To Detangle or Knot?

Protective styles are one of the best ways to transition from chemical to natural hair, minimize the day-to-day efforts of styling, retain length, and increase healthy tresses. When done correctly protective styles can last anywhere from three weeks to three months but one of the biggest mistakes, I see with clients, is NOT properly detangling after removing the protective style.

 On a daily, hair can shed up to 100 strands. I know that sounds like a lot, but every human has an average of 100,000 strands of hair on their head. [To think of God, knowing the number of hairs on each person's head just confirms how amazing He is]. Just because your hair is protected or tucked away doesn’t stop it from shedding; while it's in this state, it has nowhere to go. This is why it seems like a mountain of hair has been lost when you take your style out and comb or brush through it. What you see is hair that would have been lost if you wore it out and combed/brushed daily.

Ever shampoo your hair after removing your style and it tangles? With hair shedding daily, it is vital to detangle before shampooing to ensure matting does not occur, which can cause more harm than good in the long run. When water hits hair it softens and swells (expands) which encourages the strands to intertwine with each other, then adding the friction of shampooing seals the deal and you now have matted tresses. 

Here are some routine you can do to your hair before shampooing to ensure this doesn’t happen to you: 

1.   Once the style has been removed, use a detangling spray or conditioner to soften the strands. I personally love Paul Mitchell's “The Conditioner” as a detangling product.

2.   Using a medium to wide tooth comb, take a subsections no wider than a baby’s fist and comb from the ends towards the scalp. You want to do this until you can comb through the section with ease from scalp to end. 

3.   Continue this process until your entire head has been detangled. 

4.   Proceed to shampoo using a sulfate-free shampoo.

Although you detangled prior to shampooing, you should still detangle again after shampooing and conditioning to ensure all loose strands have been removed. From here you can condition, treat and proceed with styling.

Other tips: 

1.    Be gentle with your hair when detangling, being rough can cause breakage and split ends.

2.   I always recommended detangling hair with some sort of conditioner on it or when wet, never dry as this can cause breakage.

3.    Always start from the ends and work your way to the scalp.

4.   Speak affirmations over your hair as you detangle

5. Sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase, or with a bonnet with hair in a pineapple until you can detangle.

6. Minimize sweating as much as possible. 

7. Avoid getting your hair wet.

Until Next time, Happy detangling!