By Cipriana of Urbanbushbabes.com

Ah the age-old burning question…how exactly do I finger detangle? Well all jokes aside perhaps not an age-old question but a burning question nevertheless that I have been asked time and time again. So lets get down to it! How exactly do I finger detangle so efficiently that I am able to run a comb through my hair afterwards without any tangles or knots along the way… Trial and Error. Yes my friends, to put it simply, the method I use today was found through trial and error. But the hardships I’ve experienced have lead me to a finger detangling process that reaps the most benefits for my hair.

Initially I had no clue how to finger detangle and I soon learned if not done thoroughly and properly, finger detangling can lead to locing of the strands and breakage. The locing I experienced was so extreme that it eventually lead to another big chop. After that fiasco I came to understand that there is a lot to finger detangling — especially for kinky hair textures — and not taking all the proper precautions can lead to frequent problems.

Today the way I finger detangle my strands has contributed to drastically more length, density and far less split ends. Stay with me as I discuss my 10 step finger detangling process.

1. Dry Your Hair

The curlier the hair the more fragile it is because at every curling point along the strand is a potential point of breakage. By adding water to the equation tension is increased as your hair absorbs the weight of the water. Now all your potential points of breakage are even more fragile. Now I must say that dry detangling works differently depending on an individual’s porosity LINK, individual strand density and texture, but I have found that my extremely fine and kinky textured hair responds successfully to dry detangling.

2. Oil Strands

When some individuals think of dry finger detangling they think in literal terms of “DRY”. How you define dry finger detangling is of course entirely up to you but my definition means no use of water and heavy use of oils. Oils and butters add slip, which is essential for a successful dry finger detangling experience.

3. Stretch

The finer and curlier your hair is the more beneficial it will be for you to stretch you hair beforehand. Stretching will create less shrinkage, enabling you to remove tangles more easily since the strands do not curl right back up on themselves. Curly/unstretched hair makes fishing out knots more difficult and creates further tangles. The night before I plan to dry finger detangle I usually stretch my 150 loose twists with bantu knots or braids. Remember the bantu knot or braid should be firm but not tight especially when you are stretching tangled strands.

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By Jc of The Natural Haven

Reducing the time it takes to detangle hair is a priority for some naturals. Detangling wet hair is one way to do this but care has to be taken to avoid breakage given the hair can easily over stretch and shrinkage is operating in full force.

Combing out conditioner soaked hair is the most common method used in natural salons as time is of the essence, with stylists aiming to complete detangling within 30 minutes for most lengths.

Here are some tips and tricks on how you can achieve a quick detangle and develop confidence with handling your hair fully wet/shrunken.

1. Detangle and section

Before wetting your hair, lightly detangle it while it is dry.  Any tangles that can be easily sorted out by this process will reduce the upcoming work during wet detangling. You do not have to address any major tangles at this point, just  the ones that are quick and obvious.  Feel free to use oil to help the process and if your hair is longer,  section the hair into 8 or more sections (braid, twist or clip depending on your shrinkage/preference). You can then proceed to shampoo and condition or co-wash your hair as you prefer.

2. Cover ALL your hair in conditioner

The backbone of this routine is conditioner and the key is to ensure that your conditioner is able to coat every single strand. To do this, you will need to unbraid or unravel each twist from your sections and apply a liberal amount of conditioner to the hair before  rebraiding or retwisting. Do only one section at a time to avoid unnecessary shrinkage. Selecting a conditioner with good slip is essential as it will spread easily over the hair and help with the combing process.

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By Cipriana of Urbanbushbabes.com

To comb or not to comb that is the question! Well for those who know my hair practices the answer is obvious. For those who don’t, let me just say the comb has become a distant memory…….comb what, comb who?  All jokes aside for my hair I feel finger detangling on dry hair has become a necessity, not an option at this stage of the game.

Type 4 hair is the most fragile of all hair types because every curling point along the strand is a potential point of breakage and the curlier the hair the more potential points of breakage. In additiona, we curlies have to factor in dryness that results from a lack of sebum traveling down our highly textured strands. (Sebum is an oily substance, released from microscopic subaceous glands on the scalp, that lubrciate the skin and hair.)

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By Jc of The Natural Haven

Getting rid of shed hair, knots and tangles is the main purpose of detangling.  For natural hair, the detangling process can be difficult depending on the length of your hair, how dry it is and how it shrinks when wet. It is however possible to detangle hair wet or dry and for many, the detangling process that you use evolves with time and greater understanding of your hair’s behaviour.

Here is a guide on whether to choose wet or dry detangling

1. The Case for Wet Detangling

What it is:  Hair is coated in conditioner and then combed (finger, comb and/or brush) or hair is soaking wet in the shower and combed while conditioner is being rinsed out

Advantages: The main reason why people choose wet detangling is because it is easier and hair does not tend to break when the comb is repeatedly run through it. Hair conditioner is known to reduce damage to hair during the combing process. This is thought to happen because conditioner softens hair, corrects the charge from shampoo /aligns the cuticle correctly and reduces friction between the hair and combing tool.

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by Cipriana of Urban Bush Babes

It was just an ordinary Saturday afternoon and I was watching one of my favorite movies, while performing one of my not so favorite necessities… detangling my hair. I don’t hate detangling but I don’t love it either. I do love the results afterwards which makes it more than bearable! As I was watching the movie I received a text about a last minute business dinner later that day. Great!!! I wasn’t even half way through my detangling session so there was no way I was going to finish before dinner.

Since I had already detangled about a quarter of my hair that quarter was more stretched than the rest of my tangled sections so for the tangled sections to appear similar to the detangled section, I placed my loose twists into “twisted bantu knots” to stretch the rest of my hair. Several hours later I took the bantu knots out and put my hair up into one of my favorite updo styles and kept it moving. When I came home later that night after the dinner I was too tired to stay up and start detangling my hair so I waited until the morning and boy did I discover a wonderful surprise!

As I begin to detangle the sections of hair I hadn’t finished the previous day I noticed the sections were more manageable and easier to get through than usual. Then it clicked, the day before I had placed my tangled loose twist into bantu knots to stretch them a bit. The stretch caused my curls to loosen and I was able to detangle easier and faster than normal, which cut my detangling session in half! This of course would make sense because the curlier and finer the hair the more difficult it is to detangle, but stretch those curls a bit before you detangle and things go much smoother.

As with anything there are precautions to take with stretching tangled hair in preparation for detangling. Here are some guidelines I follow to secure minimal to no breakage.

Protective Styling

Yes, stretching can be done on freeform strands but hair that is worn in a protective style during the week is better for attempting this method because the hair is already somewhat separated. Dry stretching on freeform strands is possible, but it will take more time, patience and effort.

Twisting Over Braiding

When twisting you only have to separate out 2 sections versus 3 when you braid and when messing around with tangled strands the less stress you put on your hair is the better.

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