It's wash day-a few tips for decreasing wash day stress

I really like this outfit, it's weird yet a bit chic, and a nice hat always brings an outfit together:-).  Generally speaking I really like the designs by these ladies, the company is HunterDixon, click the caption to check out their stuff

Hello there my lovelies,

I recently was in the company of several wonderful women who all happen to be natural or transitioning (which coincidentally encompasses about 98% of my friends).  During our inevitable natural hair discussion, several people expressed their concern about how long it takes to do our hair on "wash day."  And just to clarify, I define wash day for me as the one day a week I DC (which I've been slack with lately), detangle, and usually twist, but generally speaking it's the day that we each spend the most amount of time on our hair.  I have learned a few tips that have made wash day for me go a lot smoother for me.

1. Set aside the time-My most helpful tip (which I learned from Teri LaFlesh's website) is to have the time it will take for you to do your hair set aside.  Wash day is much less frustrating if you already know that "today I am spending 4 hours on my hair" (obviously the amount of time may vary for each person, but that's what I usually plan for).  If you know that you will spend 4 hours on your hair you will not plan anything to occur during those 4 hours.  However, if you just say I'm going to do my hair, you will be annoyed 2 hours into it, b/c you "weren't expecting" to spend that much time on your hair (in reality we all know how long our hair takes, we just don't always want to admit it ;-).  Going into doing your hair with this mindset is a HUGE help.
2. Section, section, section-I can't remember a time when I didn't do my hair in sections.  Sectioning hair (I usually do 4 or 5 held in place with clips) makes your hair so much easier to manage.  I would suggest that if your hair is 3inches or longer section!!! 
3. Prepare-On wash day I have my little station set up, I pop a TV show DVD into my computer and have it set up to watch while I detangle and listen to while I DC.
4. Use time wisely-I know that when I DC I am going to have time during which I am just sitting so I plan to do work at this time, or read, or write a blog post.  In reality, often I fall asleep while I'm sitting under the conditioning dryer, but I start out with something to do.  And fyi, nap time during DC is awesome, I actually kind of look forward to it.
5. Have a plan-This isn't huge, but I like to already have my mind set as to what I will do with my hair once I rinse the conditioner out.  I suppose this partially goes along with setting aside the right amount of time.
6. Be patient-If you detangle your hair on this day you will definitely need patience.
7. Enjoy it-I used to avoid DCing and twisting my hair b/c I thought it'd take too long, but now that I do it more often, I have learned to enjoy the time I spend with my hair and actually slightly miss it when I don't do it.  Doing your hair can become somewhat therapeutic, as I said it can be good nap time, it's something that you do just for you, and  you get instant gratification. 

Well, lovely people, that's all I have for now.  I hope that something was helpful.  Until next time...

Love, peace and happiness