Postpone Wash Day: 5 Ways to Wear Your Old Wash & Go

Not me getting my hurr' did....but I wish it was!

Article also available on Black Girl with Long Hair!

What do you do when your wash and go gets old, or your pineapple fails in the middle of the night, leaving you with scary hair in the morning?

You improvise. Avoid the hassle of washing your hair and starting from scratch with these 5 creative styling suggestions:

1. Get Creative with Bobby Pins


Whether your wash and go is past its prime, or went sour due to wack products, a few bobby pins can always save the day. With a spray bottle of water, an edge taming product like Curls Blueberry Curl Control Paste or a DIY butter pomade and a handful of bobby pins, the style possibilities are limitless. Pull the front of your hair into a pompadour, create a faux hawk, or a nice little flat twist to conceal unruly parts of your hair. Need a little style inspiration? Check out this video by Tia Kirby:



2. Bantu, Twist, or Braid



A warped wash and go can be fertile soil for an epic twistout, braidout, or bantu knot out. It will provide enough definition and tons of volume because the hair you are working with is essentially dry. Just re-activate the product in your hair with a little (enough to make it pliable, but not soaked) water, add a twisting butter like Qhemet Biologics Aethiopika Hydrate & Twist Butter or tgin Butter Cream Daily Moisturizer, and set your style. A few tutorials, for your viewing pleasure:

note: these specific style tutorials may not have been done on old wash and go styles. But the methods and inspiration are still the same!

Twistout (courtesy of Chronicurls)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkGbZEMFbxw

Braidout (courtesy of African Export)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsvLxqP66-8

Bantu Knot Out (courtesy of NaturalMetra)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXbWeyuJnxE

3. Rods & Curlformers



Not quite ready to wash your hair, but in need of a fly style? Try a flexi rod, perm rod, or Curlformers set. All you need is a spray bottle of water to help make your hair workable, and a styling foam like Beautiful Textures Curl Definer Foam or LottaBody. You can also incorporate more products, but when working with old wash and go's, less is more. What good is is to have a fly new style ruined by buildup? Check LiveNaturallyLove's tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YenTOXm1jQg

4. Heatless Blow Out



Make your big hair even bigger. Old wash and go's tend to be stretched, so this is the perfect time to use Naptural85's heatless blowout method aka finger and comb detangling. It's super simple and requires zero additional product:



5. Tuck it Away



Sometimes, you just can't be bothered trying to make an old wash and go work. I understand. When you aren't feeling like rejuvenating an old wash and go, the easiest thing to do is just tuck it away into a milkmaid braid, bun, roll and tuck, or updo. If you've got 5 minutes, you can pullof this BeBe Nycole inspired tucked away updo:



How do you rock your old wash and go's?