I’ve never encountered anyone who had a ”proper” theory on the detangling process. Here are my thoughts…
Since it seems the front of your hair is weaker by nature and seems to take the most abuse from handling and environment, I try to spare it. It’s not something I put a lot of effort into, but I have just made it a habit.
For my morning detangling, after unbraiding, I separate my hair in two using my fingers. It gets a bit crooked and isn’t very accurate since I separate it where it feels the easiest.
Then I start combing it out. I start in the back and work myself up/forward. My reasoning for this is that when you have detangled a knot, you have also semi-detangled the neighbour hair.
That way when starting in the back and moving forwards and up, the front parts are almost already detangled and have very little resistance when I comb it through.
It might seem like a ridiculously small thing to do, but I believe if you make it a habit and do it every single day, it saves you a lot of handling damage in time.
Let’s say doing this tiny little move “costs” your weaker front hairline just 20 seconds less handling in a day. In one year that adds up to a little over 2 hours of combing.
Not bad for a silly little thing that just comes down to a habit?
Thank you for posting this. I am DreadfulWoman on the LHC and have just recently combed out my dreads. My hair has ended up waist length and *surprise* very wavy, and detangling scares me more than just a little. So finding out tips like this is totally helpful.
ReplyDeleteGreat blog, btw. I have been lurking for a while.
Love the poorly drawn comb ;)
ReplyDeleteSince my hair isn't nearly as thick or long as yours, I've found what causes tangles for me. I find that, for me, after washing I use a wide tooth comb and am very gentle in separating it. I've also found a method of washing/drying the reduce the tangling. This is where I find cone products to be most helpful. Since I have bangs, I don't have front tangle issues.
One thing I've done--not sure if it would work for everyone, is allow a wet tangle to dry. I found detangling easier if hair is dry, if it's a very bad one.
Thank you Sara and Darkhorse :) And excellent input on what causes tangles.
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