How I Wash in Braids...

[Nonie]

my hair is so fine yet dense it would take me forever to finger detangle that way~you have so much patience!

theNaturalWonders don't be fooled. I only finger comb when I'm in twists, and that's coz I work on one twist at a time. I'm lazier than anyone else I know so don't think I would be crazy to finger comb a full head of loose hair. Nah suh! I have been wearing twists since August 2010 and the most hair I have out at a time is ONE twist. And wanna know how much hair is in one twist? You can guess by seeing how many twists there are:

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And here's a close up of how skinny that sections I'm finger combing is:

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When my hair is out? I use a comb ALL THE TIME! The finger combing vid was just to demo how anal I am about separating strands and removing shed hair even when not using a comb. When people say they finger comb and only get 5 shed hairs a day, I know they aren't meticulous coz at least 50 hairs should be shed a day unless your hair isn't growing.

 

[theNaturalWonders]

thank u thank u thank u for clarifying!! your braids are so neat and frizz free they look extremely straight which is why i questioned. i am going to try your methods and see if anything changes...i am now getting into the habit of habitually dusting every 3 months maybe i need to bump it up to every 2.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie, my hair still gets knots when I wash in braids or twists. Do you think it is possible to wash in sections (unbraided or untwisted) and still reduce SSKS?

Then again, my lack of detangling each braid or twist could be part of my problem..:scratchch

Arian, how often do you dust?

Seriously, people who dust regularly (meaning they do it often enough to not allow ends to get ruggedy even at a small scale) don't seem to have problems with SSKs. Some people use the appearance of SSKs as a sign that they need to dust. So maybe that could be it?

Also what products do you use?

I'm trying to remember who it is who told me she has good success washing hair loose. THAT to me is scary!!! Coz your hair is just free to curl back on itself. Personally I feel if braids cannot stop your hair from matting up, washing it loose will not be any better. But I could be wrong.

I think there's someone who uses oil to comb through her hair before washing. Where's Irresistible to share her knowledge on oil rinsing? Maybe that can help? But I still feel that after you comb through, braiding the hair pronto keeps it from getting tangled.

OK, I'm hooked on braids. I have been natural for more years of my life and the only reason I am so at home with my hair is because braids have always kept my hair from turning into an uncombable mass.

If I washed my hair loose and let it airdry loose, it would shrink down to something so compact you could wipe muddy shoes off it with ease. This is puff that was airdried loose:

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There's no way I could be able to deal with it if I washed it loose coz I'd not be able to comb it.

 

[Nonie]

thank u thank u thank u for clarifying!! your braids are so neat and frizz free they look extremely straight which is why i questioned. i am going to try your methods and see if anything changes...i am now getting into the habit of habitually dusting every 3 months maybe i need to bump it up to every 2.

theNaturalWonders you can try 2.5. I do it every 8 weeks because the sooner I do it, the more likely I'm to catch splits before they have even become visible to the naked eye. That means I can get away with dusting just a teeny bit. And dusting a teeny bit means I get to retain more. The risk in waiting longer than you should have is the splits grow so much that when you dust, you may not remove them all and so your hair starts to appear not to grow and that's because the ends that were starting to tear were left behind so that your ends were still weak.

It's like if you wait too long and then dust just a little, you're really dusting at C below. Notice how much damage you leave behind to the left of C. So those worn ends are weaker than full ends and they'll slow wither away...or continue to tear up the strand so that each dusting session just doesn't really do much to fix it.

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So I say better play it safe and dust early so that you can be sure that even if you take a little out, the splits didn't really get a chance to grow that much...so chances are you got them. If you haven't dusted regularly before, your first time would have to be a huge trim to get rid of the withered ends. And then you can start a regular schedule that will only require a tiny bit taken from the ends. I hope I'm making sense.

 

[Nonie]

This use to work for me while transitioning but now fully natural no maam pam! My hair is def. type 4 texture but is heavily coiled at my ENDS only. Weird. So if I wash in braids my hair will get SSK and a little fused at the end but in twist its ok to wash. I now just wash it loose. Weird I know. My hair is cottony from roots down but the ends have noticable med to small coils. Still type 4 though.

hair4romheaven, how often do you dust? Also how do you wear your hair most of the times? Do you braid your hair at night? How long is your hair?

 

[Cendra]

That is some crazy shrinkage you got going on, there. I like your ringlets, they're so uniform!
As for that video....I hope that guy kept his day job.

 

[Nonie]

That is some crazy shrinkage you got going on, there. I like your ringlets, they're so uniform!
As for that video....I hope that guy kept his day job.

LOL Cendra Which video? There are quite a few in this thread...

Oh, you picking on My Therapy Buddy too? See, this is why you still don't know that everything is going to be awwwwwwright!

Dude made it...and now has a booming business. So there! to all you naysayers! And MTB has a baby too. Check it out I think we should all order one for everyone we know who leads a stressful life and has a sense of humor. oke:

 

[fluffyforever]

fluffyforever

Girl, how dare you only give TLC to part of your hair?!!! Roots need love too and there's no way you'd have fully detangled hair not combing the entire length. I feel faint again.

Just so you can see how seriously I take keeping strands detangled, this is how I finger-comb a twist section before I retwist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5iU4NgNGgI

And while people are so excited to see strands clump, I make every effort to keep mine separated. So usually this is how you'll see my hair even when I haven't run a comb through it:

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I know it sounds bad. But I usually cannot comb my roots because I don't think I detangled thoroughly enough (comb can't move, it just sits on my scalp). I usually only finger detangle the roots, which detangles enough for styling purposes and parting. My roots never lock or get bad, so I avoided combing them in the past.

 

[Nonie]

I know it sounds bad. But I usually cannot comb my roots because I don't think I detangled thoroughly enough (comb can't move, it just sits on my scalp). I usually only finger detangle the roots, which detangles enough for styling purposes and parting. My roots never lock or get bad, so I avoided combing them in the past.

You can't do that fluffyforever You MUST comb it from the time the growth is little by parting your hair and running a fine tooth comb through a narrow section from base to ends. I used to use Paltas BKC Hair Treatment for my new growth and would part a narrow section, apply and comb through and I had fully detangled hair from base to ends. Some people use S Curl on new growth and swear that it softens and makes the new growth manageable. So when I'd go for touchups the stylist would really have an easy time dealing with my hair and it'd not hurt to comb.

I also met a lady who never combed her new growth. Oh gosh, why did I remember that? I feel faint again.

 

[fluffyforever]

You can't do that fluffyforever You MUST comb it from the time the growth is little by parting your hair and running a fine tooth comb through a narrow section from base to ends. I used to use Paltas BKC Hair Treatment for my new growth and would part a narrow section, apply and comb through and I had fully detangled hair from base to ends. Some people use S Curl on new growth and swear that it softens and makes the new growth manageable. So when I'd go for touchups the stylist would really have an easy time dealing with my hair and it'd not hurt to comb.

I also met a lady who never combed her new growth. Oh gosh, why did I remember that? I feel faint again.

This reminded me of when I used to get relaxers, my stylist always complained about me not combing my new growth after a certain amount of weeks post relaxer. Old habits die real hard lol.

But I combed my roots today with a fine tooth comb. I will try to do this every week on wash days.

 

[theNaturalWonders]

@theNaturalWonders you can try 2.5. I do it every 8 weeks because the sooner I do it, the more likely I'm to catch splits before they have even become visible to the naked eye. That means I can get away with dusting just a teeny bit. And dusting a teeny bit means I get to retain more. The risk in waiting longer than you should have is the splits grow so much that when you dust, you may not remove them all and so your hair starts to appear not to grow and that's because the ends that were starting to tear were left behind so that your ends were still weak.

It's like if you wait too long and then dust just a little, you're really dusting at C below. Notice how much damage you leave behind to the left of C. So those worn ends are weaker than full ends and they'll slow wither away...or continue to tear up the strand so that each dusting session just doesn't really do much to fix it.

So I say better play it safe and dust early so that you can be sure that even if you take a little out, the splits didn't really get a chance to grow that much...so chances are you got them. If you haven't dusted regularly before, your first time would have to be a huge trim to get rid of the withered ends. And then you can start a regular schedule that will only require a tiny bit taken from the ends. I hope I'm making sense.

Nonie thanks for the visuals!! it makes perfect sense. i had a hair cut in a hair salon in august to start off fresh and have been regularly dusting since then. i can really tell the difference now when i do need a dusting/trim. i did one in october so its getting close to me doing it which is prolly why i see more ssks than usual. i saw some topics on the tension method with blowdrying and how it worked wonders for the girls that have extremely tangly/curly hair before they braided or twisted but like i stated before i wash my hair on a weekly basis. i cant see myself doing that every weekend. i will invest in some bone combs too. i see they are working nice for your hair

 

[Nonie]

This reminded me of when I used to get relaxers, my stylist always complained about me not combing my new growth after a certain amount of weeks post relaxer. Old habits die real hard lol.

But I combed my roots today with a fine tooth comb. I will try to do this every week on wash days.

Awww....@fluffyforever, you make momma so proud just as you did the first time you announced you needed to go potty so I'd get you to the potty and then you went in the potty and not in your diaper and earned the right to big-girl panties. Oh how you beamed as you chimed "♫I'm a big kid now!"♪ and oh how I clapped and cheered, "Yes you are, Baby! Yes you are!"

Remember how exciting that day was? Well today's a repeat of that. You go girl witcha bad self!!!

 

[pattyr5]

Are you ladies also dc'ing in braids? It seems like this will help to reduce my tangles during the wash but will braids allow the conditioner to do its thing? My hair tangles up so badly even after I detangle that I am tempted to skip doing a dc only because i don't want to go through the nightmare of detangling again.

 

[Nonie]

Are you ladies also dc'ing in braids? It seems like this will help to reduce my tangles during the wash but will braids allow the conditioner to do its thing? My hair tangles up so badly even after I detangle that I am tempted to skip doing a dc only because i don't want to go through the nightmare of detangling again.

pattyr5, yes. The one thing the first post was attempting to do is show you that EVERY STEP of my wash procedure involves having my hair in plaits that get undone in each step, combed through to remove shed hair and ensure good product distribution, and then rebraided before another braided section is attended to. This would not change just because I'm DCing.

When DCing, after the combing through and then rebraiding, I'd wear a plastic cap over the plaits and then finish washing my body (ie finish the shower) and then continue with the rest of the hair washing, either still in the shower...or if I wanted, I could get out, get dressed and then bend over the bathtub and continue washing my hair. A lot of times I do not wash my hair while in the shower but rather standing out. So if that's the case, I'd just wear a cap and go on about my chores then return to the bathroom to finish my wash.

If using AO GPB, I DC on dry way before I even wet my hair to shampoo. So in this case, I'd have my hair in plaits, then I'd undo each plait and apply the conditioner as if it were a moisturizing cream, stretch and comb through...then I'd rebraid--doing this to one braid at a time. Then I'd wear a cap (or not) for 15 minutes after which I'd then follow the procedure in the OP.

Your question about braids allowing the conditioner to do its thing tells me you didn't realize that I don't take chances of product not getting to all the strands. I am so meticulous that I do undo and comb through every step of the way and don't just trust that squeezing is enough. But it's not so much about that, but more about confirming that hair is still detangled and just being sure of good distribution.

When I wear extension braids, they plaits are so thin that there's no question in my mind that product penetrates. I also don't worry about shed hair not being removed because when I redo my braids, one at a time, I usually can finger comb carefully to remove the shed hair so this isn't a problem when wearing extension microbraids.

 

[Bublin]

Are you ladies also dc'ing in braids? It seems like this will help to reduce my tangles during the wash but will braids allow the conditioner to do its thing? My hair tangles up so badly even after I detangle that I am tempted to skip doing a dc only because i don't want to go through the nightmare of detangling again.

Although i applied conditioner THEN plaited back up, I made the mistake of keeping them in whilst i rinsed. Even after an acv rinse, my scalp itched for days until i just had to wash again. For me, i have to undo the plait at every stage to make sure everything is rinsed out - my scalp hates conditioner left on it.

 

[Nonie]

Although i applied conditioner THEN plaited back up, I made the mistake of keeping them in whilst i rinsed. Even after an acv rinse, my scalp itched for days until i just had to wash again.For me, i have to undo the plait at every stage to make sure everything is rinsed out - my scalp hates conditioner left on it.

@ the bold: I couldn't agree more!

 

[pattyr5]

This is a godsend! I think I will finally gain some control over this detangling situation ,.....I just love this board!!

 

[Cendra]

LOL @Cendra Which video? There are quite a few in this thread...

Oh, you picking on My Therapy Buddy too? See, this is why you still don't know that everything is going to be awwwwwwright!

Dude made it...and now has a booming business. So there! to all you naysayers! And MTB has a baby too. Check it out I think we should all order one for everyone we know who leads a stressful life and has a sense of humor. oke:

Yes, the blue dude. LOL. I'd completely forgotten about that, now I'm gonna have to do something to forget about it. That is some creepy ish. erplexed

 

[Meemee6223]

Thanks for the post Nonie! At 16 weeks post my hair was starting to get very tangled when I wash it. This past weekend was my first time washing in sections. It made a world of difference and cut at least an hour from my wash time. I will be washing my hair like this from now on.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2

 

[Nonie]

Yes, the blue dude. LOL. I'd completely forgotten about that, now I'm gonna have to do something to forget about it. That is some creepy ish. erplexed

Sorry this is OT (nothing to do with thread) Cendra, I bought the baby one for a friend and I got to speak to the dude over the phone. He's such a sweetheart and a very kind soul--exactly as I thought he was (I told you he made an impression on me the first time I saw him and I couldn't get him out of my head. Something about him seemed so gentle and sweet and I felt so sorry for him). I'm so getting an autographed one myself when I some dough to spare, and I'm so getting the big one. The little one has a sweeter voice, but I want the original and the real mccoy! Now if I could get the very first one he ever made and the one he brought to the show, you now y'all wouldn't be able to tell me nuffin, right? I'm dead serious.

 

[Cendra]

??? WHAT? LOL. Good thing I'm working from home, I might've gotten kicked out of my cubicle from laughing so hard. Now I need to hear this baby version.....lol.

 

[OhSoJuicy4Life]

I am a newbie and just joined this thread. Thanks Nonie for enlightening me. I am 4B hair all the way and came to LHCF with hopes of better days. You make me feel so much better about my hair woes. I CAN DO THIS!

 

[Lucky's Mom]

Nonie.

You are AWESOME.

In another discussion, I shared the sentiments of the OP on what a nightmare it is if someone with type 4 hair wore microbraids without extensions, washed them repeatedly in the micros and then tried to undo them. The hair literally feels like it's turned into locs. I didn't need more than a week of wearing the front of my hair in bangs of microbraids w/o extensions (I wash twice a week, you see) to quickly get thatmessage. But the term "washing in braids" in that discussion caught my attention and I realized that there are many of us who use it in another way that is actually safe and even good for hair.

So I decided to create this thread just to explain to newbies who may not know of this method how I wash in braids in case it may be helpful to them. So those who already know of this method you'd be wise to exit the thread now for I refuse to be responsible for the boredom you'll be subjected to if you continue reading.

When I use the phrase "washing in braids" what I mean is my hair was loose and I put it in large plaits before I wet it.

This ensures that it stays in the detangled state I had it and shrinkage doesn't cause the strands to curl back and wrap around each other in a way that would cause knots. So when in braids, I wet the hair and apply shampoo to the plaits/braids squeezing them to get it to penetrate the plaits. I apply some to my fingers and feel through the hair that is plaited to my scalp and massage it to my heart's content (Shampooing is a wonderful excuse for me to give myself a scalp massage. If you prefer, you could use an applicator bottle to get shampoo on scalp but I don't find this necessary.) I then undo one of the plaits with shampoo still on and comb through. I stretch out the strands as I comb so that I'm opening up the coils for easy gliding of the comb. (You'll see clip later showing this.) The shampoo also provides slip to make combing easy. The combing helps me remove shed hair and further ensures that hair is still free of tangles. I then braid that back up and do the same on another plait/braid till all have been combed. Plaiting each back promptly ensures that you keep hair in that state where combing is easy.

Next I hold my head under a shower head and rinse off the shampoo first with all the plaits in massaging my scalp and squeezing plaits to get as much of the suds out. I like to repeat the undo and comb through letting the water from the shower stretch my stands and make the comb glide easier through. Undoing and combing while water is running through also ensures that all shampoo is removed. During this combing, I really make sure I'm starting from the base of the hair to the ends. I do that with each braid at a time braiding it back up before working on another.

I then apply conditioner the same way. First to all the plaits, and then I undo each and comb through. This clip shows me combing a wet braid section of my 4B hair with conditioner on it during a "washing in braids" session, and you will notice the stretching out strands I was talking about earlier. (I would like to point out that while I do make an effort to get shampoo on my scalp, it's the opposite when it comes to conditioner: I make an effort not to get it on my scalp by not applying to the section of my hair closest to my scalp. Not only is that hair so much healthier and not in as desperate need of conditioning as the older hair, I also believe it gets "conditioned" often by my sebum (I baggy a lot) plus I don't think conditioner has any business on the scalp as it's supposed to leave a coating on hair and that on the scalp I believe causes itches galore!) So when I undo each plait to comb conditioner through, while I may get comb close to my scalp to comb my hair, I don't try to touch my scalp. Since I've been thorough with the combing thus far and keeping hair in plaits, I can trust the base of my hair is still tangle free. Again, I plait each braid back before moving to the next to comb conditioner through.

Rinsing conditioner off is similar to how I did with the shampoo. And then comes my final and favorite part: the ACV rinse dunk. I mix 1/4 cup of ACV in a basin of about 2 gallons of water. I add about 20 drops of rosemary essential oil and 20 of lavender essential oil and dunk my braided head in there and massage my scalp till I'm in heaven. I lift my head undo one braid, dunk the loose hair and comb it under water...then get up and braid it back up. I do that with all. If I'm in a hurry and haven't got time to dunk, I'll towel dry the plaits after rinsing the conditioner. Then I will undo one at a time, towel dry some more, spritz with an ACV spritz I have in a spray bottle to wet, comb through then plait back. The reason I towel dry first is so that when I spray ACV, I can be sure that all the wetness I now have is from the solution having covered my strands well. I don't want any strand to be left out. I do this to each plait. It is important to me that the last thing I use on my hair is an ACV rinse because it leaves my strands smooth as it closes cuticles. So if I don't do that glorious dunk, then I'll do the spritz and then let my hair dry in the braids. The final braiding I do after my final rinse (you know, the braiding I do to each section after the ACV rinse) is done firmly because it will be my airdrying style and I need the braids to stretch my hair. I do not undo the braids until my hair is fully dried. (Note: up to this point I have no product in my hair!) But don't let the idea of air-drying bare hair scare you; it's not as "dangerous" as it sound....***Everything is going to be all right. Below you can see how hair that is air-dried fully while bare like I do and in plaits ends up so nicely stretched:

At this point I can then apply S Curl and style...and the hair will be easy to comb and work with. In the above pic, I was just going to twist my hair (you can see some already done to the right) and I don't use products for that so the ACV rinse is the last thing I had on my hair. I just undid the braids one at a time and twisted it into small twists. Another thing about the braids in this last photo is they are smaller than I would normally have for a "washing in braid" session. The reason they are so small is it was only the front I was washing like this; the rest of my hair was in braid extensions. Only the front was w/o extensions coz I'd wear twisted bangs. I normally just washed in the twists along with the extensions the easy way, but on this day I just wanted to change the parting in my "bangs" and do the twists afresh so decided to undo them all and "wash in braids".

So yeah, my way of "washing in braids" may be time consuming but it becomes like clockwork once you're used to it and doesn't feel like a chore at all (coz lawd knows they don't make them any lazier than I and I wouldn't be doing it if it felt like "work"). What's more, the fact that I am NEVER faced with knots and tangles in my hair being this anal about keeping my hair detangled just makes it all worthwhile to me.

Usually I wear my hair in twists and so my usual wash sessions take a few minutes because there's no combing involved. Just shampoo, rinse, condition, rinse, ACV rinse, done. That extended ritual of "washing in braids" only happens when I am wearing my hair out.

When I straightened my hair in April 2009 that is how I washed my hair before I braided it with extensions. The first pic below shows the starting point (BTW, I cleverly parted my hair the way I knew the main parts for styling my final braid extensions would be so that I could airdry my hair and it would then be ready for braiding without any special parting being necessary. I'd just undo one braid section at a time, finger part smaller sections to put in extensions, and the rest of the hair would be out of the way and out of danger of tangling. So because of this pre-planning, no comb was necessary during the braiding since the styling parts (meaning the parts that I may want to be seen later when I style my braids depending on how I choose to wear them) were already "set" in advance.

So yeah, this is before the wash:

And this was the end of my wash:

^^I hadn't yet firmly braided each section to stretch the way I suggested you need to do at the end of the wash. This was immediately after the ACV dunk so that was my next step--hence the undone section.

HTH to newbies.


ETA: The Crown & Glory website (www.growafrohairlong.com) has a simpler method where you just keep the braids intact for the duration of the wash and it may work for some better than my method. But I find my way so effective and tangle-proof that I'd not change it for the world.

 

[Lucky's Mom]

seriously - I dont do ANYTHING with loose hair. Good lord.

 

[Nonie]

seriously - I dont do ANYTHING with loose hair. Good lord.

Lucky's Mom, you and I are so >>here<< on many things.

 

[Lucky's Mom]

@Lucky's Mom, you and I are so >>here<< on many things.

Nonie

I know we are ....:blowkiss: I wished we lived in the same state - so we could hang out.... Grab a bite.....

 

[JJamiah]

I miss Nonie ! Truly a sweet and intelligent spirit.