detangling advice

[coolsista-paris]

hi ladies, tell me please if im doing something wrong.

a friend once did my hair and pulled it all around like hell. saying if i don't detangle VERY well it will never grow.. i saw all that hair on the comb and felt bad!!

i washed my hair today (i put oil in it for at least 3 or 4 hours before shampoo)

tried to detangle a bit. i did it under the shower by section (wet) it was very soft but there was again HAIR all over the place.

am i doing this right? or should I detangle a bit less? im wondering if i'll ever reach my goal if i shampoo and detangle like this every week?????

 

[Nonie]

coolsista-paris, what is "detangling"? Are you talking about passing a comb through your hair? Or is your hair matted and full of tangles and you are trying to take strands out of the jumbled mess?

The first one is called "combing". The second one is called "detangling".

Also how do you wear your hair between washes. Like after you wash and dry, what do you do in the week? Is your hair loose? How do you style it? How often do you comb it?

Once you answer these questions, I will be able to answer yours.

 

[demlew]

coolsista-paris - Also, what products are you using to wash/condition/detangle? Are you also using a wide-tooth comb? What's your reggie?

 

[Bublin]

I was having that trouble until i took Nonie's advice and sectioned up my hair (keeping each section braided as you go along) and actually detangled whilst i had a moisturising shampoo on my hair. It provided great slip.
I also found that i was leaving ALOT of shed hair in my hair by not detangling properly and that was causing the breakage and tangling. During that first session of combing whilst having shampoo in my hair, a ton of shed hair came out with a medium sized comb - i usually always use a wide shower comb which obviously wasn't getting all the shed hair out. Since that huge removal session 2 weeks ago and a good trim (today), i have not suffered half as much breakage and tangling when i wash and style and hair.

 

[coolsista-paris]

thanks for answering nonie.i mostly mean passing the comb. (im trying to make the comb pass trhough easily but maybe thats wrong as im natural and that im just waisting my time and hair doing that?) do you try to make the comb go through by combing again and again??

after washing (i do it on 4 sections) i add shea butter, hair is so soft, then put the 4 sections in individual braids) week days, i do a bun (this messed up my hair but normally i have to at work, i guess i was not moisturising the hair enough but even doing it....feels like the bun isnt too good)

twists : same thing looks good at first, then a week after i have to change already and i never wear the twists out, always put up.

to wash: either amla, shikakai, or apoghee moisture shampoo (it doesnt dry my hair when i pre oil my hair)

between shampoos i try not to use the comb to much, i do the minimum but don't detangle deeply.

i always use wide tooth comb

 

[Nonie]

OK, coolsista-paris I don't see anything you're doing that is wrong so far. I don't like Shea butter and like you it made my hair soft on application but it'd dry and I'd be left with steel wool or a brush for hair. Plus combing it was impossible once dry. Still, it works for many plus your hair is braided so can't knock it...and don't see any problem there.

I don't know about many products but if your products are full of protein then you need a very good DCing conditioner. When I hear Apoghee (a product I've never used BTW) I always think of protein so if it is, I'd suggest a moisture shampoo and then just use any strengthening ones once a while kinda like how people do protein treatments. I consider Garnier Fructis a strengthening shampoo and use if I feel I've gone a little too long w/o using a reconstructor to condition my hair.

(im trying to make the comb pass trhough easily but maybe thats wrong as im natural and that im just waisting my time and hair doing that?) do you try to make the comb go through by combing again and again??

OK, yes and no. First of all, for you to be able to get the comb to go through your hair, you hair CANNOT be dry. The only time you will see me combing my hair like that is when it's wet and full of conditioner like in this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCcoXph8tF4

But notice what I do: while the slip of conditioner + water can make the comb go through over and over with ease, I still use my hand to open up the curls so that pathway for the comb is easy.

Hair that isn't straight or wavy is curly or coil, so after the comb goes through, the coils wrap around each other so you have hair that cannot let a comb through. It doesn't matter how many times you do this, the elasticity of the coils will cause them to retract and hook up again.

But ^^this is even more so if you're combing dry hair. I use S Curl as my moisturizer when combing my hair because it's wet and slippery and makes my hair feel the way it does when wet with conditioner. I can comb over and over as I do with conditioner without hair breaking all over the place.

Another thing to remember is you are SUPPOSED to lose at least 50-100 PER DAY. That is the normal way things work. If you've been in braids for a whole week (7 days), we're talking about 350-700 hairs that you should've lost. They don't get glued back to your head just coz you didn't mess with your hair. Your follicles spit them out and they just stay caught up in your braids until you undo. So you will get a lot of hairs coming out after a whole week of not manipulating your hair. In fact, since you use a wide tooth comb, you probably don't remove them all so the ones from last week are still there this week so each week just seems to have more hairs being lost. But if you were not losing hair then it'd mean your hair were not growing so shed hairs are a good sign that your follicles are still alive and well and getting ready to produce new fresh hairs that will be in even better condition than before because you are eating better now and caring for your hair better with knowledge you've acquired thus far.

So this is what I suggest, do all your combing, when you wash your hair. Read this thread explaining how I wash in braids and wash like this. It takes long when you first do it, but you will be so glad you did.

When you finish washing, airdry in braids as I suggest than undo each braid and apply your moisturizer. If you are able to, part a narrow section of the braid, apply moisturized well and run the comb through. Part another narrow section, moisturie and run the comb through again. Or if you're more comfortable applying to damp hair, then do so before your hair airdries at the end of the wash. The dampness of the hair will make stretching it and passing comb through easy. Then braid the hair that YOU know is fully detangled because you have been combing it all along and leave it along to airdry stretched.

When you undo, you will not need to run the comb through again. All the combing you did will have removed shed hair and confirmed your hair is free of tangles. So now you can do your braids. And because you part smaller sections to braid, combing those should be easy because your hair is stretched, or you may find like in the image I showed of my airdried bare hair, that you don't need to comb at all. You can finger part and the hair is so well separated and stretched you can just braid it.

So what will you have done, you will have done the PROPER combing while hair is wet and slippery. You will have removed all shed hair during the washing process. You will have hair that is fully detangled and so you can braid it knowing that there are no tangles. Come wash day again, you follow this procedure and I assure you, you will find that your hair isn't the nightmare it seems to be. (BTW it looks beautiful in your profile.)

I hope I answered all your questions. Let me know if I left any out.

 

[coolsista-paris]

thanks alot. and for the compliment.
as my baby is 5 months old (at end of pregnancy till now ive been lazy !!) and i have a 3 year old too.+ back to work since 2 months. its been very tiring these months so ive put less time to my hair.

i never detangle when dry. i think next time i'll detangle like you said with condit so that it slips well.

i remember when i used to do my avocado mix (avocado, oil, essential oil) my hair was great and it was sooooooooooooooo easy to pass that comb.

i'll get back to that when i get more time.

need that motivation. my hair can grow but i need to take care of it better. poor head of mine.