Hi OP it sounds like you are over engineering it to me. My advice would be to get the Phillip Kingsley Elasticizer extreme and apply to your DRY hair in fat/ big twists, DC with heat and them allow to cool and then detangling in these sections individually and then re-twisting each section. You can then rinse and do what ever comes next in these twists before styling. I find the EE amazing on my hair and over time itmhas made my hair progressively softer and popped my little curls making detangling easier (20 minutes tops incl the whole detangling routine and the whole re-twisting). I also use a wide toothed bone comb and loose little hair in the whole process.
HTH's