I believed webbed hair is caused by improper detangling before wash day, build up of shed hairs and product build up that fine hairs have to avoid.
True, but imo, it's a chicken or the egg issue. Meaning, high porosity/ raised cuticles are what lead to improper detangling because the hairs
want to stick together. So, when you come along to detangle, it's harder, you fear breakage, and so you leave it alone in an attempt not to cause any more damage, which is why there's a build up of shed hairs.
For example, my natural hair can either be cottony or wiry. I finger detangle almost exclusively. When it's cottony, it webs, even though I'm handling it the same and using the same products. Then I use some protein or do MHM (both cuticle-closing actions) and then it's wiry, easy to detangle, non-webby.
Or another example. My crochet braid reggie is simple: leave it alone while it's in, take down, keep it loose for a week during which I protein, MHM everyday, etc, then put in the next set.
When I took it out, it felt cottony. There was a TON of shed hair (two months worth!) and so, while I wanted to detangle immediately, I held off until I had done two protein treatments (Aphogee 2 mi, but for 10 min, and a Cherry Lola treatment). That took about three days. And then it was super easy to detangle.
Tbh, MHM is the only way I've found to keep it wiry without doing anything special, like protein treatments or whatever. I think it's because the process
manually closes the cuticle (maybe it's just the clay?), while protein closes the cuticle but in a more roundabout fashion (by filling in the chips in the cuticle).