My traumatizing hair week

[belletropjolie]

Ok I'm being a little dramatic but hear me out

I have had an absolutely ridiculous time with my hair this past week. In fact I was joking with my mom that I am traumatized by it...except I was only 1/2 kidding.

So I decided to take out my weave last Friday and it took me 2 WHOLE DAYS to take out the tracks and partially detangle my hear (I want even able to fully detangle)

I was supposed to meet up with friends for lunch on Saturday and I still had braids I hadn't taken down so I made a bun over the braids in the middle).

The whole thing was just a disaster- knots and tangles galore. I dc'd twice this week and each time it took me over 2 hours to detangle.

I finally relaxed yesterday (while on vacay :-( ) and it took about 31/2 hours just to detangle ,pre-part and relax just one half of my head!! I used the half and half method.

I am so done with my hair, nothing should take up so much or my time ugh! The hair is just too dang thick. I'm just curious, naturals is this how Detangling is for you guys?? I plan on going natural at some pointin the future but now I'm a bit nervous.

Anyway I am now #teamboneskraight and happy that I can now significantly reduce the time I spend on my hair. I DC'd after my relaxer slicked into a pony tail and I was done.


edited for grammar

 

[Channy31]

For me as long as I look after my hair detangling doesn't take long at all. Maybe 15 minutes. If i don't look after it, it takes closer to an hour maybe. Very rarely though.

 

[MystiqueBabe]

I am natural and it has never taken me over 30 mins to detangle my hair. Even while it was it's longest around mbl. My hair is now almost APL and it takes me less than 15 mins to detangle. All I do is cleanse, condition, m&s, put gel on it, and bun while wet.

 

[Seamonster]

Detangling the hair is a broad term. Some naturals do quick detangling sessions, and some take all day. It is a matter of personal preference and technique.

 

[perfectlyImperfect]

Op I'm sorry you had such a tough time! I can't say that I've had a really hard time detangling my hair since I started being natural and really taking Care of it. I think my saving grace has been detangling in sections while covered in conditioner. If I'm in some sort of braids or twists I will finger detangle each braid/twist as I'm taking it down. But the more I'm learning my hair, the easier its becoming.

 

[southerncitygirl]

i detangle very quickly but my product s and technique assist with this process.

 

[naturalmanenyc]

Detangling natural hair and detangling after a weave take down are two very different things. I can detangle my own natural hair in under 15 minutes after a deep condition on dry hair. However, I've spent hours detangling relaxed hair after taking out a weave.

 

[belletropjolie]

Thanks for chiming in ladies!

I think my issues were a combination of: a ton of shed hair, a lot of very thick new growth and a bit of matting from me washing my hair under the weave.

In retrospect I think taking my time to properly detangle was well worth it otherwise I would have lost even more hair.

I'm glad to hear this is not the norm for naturals who detangle. I just remember reading some threads from naturals who mentioned it took them hours to detangle. I get that wouldn't be the case if you are doing a quick wash go or fluffed out style.

 

[SoulQueenSama]

It takes me a while to detangle if I'm not using the right products, but my hair is MBL. If my conditioner doesn't have enough slip, I know I'll be detangling in the shower for 30-60 minutes. It's a pain.

 

[DarkJoy]

How did you treat the hair BEFORE the install? How long have you stretched this time? It could be a bad mix between your natural hair and the relaxed hair. Also, how are you treating your hair (not the weave) when it's in the weave?

when my natural 4b/c/z hair is well moisturized (consistently for weeks), I really dont have much detangling even after an install. I keep my installs in 2-3 weeks at a time. I seriously have almost zero tangles when I taake down.

Right now, I'm in a crochet weave/braids. Take down and detangling take about an hour total.

However, there's all the prep work BEFORE the cornrows. Wash or co-wash, protein reconstructor, detangling (10 mins or so), and a heavy sealer. The seamless combing on really skinny sections as I part for the cornrows.

Then there's care of my own hair and scalp--forget the weave! I do a watered down co-wash (very diluted) then spray the tracks with home made moisturizer (every 2 days and after the co-wash) and coat the scalp and tracks only with a butter mix.

SO again, perhaps its the pre-install and during install-work that needs addressing more than anything else.

 

[belletropjolie]

How did you treat the hair BEFORE the install? How long have you stretched this time? It could be a bad mix between your natural hair and the relaxed hair. Also, how are you treating your hair (not the weave) when it's in the weave?

when my natural 4b/c/z hair is well moisturized (consistently for weeks), I really dont have much detangling even after an install. I keep my installs in 2-3 weeks at a time. I seriously have almost zero tangles when I taake down.

Right now, I'm in a crochet weave/braids. Take down and detangling take about an hour total.

However, there's all the prep work BEFORE the cornrows. Wash or co-wash, protein reconstructor, detangling (10 mins or so), and a heavy sealer. The seamless combing on really skinny sections as I part for the cornrows.

Then there's care of my own hair and scalp--forget the weave! I do a watered down co-wash (very diluted) then spray the tracks with home made moisturizer (every 2 days and after the co-wash) and coat the scalp and tracks only with a butter mix.

SO again, perhaps its the pre-install and during install-work that needs addressing more than anything else.

Good questions DarkJoy I think this was a perfect storm of things. 1) I stretched for about 18 weeks (my timing/math is a bit fuzzy though, lets just say my last relaxer was sometime in February) 2) I washed my hair under the install about every week which caused quite a bit of build up 3) I kept the install in about 3 months which was probably pushing it.

The shed hair plus the build up from all the washing plus the shed hairs I think contributed to all this. Also I just remembered I was cowashing with Aussie moist 3 minute which probably wasn't diluted enough.

I'm taking notes to not repeat this for my next install. I will also keep it for maybe 2 months max.