As we count down the weeks until 2010, I am thinking of all the successes and failures of the past year. On the Saturday of Labour Day weekend, I decided to try a wash-n-go. Now, I’ve always been wary of the wash-n-go. Why? Well, I’m just not sure how my hair will  look. I’ve seen some people do them and they look great, but I was still trying to figure out my hair type. I didn’t think that my hair had to be a particular type, but I didn’t know what my mainly 4A hair would look like without me doing major styling to it.

Alas, I decided to try. My thinking was, if it looked like crap, I could wash it out on Monday.

Saturday, as always, I was doing stuff. My sister and I went to the CNE. I got home around 5 or 6 pm and decided to quickly try this wash-n-go thing. I got my Africa’s Best Organics Olive Oil Styling Gel and brought it into the bathroom with me. I bought this gel during my massive product haul in Barbados. I wasn’t totally feeling the gel — I felt it didn’t give me enough hold, so I wasn’t using it regularly. But, for a wash-n-go, I didn’t want a gel that was too firm, so I thought this would work. Hmmph.

I got in the shower and co-washed my hair with whatever I was using at the time. Next, I conditioned and rinsed. From the directions I was following, I had to shake my head to get the excess water out. After being in the sun all day and fighting a headache, that wasn’t what I needed to do. My head began to pound. I was glad I was doing a wash-n-go — it would take less time and my hair, hopefully, would look great!

I spritzed with my leave-in conditioner and skipped moisturizing. (I don’t know why. I blame it on my head hurting and the oncoming delirium.) I did remember to seal it with my olive oil and castor oil blend. Once I was done, I grabbed my trusty Denman brush and my gel and got to work. The directions said to go section by section, adding gel and brushing it through with the brush. It took about 15 minutes and I had a head full of curls! Yay! It was about 8 o’clock. I know from reading about wash-n-gos that you aren’t supposed to touch your hair until it’s dry. No problem — it should be mostly dry by 11 or so. If not, I can sit under my dryer for 20 minutes — that should do it.

Hmmph.

At around 9:45, The Hubby said that he wanted ice cream — maybe we could walk over to Dairy Queen. It was a lovely, warm evening. Why not? Besides, the breeze may help to dry my damp hair. We headed out, enjoying the weather and meeting neighbours along our way. We reached the Dairy Queen, but guess what? It closed at 10 o’clock.

But wait. We live in a pretty busy neighbourbood — our town’s ‘downtown’ — so why would DQ be closed at 10:07 pm on a holiday weekend? Really,  no one around these parts eats ice cream after dark? I was not impressed. No worries, said The Hubby, McDonalds is next door. I can get my ice cream there.

Hmmph.

We walk over to Mickey Dee’s only to find out, they lock up their restaurant at 10 o’clock as well. Only the drive-thru is open.

“C’mon. Let’s go home. No ice cream for me tonight,” said The Hubby.

“Wait, I didn’t leave my house with wet hair to NOT get ice cream!” I said. “Let’s line up behind this car–”

“The car in the drive-thru line?”

“Yes, the car in the drive-thru line.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. You’re getting your ice cream.”

He was not impressed. The intercom didn’t seem to trigger by foot action alone, so we just inched up as the car in front of us move to the window. When it was our turn, the young man who was working didn’t seem too impressed with us either, but that was his business. Tell McDonalds to keep their door open past sundown. Suffice it to say, The Hubby got his ice cream and we walked back home. He was a tad embarrassed and I was happy that we accomplished our task.

Back at home and my head was still wet. It was going 11 o’clock and I was getting tired. The cardinal rule for wash-n-gos? DON’T TOUCH YOUR HAIR UNTIL IT’S DRY!!! But how else will I know that it isn’t dry? I decided to sit under the dryer for a half an hour — that should’ve done it.

Nope. It didn’t. By midnight, I was like, ‘screw it. I’m going to bed.’ And that’s what I did.

The next morning, I got up around nine o’clock and my hair was still damp. Curses! I thought wash-n-gos were supposed to be easy and carefree? If I had two-strand twisted it, I would have been done by now! And, to make matters worse, my hair was as hard as rock. Like HARD as rock. At least my curls were defined. Too bad they felt like they would break if I bent them.

Sigh.

I went to church with my rock hard hair. Afterward, The Hubby and I decided to stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things before my sister and I headed off to the get together. While packing the trunk with our groceries, the wind gusted and the trunk door came down on my face — right between my eyes — knocking me to my butt in the grocery store parking lot. I started wailing in the parking lot because a) it hurt like hell; b) it startled me; and c) why couldn’t it had come down on my hair? It was so blasted hard I wouldn’t have felt a thing.

For the rest of the day, I was kinda out of it. I think I may have had a slight concussion because I was dizzy and light-headed. I survived to tell the tale, though! Monday couldn’t come quick enough to wash my hair — thankfully, there was no lasting damage.

So, to make an extremely long story short:

• Don’t try new styles when you are tired or in a hurry — they never turn out right.
• Don’t try new styles when you are going out the following day — they never turn out right.
• When sticking your head in the trunk, hold it up with one hand.