Can I Clarify My Hair in Twists?

[NaturalEnigma]

Hey Ladies, I usually wash my natural hair in twists to prevent my hair from getting tangled. I was wondering if I could clarify my hair in twists as well. I'm not sure if clarifying in twists will allow me to remove all the buildup from my hair. I don't want to leave any residue in my hair, because I plan on straightening it tomorrow.

 

[Poohbear]

If you wash your hair in twists and want to clarify, you should take down each twists, apply the clarifying shampoo (or whatever you use to clarify) to work throughout the hair strands. That way, you do not miss any areas of hair that need to be clarified.

 

[Nonie]

NaturalEngima, I believe you can. When I wash my hair in twists, there's no question about whether I get my hair clean. I know it gets clean.

Look at it this way, when you wash clothes, you don't have to undo the material into loose strings to get it clean. Even your washer which just rocks clothes back and forth and shakes them does get clothes clean. Likewise, if you wet your twists and saturate them with clarifying shampoo and squeeze to encourage the suds to penetrate and reach inside the hair and then rinse still doing the squeezing motion and repeat...you will most certainly get all the gunk out.

The only problem you may have is fluff (like blanket fluff) caught in your twists if you don't sleep with your head tied up. And shed hair will only come out when you undo your twist.

Bottom line, yes, you can get twists clean without having to undo them.

 

[alive]

If you wash your hair in twists and want to clarify, you should take down each twists, apply the clarifying shampoo (or whatever you use to clarify) to work throughout the hair strands. That way, you do not miss any areas of hair that need to be clarified.

if your twists are small enough, you may not have any trouble with washing the twists without unraveling them, but i agree with Pooh bear. I think your best bet is to unravel each twist to make sure it's all nice and clean

 

[Nonie]

if your twists are small enough, you may not have any trouble with washing the twists without unraveling them, but i agree with Pooh bear. I think your best bet is to unravel each twist to make sure it's all nice and clean

@alive...but you don't think fat twists can be cleaned the same way a thick sweater can be cleaned? My twists are very firm...and hard like a rope when freshly done. @mwedzi can tell you the difference she noticed when she twirled the two strands before wrapping them around each other (the way I twist). Not only were the twists skinnier because they were tight, but they were also hard/firm like a rope. When I wet my twists, they lose that firmness and become soft and feel like they open up so that the strands are somewhat separated. I think this would even be more so with fat twists. The only thing I'd see fat twists making hard to do is clean your scalp well...coz you'd have to insert fingers into the base to massage the scalp under each twists. But as far as getting the hair itself clean, I don't think size matters at all.

 

[Poohbear]

Nonie, everyone's hair is different. From my own personal experience, I've washed my hair in twists before, big and small, and my hair did not get clean either way. Plus, I think it depends on what style your wore beforehand and what products you used in your hair prior to washing in twists.

 

[anon123]

@mwedzi can tell you the difference she noticed when she twirled the two strands before wrapping them around each other (the way I twist). Not only were the twists skinnier because they were tight, but they were also hard/firm like a rope. When I wet my twists, they lose that firmness and become soft and feel like they open up so that the strands are somewhat separated. I think this would even be more so with fat twists. The only thing I'd see fat twists making hard to do is clean your scalp well...coz you'd have to insert fingers into the base to massage the scalp under each twists. But as far as getting the hair itself clean, I don't think size matters at all.

What difference did she notice? I didn't see. I don't know about the difference between your hair getting clean in fat or skinny twists. I would say it is possible for hair to not get cleaned depending on how it's twisted, braided, whatever. I don't like washing my hair in braids because it doesn't seem to get clean then.

 

[manter26]

I think it's best to just take them out and shampoo and rinse them while loose. You can do it one twist at a time and retwist when it's done but it'll take longer. If you're going to flat iron soon anyway there's no need to preserve your twist style.

 

[Nonie]

What difference did she notice? I didn't see. I don't know about the difference between your hair getting clean in fat or skinny twists. I would say it is possible for hair to not get cleaned depending on how it's twisted, braided, whatever. I don't like washing my hair in braids because it doesn't seem to get clean then.

@mwedzi, The sentence following that statement explained the difference you saw: skinny twists that also felt firm (You said the twist was hard like a rope). That is the point I was making and my reasoning for mentioning that point was so as to point out that a twist that firm would appear as if it'd be hard to clean. Yet when I wet the very same twists that are like that when freshly done, they soften up and feel like socks or a sweater might feel when wet: easy to clean by just squeezing it repeatedly with suds of soap going in and out. I wasn't talking about you washing the twist and noticing a difference while washing. I was making the point that even when twists are done as firmly as I do mine, they still get clean without the need to unravel, because when wet, there's a slight separation in the strands that makes for easy flow or liquid and suds that wash off dirt. Which would mean the twists I see posted on the forum which are not as firm would even be easier to clean.

@Poohbear, I beg to disagree that it depends on the hair or style or products. Clothes are made of fibers which can have different textures and be woven in different styles and can be soiled with all sorts of things. IF what you are suggesting were the case then one would say that it depends on material whether an outfit can be cleaned without one having to unravel it into loose strings. Even if you poured grease on clothes (whether jeans or sweater) you can still get the clothes clean by washing them intact.

In fact, when one has additional hair, getting hair clean should even be harder yet that has never been a problem for me either when washing IN BRAIDS.

Perhaps a better statement should be "it depends on the person" coz honestly if my kinky/nappy hair with its tiny coils can get clean in twists that are done so firmly as if one is trying to ensure nothing can penetrate the twist, then any hair can be made clean in twists. Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up washing clothes with a washing machine that I can see the relation between washing hair in twists/braids and washing clothes. If we were talking about flat twists or cornrows, then I could see the difficulty. But I do not see any problem with washing off dirt completely from hair that is in loose braids or twists whether big or small. If that is the case then it would mean when clothes get dirty they too cannot be washed clean since some clothes have very intricate weaving of threads--yet that is not the case.

 

[Krystle~Hime]

I prefer to unravel them if I want to clarify my hair. Especially if
- they are minitwists
- it's been a while they are installed and that i've used a lot of products(moisture and seal with butter/oil or pomade every single day)

i want to make sure i've put the clarify product on every strands. not just "on top" of the twists. if that makes sense

 

[Nonie]

@Krystle~Hime, so you really believe that when you wash hair in twists soap and conditioner and everything just sit on the outside and don't penetrate?

Well, let me tell you that's not true at all. If there's anyone on the forum who takes applying product to EVERY single strand seriously it's me and washing hair in twists IMO is a more thorough way of washing than washing loose. ESPECIALLY if shrinkage is a characteristic of your hair.

When you undo twists to wash loose hair, first you have coils contract thus trapping dirt even more making cleaning harder as you've now gone from having stretched out tassels that allow for easy flow of dirt down the length:

...to having a rug-like compact mass

For actual visual, you go from having this:

...twists that allow for easy access to scalp and then that are easy to squeeze in bunches allowing suds of the soap to suspend oil and dirt so that they can be washed away. Even just the act of sliding down the length as you squeeze like you're milking encourages dirt to slide down the stretched out strands.

Compare that with this nest:

I am already cracking coz even *I* who loves my hair to death REFUSE to deal with that. No way, no how. ^^THAT is a FEAT I'd have to be held at gunpoint to deal with. I'm even cracking up that I'd be giving myself more work undoing twists unnecessarily. No wonder so many of you complain about your hair. It's not your hair that's the problem at all; it's y'all who do way too much and choose to work hard instead of smart. Unless y'all love to wear dirty clothes and so continue to wear clothes after washing them instead of tossing them away, clearly you can see how silly it is to assume hair would not get clean coz you didn't undo twists.

When you undo the twists and have loose hair that shrinks you end up having coils that trap dirt inside them. Have you ever washed something with these things and had dirt trapped inside them?

Isn't it a nightmare trying to get it out...like imagine scrubbing poached egg that had oozed and dried on a dish off the dish and then had the egg get stuck in that thing. Or to give a better example, you scrape grease off dishes and have it get caught in that thing. How much harder would it be to get it out than if you had the grease on tassels that are not creating circular pockets of coil to trap dirt?

Nah, I don't get the logic you're all using that undoing twists will help you clean your hair better. But hey, I don't have to get it since I'm not the one who'll be doing it, so ignore me and carry on.

ETA: Have we even addressed the tangles involved in washing loose hair?

 

[Krystle~Hime]

I don't "believe".. and I'm not trying to tell a truth. Everyone and everyone's hair is different. and I think(or I thought) that's why OP came here, for having different point of views, on what different people would do if it was her.

So, I just prefer to apply clarifying products on each strands instead of on top of twists directly. Sometimes I can shampoo directly on twists when Im lazy, I would just concentrate on scalp and squeeze the length. but if I want my hair deep clean especially after 3/4 weeks of heavy sealing I would make sure to unravel twists and apply product on each strands. this is how I like to do because when i've tried twice directly on twists, i've realized that they were still residues on my hair. that is all.

 

[caribeandiva]

OP, you can only do that if you take down each section or twist, clarify and retwist.

 

[alive]

@alive...but you don't think fat twists can be cleaned the same way a thick sweater can be cleaned? My twists are very firm...and hard like a rope when freshly done. @mwedzi can tell you the difference she noticed when she twirled the two strands before wrapping them around each other (the way I twist). Not only were the twists skinnier because they were tight, but they were also hard/firm like a rope. When I wet my twists, they lose that firmness and become soft and feel like they open up so that the strands are somewhat separated. I think this would even be more so with fat twists. The only thing I'd see fat twists making hard to do is clean your scalp well...coz you'd have to insert fingers into the base to massage the scalp under each twists. But as far as getting the hair itself clean, I don't think size matters at all.

Nonie it's hard for me to say since all my thick sweaters end up in the washing machine but i see what you mean though

 

[Poohbear]

Nonie - It's really nothing to disagree with. My personal experience proves you wrong if you want to keep it all the way real. Your hair can get clean in twists, and my hair cannot. Therefore, not everyone's hair can get clean while in twists. Some can, and some cannot. Sorry, it is what it is. I can't help my hair doesn't get clean while in two strand twists. I have to unravel my hair in order for it to get clean properly.

 

[Nonie]

Poohbear, and that is why I said it is personal rather than a fact about hair. Just like some people can handwash clothes and get them clean while others can't. Common sense tells me that if woven fibers can get clean even when stuff like car grease gets on them from washing, then hair in twists and braids can get clean just as well. Soap breaks down the parts of dirt and suspends them in water to be washed away. So the only reason this would not work is if one doesn't have the know-how.

You are all talking like dirt is some large thing that cannot dissolve out of braids or twist so needs to be freed by opening up braids/twists. Not so. If you soaked the twists in soapy water like you do whites and did nothing, they would get clean. The act of squeezing just makes them get cleaner faster. Many people wash their hair in several braids and don't even undo the braids to comb the hair out because unless one is trying to remove shed hair, it's unnecessary.

OP, I have not undone my twists while washing my hair since 2009 and my hair is clean, smells like conditioner, doesn't get tangles or SSKs, and is not dry or breaking. Whatever fears you may have that clarifying won't work if done in twists are unfounded. I went swimming and the back of my hair got wet from chlorine water a few times before I got the cap securing right and I even got sides wet a few times. I used clarifying shampoo w/o undoing my twists. My hair is thriving. Did I mention I applied a thick layer of Vaseline before going swimming? So thick was the layer that my hair looked white. I cannot baggy with something on my hair coz my scalp will itch. So if anyone needed certainty that nothing was left on my hair afte washing, it was I. And I know I did coz I baggied with no issues for the night.

Hair will get clean if you wash it well. Hair will reek and the scalp will itch if dirty and especially if one baggies dirty hair as much as I do. Mine does not coz I clean it well even in twists. Like a lot of things, it's all about technique; you either have it or you don't.

And if y'all can't get hair in twists clean, then I'd hate to see you try to wash linen or jeans by hand after pork drippings have spilled on them.

 

[Curlykale]

What I don't like of washing in twists without unraveling them is:

- I cannot get the roots of each twist with my fingertips and if I try to do it I have to pull here and there. The foam from the shampoo isn't enough to remove my buildup. I easily get breakage on my crown.

- My twists unravel.

- In order to make many small twists, I don't want to spend more time than I would spend unraveling and washing one big twist at a time.

I think the reason why I have difficulties is that my scalp seems to need the mechanical action of my fingertips, detergent doesn't seem to be enough.

I agree with what you are saying about clothes Nonie, and if I spent a lot of time with my hair drenched in detergent (a washing machine cycle, so basically an hour or 2) my greasy scalp would say "great", but the 5 minutes in contact with the shampoo don't seem to be enough. I sometimes wish I had a dry scalp as it would work for me that way.

 

[Poohbear]

Poohbear, and that is why I said it is personal rather than a fact about hair. Just like some people can handwash clothes and get them clean while others can't. Common sense tells me that if woven fibers can get clean even when stuff like car grease gets on them from washing, then hair in twists and braids can get clean just as well. Soap breaks down the parts of dirt and suspends them in water to be washed away. So the only reason this would not work is if one doesn't have the know-how.

You are all talking like dirt is some large thing that cannot dissolve out of braids or twist so needs to be freed by opening up braids/twists. Not so. If you soaked the twists in soapy water like you do whites and did nothing, they would get clean. The act of squeezing just makes them get cleaner faster. Many people wash their hair in several braids and don't even undo the braids to comb the hair out because unless one is trying to remove shed hair, it's unnecessary.

OP, I have not undone my twists while washing my hair since 2009 and my hair is clean, smells like conditioner, doesn't get tangles or SSKs, and is not dry or breaking. Whatever fears you may have that clarifying won't work if done in twists are unfounded. I went swimming and the back of my hair got wet from chlorine water a few times before I got the cap securing right and I even got sides wet a few times. I used clarifying shampoo w/o undoing my twists. My hair is thriving. Did I mention I applied a thick layer of Vaseline before going swimming? So thick was the layer that my hair looked white. I cannot baggy with something on my hair coz my scalp will itch. So if anyone needed certainty that nothing was left on my hair afte washing, it was I. And I know I did coz I baggied with no issues for the night.

Hair will get clean if you wash it well. Hair will reek and the scalp will itch if dirty and especially if one baggies dirty hair as much as I do. Mine does not coz I clean it well even in twists. Like a lot of things, it's all about technique; you either have it or you don't.

And if y'all can't get hair in twists clean, then I'd hate to see you try to wash linen or jeans by hand after pork drippings have spilled on them.

Nonie - The bolded part is not true either. It's just your assumption. I can share an experience about clothes not being able to be cleaned either from certain substances. I went out to eat and spilled melted butter on my capri pants. These capri pants are made out of 76% Rayon, 21%Nylon, & 3% Spandex. Anyway, as soon as we got home, I sprayed Shout on the butter spots, rubbed it in, let it sit for a while, and then I rubbed laundry detergent on the spots and washed the pants in the washer immediately. I put the pants in the dryer and when they came out, you can still see where the butter spots were.

And no, I am not talking like dirt is some large thing that cannot dissolve. Dirt isn't the only thing that could be in your hair or clothes when your hair is not clean. Of course plain ol' dirt from the ground can get out of hair and clothes pretty easily. However, dirt is not the same as grease, butter, oil, thick stuff like that which can be difficult to get out of hair and clothes, even when washing.

And the people you are talking about that can get their hair clean in twists and braids probably do not pile their hair with thick butters, creams, oils, or greases.

 

[Poohbear]

ETA: Have we even addressed the tangles involved in washing loose hair?

Nonie - Yes, some have addressed the tangles involved in washing loose hair. Again, you have to keep in mind that not everyone's hair is the same. My hair is easier and quicker to wash when it's loose. Washing in sections and having to untwist/braid then retwist/braid is too much work for me. Key words: for me.

The key with washing your hair loose is to keep it SOAKING/DRENCHED with water and when you detangle, you do it under the water flow pressure from the shower head. You don't let your hair shrink up like the picture you posted here (which I think is a beautiful texture by the way, not a nest):

My hair would look like this too if I didn't detangle properly and allow the water flow pressure to stretch out my hair. This would also happen to my hair if I just piled all my hair at the top of my head and just rubbed my hands around in circular motions, then rinsed and let it dry.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie - The bolded part is not true either. It's just your assumption. I can share an experience about clothes not being able to be cleaned either from certain substances. I went out to eat and spilled melted butter on my capri pants. These capri pants are made out of a stretchy Nylon like material and Polyester I think (I'm at work right now. When I get home, I'll see what type of material it is). Anyway, as soon as we got home, I sprayed Shout on the butter spots, rubbed it in, let it sit for a while, and then I rubbed laundry detergent on the spots and washed the pants in the washer immediately. I put the pants in the dryer and when they came out, you can still see where the butter spots were.

And no, I am not talking like dirt is some large thing that cannot dissolve. Dirt isn't the only thing that could be in your hair or clothes when your hair is not clean. Of course plain ol' dirt from the ground can get out of hair and clothes pretty easily. However, dirt is not the same as grease, butter, oil, thick stuff like that which can be difficult to get out of hair and clothes, even when washing.

And the people you are talking about that can get their hair clean in twists and braids probably do not pile their hair with thick butters, creams, oils, or greases.

Poohbear ^^this just makes my point. It's not about whether the clothes can be cleaned or not; it's about whether the product you are using and your method are adequate enough to get things clean.

In Kenya we have a detergent called Omo. I do not even need Shout to wash butter off clothes. Just warm water and Omo and rubbing the stain directly is enough. I don't put a lot of stock in Shout. We have the wipes at work, and you know how they show on TV that you spill coffee or whatever and it cleans them off. Never worked. What works, is going to the wash hand basin in the bathroom, applying oodles of soap and rubbing stain then running water through the strain and yes, I end up with a wet patch but nothing that paper towels can't dab to make less wet and sometime won't dry to a clean shirt. It has worked on cotton; it has worked on acrylic sweaters that are white. And remember my story about turmeric mask, my woolly cap got clean without shout: just hand soap and water. I don't even have Omo in case you think it's just Omo that works wonders.

Do you know that even car grease can be washed off clothes? I've done it and not with a washing machine. You've got the right products, and you don't just toss it into a machine but aggravate it with your hands, and you can get it clean. Even blood stains come off clothes when I wash them, while I have a friend who'd toss her drawls when they got stained coz that was an exclamation mark (end of discussion) as far as she was concerned, not an ellipsis.

Clarifying shampoos are made to clean off thick build up. What sort of build up are we talmbout? Oil, dirt, sweat, the works! *I* washed off Vaseline aka grease that was so thick on my hair that it had the color it has in the bottle (white) instead of just being shiny see-through, and I washed it off my twists with no problem. So what you talmbout dirt not being the same as grease. My shampoo cleans both and that's what a good shampoo--and especially a clarifying shampoo--is supposed to do. BTW shampoos and detergents are similar cleaning agents because they are supposed to be that good at cleaning.

The outfit you say that had butter that didn't get clean would still not have gotten clean if it was just frilly strings, because your method or products were lacking in ability to get things clean. Another thing you're not considering is the stuff you are trying to clarify from your hair is stuff that sits on top of strands, not soaks into the cortex of your hair...so even my examples would seem more difficult to "fix" since clothes are made of threads which are woven fibers. If you look at a thread, it looks like a minute twist...so we're talking about stuff soaking into the weaving of the threads and then into the threads themselves and still coming out. When it comes to hair, we're talking about stuff that you applied to hair when twisting and then stuff that got thicker and thicker as you applied to the outside. I KNOW the inside can be cleaned because I understand how soap works. But c'mon now, the outside is a breeze. In fact, it would seem to me that undoing the twists would be making it harder to remove the surface buildup from days of layered moisturizing.

Anyway, y'all do what you do, and I can bet my bottom dollar, you will continue creating problems.

Curlykale, your point about not being able to clean base of twists I pointed out as being the only thing I see that could be difficult with thick twists, especially if done firmly at the base. But unless my twists are braided at the base, they get puffy so the same way I'd be able to reach through an afro to my scalp to massage, is the same way I'd reach between the strands at the base to massage my scalp. Unless you're taking a comb and parting millimeter thin sections over and over again to clean your scalp, I don't see how cleaning the scalp is easier when your hair looks like this:

That's like one giant base of a twist...with hair so compacted that it's a feat to get to scalp easily.

Compare that with this image of big braids:

These are firmly done so yes getting to the scalp looks impossible...but when wet, not only do I find the base loosens, but also the fact that the base is stretched makes for easy penetration to scalp.

When I wash my hair in braids, the only reason I undo to comb through is to remove shed hair and make sure hair is fully detangled. When I apply shampoo, I don't even use an applicator bottle. Just my fingers and I reach inside the base of the braids and massage. I don't do that when my hair is loose. That'd only tangle my hair. I clean my scalp when my hair is braided.

But then again, maybe I've just got mad skills so *shrug*.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie - Yes, some have addressed the tangles involved in washing loose hair. Again, you have to keep in mind that not everyone's hair is the same. My hair is easier and quicker to wash when it's loose. Washing in sections and having to untwist/braid then retwist/braid is too much work for me. Key words: for me.

The key with washing your hair loose is to keep it SOAKING/DRENCHED with water and when you detangle, you do it under the water flow pressure from the shower head. You don't let your hair shrink up like the picture you posted here (which I think is a beautiful texture by the way, not a nest):

My hair would look like this too if I didn't detangle properly and allow the water flow pressure to stretch out my hair. This would also happen to my hair if I just piled all my hair at the top of my head and just rubbed my hands around in circular motions, then rinsed and let it dry.

@Poohbear Now see, your statement in bold just tells me that your hair is would be A LOT easier to clean in twists than mine. You say your hair would look like that too if it is not detangled. Only my hair is fully detangled in that photo. In fact, the comb that I used to comb through that hair just as it is in that photo is this seamless fine tooth comb:

When it comes to absence of tangles, I claim the trophy coz while many folks on the forum wish for "definition" and clumping, I fight it tooth and nail which is why I use a fine tooth comb and not wide tooth combs when my hair is loose. I use the pick to pick out my afro...but when I want to give my hair a good comb through--and ever since I discovered seamless combs--fine-tooth combs is all I use.

Also your statement that the key to washing hair loose is to keep it soaked and drenched with water and when you detangle do it under running water is telling. See, I don't get tangles that need detangling EVER. I can comb my hair without the need for water to stretch out my strands because I keep it detangled 24/7. This is my hair soaking wet and I just passed that fine tooth comb through it. I was able to because it was washed in braids so strands kept from wrapping around each other and tangling.

Also when my hair is soaking wet under the shower head flow, it doesn't open up into waves. (We had this discussion before when folks were talmbout running fingers through drenched hair. And I'm looking at my hair and going ) Also you're preaching to the choir when you talk about hair needing to be drenched and soaking wet because the very first video I made was when trying to help Mwedzi figure out how to pass a comb through her hair when she had conditioner on it and she posted a video of how hard it was. I wrote a whole novel explaining that hair has to soaking wet with both conditioner and water and even in that video you can still see, hair shrinks back and would create the perfect trap IMO for dirt if dirt were something that needs to be freed like you are all making out: hhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCcoXph8tF4&feature=plcp
That contraction of the strands would just become a trap

I don't disagree that undoing and rebraiding as you wash takes a long time. But you don't have to that if you don't want to. I only do it coz I'm anal about removing shed hair and because I never want to devote any of my life to detangling--and never have had to because I'm that meticulous in removing shed hair. Otherwise as I stated, there are people who keep braids in all through the wash and only undo when they are done washing and they too get their hair gets clean. Also the time you "save" by not rebraiding to keep tangles at bay is spent detangling and dealing with SSKs while as I keep posting, my life doesn't have time for all of that and I never have to worry about them either. Also my washes take 5-10 mins from start to finish and ready to walk out the door...and about 30 minutes if I'm DCing (and that involves two shampoos with ten mins of DCing or one shampoo with 15 mins of DCing and a second conditioner in both cases and an ACV dunk) and I don't have the long sessions of detangling, search and destroy, or whatever it is y'all have to do that makes hair occupy so much of your time.

So we return to the same thing I've been saying all along, it's not that hair cannot get clean when braided or twisted, it's whether one has the ability (skills) to do it or not. OP, you will only know which group you belong to when you try it. Don't let the scare stories stop you from trying something I've been doing for at least 3/4 of my life without issues. (When I was in braids, I washed my hair in braids too and wore braids for at least a year and a half straight.)

 

[Evolving78]

when i had locs, i clarified all of the time. i didn't use moisturizing shampoos or conditioners. they would have caused slip. my locs were clean all the way through and when i took them down, i didn't have any crazy buildup.

oh and i had micro braids (my own hair, no extensions) and i used nothing but clarifying shampoo. my hair was very healthy and not dry. all i did was use a moisturizing spritz, a little bit of jojoba oil. i didn't slap a bunch of creams and butters in my hair.