Relaxed Hair Care Regimen on a College Budget

College is where the most hair changes (and hair experiments) tend to take place. But college can also be a good start for a healthy hair regimen. Need help with relaxed hair care on a college budget? Try this simple relaxed hair care regimen and styling tips for the college bound.

College hair care can be particularly challenging since most college students are broke, have very little time, and are often far from their home hair salons. I started caring for my own hair seriously as a college sophomore using a very simple hair regimen that focused on getting mileage out of my hair styles. This article will share the college styling regimen I used and hopefully help other college folks put together a good college hair care regimen that works for them.

Here's my college hair care regimen in a nutshell. Remember, the key to any college hair regimen is simply learning how to maximize the life of your styles. This involves preparing the hair for a few dedicated hours on one day and allowing the style to be slowly modified as the week progresses. For me, this involved developing a Sunday evening hair ritual that took about 2 hours of my time. Since I've been out of college, I've pretty much held true to this basic regimen: Saturday or Sunday evening wash and preparation then a style that evolves as the week unfolds.

College hair weekly regimen:

1.) Wash and condition your hair weekly.
Start your college hair regimen with a weekly washing and conditioning with a bargain brand moisturizing shampoo and conditioner.

While showering, wash and deep condition your hair. This will be the swiftest part of your hair care regimen. Invest in a good moisturizing shampoo and deep conditioner set like Crème of Nature's shampoo and conditioner. For the budget conscious, this duo is amazing! After applying your conditioner, cover your hair with a shower cap and finish washing up your body.

2.) Deep condition your hair weekly.
Healthy college hair requires deep conditioning weekly, especially if your hair is relaxed or color treated. Deep condition your hair under a dryer for 20-30 mins. Here is where you can get some studying in folks! I'd always have some course books ready to go by the dryer.

3.) Apply protein via a leave in conditioner as needed.
Rinse your hair, and apply a leave in conditioner like Infusium 23 or Neutrogena Triple Moisture's leave in.

4.) Apply a daily moisturizer like Organic Root Stimulator Olive oil creme and seal with a light oil product. Coconut oil has always been a favorite of mine.

5.) Style!

Rollerset!

Practice rollersetting before you head out to school, and it will drastically cut down on the time it takes you to set. Rollersetting is a great protective style and it will save you lots of time and money if you learn to master it while you are young. Most people take about 30 minutes to set depending on their hair length and prior experience. I'd start the summer before school starts learning to properly place the rollers and getting comfortable with the results of various roller sizes on your hair. Even if you do not wear your hair rolled and simple use it to straighten out your hair for other styles, rollersetting is a very valuable tool to have in your college hair care kit.

The smaller the rollers you use, the longer the set will last. Spiral sets are the best for getting more wear out of a rollerset. They'll always be tightest the first day, but will gradually fall over the week if protected.

Use larger rollers for straighter styles, then wrap the hair gently to get more mileage. Keep product application light throughout the week on straight styles to keep the hair from looking weighed down and thin too soon.

Occasionally, I'd use heat to smooth the front face framing areas of my hair when wearing it straight- but this was extremely rare. You really want to lay off the heat as much as possible.

2.) Bun Your Hair.

Buns were my signature college hair style. I'd either start the week out with buns, or gradually let rollersets and braidouts/twistouts evolve into a bun once the curls were no longer vibrant.
Everyone thinks buns are boring, and they can be if you don't learn how to accessorize them! Cute headbands, earrings, flowers, and ornaments go a long way for dressing up buns. Also, try wearing low side buns, or buns with sweeping side bangs. These buns always look intentional and well put together.

Buns are easy because they allow you to style the hair quickly. They are great for athletes or those who workout and need to shower and wash their hair more often. Worn properly, buns are the ultimate college protective style. Try a semester of bunning and I guarantee you'll see a difference in hair length and thickness.

3.) Braidouts and twistouts.

These are for folks who are "stylistically challenged" or just don't feel like bothering with the fuss of rollers. I would toss in a braidout from time to time, but I was much more bun dependent in college. They were just too quick and easy!