn't have to be evenly parted,
and then the rest of this I am going to secure away
with one of these handy-dandy clips
that your grandma be wearing.
And this is a really good comb 'cause of the ridges.
And it just helps to kind of detangle through.
And I'm gonna put a little bit more butter on this section.
'Cause in the words of Tabitha Brown, that's my business.
So, my technique is fairly simple.
I just take the section that I'm gonna twist
and pull it apart into two sections.
And then I twist it like this.
And I twist it pretty tight
because it's gonna already loosen on its own.
And then once I get to these ends right here,
you can take a little butter and really secure it.
I just wrap them around my finger, just like that.
And I move on to the next section and I just repeat that
until all four sections are twisted
into multiple two-strand twists.
Oh, my arms!
So, these are my twists, nice and juicy, and plump.
And now, I'm about to finish the rest of my routine
with my oil and my hairdryer, and we will be done for today.
I like to take this Dyson dryer directly to my roots.
And it has settings for hot air and cool air.
And I just alternate between the two.
So, I don't dry my hair completely
but this just keeps me from going to bed with, like,
a really damp or wet scalp.
So now, I am going to oil my scalp very lightly.
I made this oil earlier today.
It's just a blend of coconut oil, Jamaican black castor oil,
jojoba oil, and peppermint oil.
My little concoction, thanks to Ivy.
These YouTube girls, honey, they got life figured out.
And I am grateful.
I really like this oil
because it keeps my scalp super hydrated.
It really minimizes on that, like, dryness, itchiness,
that flakiness.
And I will use this every night
or like every other night until my next wash day.
So now, I am just going to put my bonnet on and go to bed
because it's been a long day.
Hey y'all, it's the next day and I am about
to take out my twists!
I like to oil my fingertips so that I don't create
a lot of friction as I'm taking out each twist.
When I take out my twists, I like to kind of unwind them.
Twist the actual twist itself in the opposite direction
until it's coming apart, and then I start at the bottom,
and then I just like unravel them this way so that this,
like, very defined kind of like ringlet, spiral thing
can stay in tact.
So, I have basically taken out all the twists in the back.
Right now I'm just kind of feeling through lightly
with my hands, and occasionally I'll find a twist.
See? We found one. See, they hide.
A lot of times, for me, the front of my hair is what frizzes
the fastest so I don't like to be that abrasive
with the hair in the front because it's already,
like, more prone to frizziness.
So, we took all of the twists out
and now it's time to separate them.
I start kind of, like, in the middle and work my way back.
These front twists I don't pull apart until the very end,
if I even pull them apart at all.
I pull apart at the bottom first
versus starting at the top.
When you start at the top, it can get tangled,
for me at least.
The more you separate it though, the bigger the hair.
So, it's just kind of like whatever you feel.
But, I also noticed that the more you separate,
the faster it gets frizzy.
So, you also have to be prepared for that.
As I'm twisting, I try not to get the roots too tight.
So as you can see,
like a lot of my roots look like super full,
not very defined, a little frizzy.
And that's all gonna help with volume in the end.
I feel like nobody, like no other group of women gets judged
for their hair to the extent that Black women do.
Just growing up in a very Southern culture,
as a Black woman there was still this unspoken narrative,
and sometimes spoken, of like what my hair should look like.
So at that time, it was like my hair should be long,
and it should be straight, and it should be full.
And I believed that.
And so I think, you know, coming into this moment
as an adult where I was just like, actually,
I'm just gonna do whatever the hell it is I want
to do with my hair.
And that's kind of like a really powerful place to be.
And it's a really empowering place to be to just kind of,
like, take control of that.
My hair is untwisted.
And now, I'm going to pick the roots just
to give it a little bit more volume.
So, I don't pull all the way down.
That's going to disrupt all this hard work we just did.
I literally just take the pick, and this is a double pick,
like double-pronged.
And I literally just pull like that.
I don't take it all the way through.
If it's your first time ever doing a twist out,
it's probably 9.73 times out of 10,
gonna come out trash, girl.
And that's okay, it's just part of being natural
and doing a twist out.
Consider it like a rite of passage.
Your first twist out is not gonna come out great.
It takes some time.
But, the more you do it you figure it out.
So, everybody maintains their twist out different.
If you want something super uniform, super defined,
then retwist it every night, put on your bonnet.
If you want something, you know, kinda big and messy,
like you know, that's what I like.
I just put on a bonnet and that's more so
for just protection of my actual hair.
And then I take it off and I shake it out,
[hair shaking]
like that.
And I really just be going about my business.
And she's done! [shutter clicking]
It looks great.
She's really nice, and vivacious, and full.
My scalp feels amazing.
It feels clean. It feels hydrated and moisturized.
No, like, tightness, no itchiness, dryness,
it just feels really good.
And my hair also feels amazing.
And I just feel like you should not have to pick.
Like, you should not have to sacrifice hair looks
for hair health or hair health for hair looks.
Like, you can have both.
And clearly, you know?