I finally figured out how to comb my darn hair!

CraftyKell

As you already know, my hair is 3c, with a little 4a on my edges. During the THREE YEARS that I have been natural, I did not know why the hell it was so hard to comb my hair, why my curls had so little definition, and why they always seemed to snag up so quickly-- EVEN AFTER I'D JUST COMBED THEM!

Culprit #1

Using any kind of comb or brush will make your hair frizz while DRY. But while wet, finer tooth combs work MIRACLES! It's so simple. How can I possible detangle my hair if the comb can't catch my snags because it's so freaking wide?

All my shedding and breakage has been partially the result of not combing well. The hair that might've come out from a widetooth comb out might've been there for months, clumped in with my good hair!

Most articles say that you should comb your hair in the shower while covered in conditioner. It's MORE important for 3c girls is that each strand gets coated by the moisturizing product they LEAVE IN the hair, not the stuff that gets washed out. Besides, combing your hair out in the shower wastes water and creates disgusting drain clogs. So from now on, I'm going to the majority of my combing OUTSIDE of the shower and AFTER I've put in my leave in!

Culprit #2

Usually, frizz is caused by poorly maintained hair. But the reason why I had a hard time combing through my hair with a fine tooth comb was my ends! Everything would be smooth sailing from root to the majority of my hair shaft. Solution? I snipped off all of those awful ends!

Summary:
1. Keep your ends healthy by keeping them moisturized and staying away from harmful products and styling tools.
2. Finer tooth combs/brushes should be used only while 3c hair is WET and covered in light amount of product that promotes healthy and moisturized hair. This helps separate the curls!

I truly hope that this revelation might help others, because I am seriously so happy right now.

CraftyKell

curledlove

I recently made a similar discovery. I purchased a denman d4 and my life (and hair) changed the moment I used it. Combs weren't really detangling my hair, just pulling it out of my head, this brush actually detangles AND distributes my conditioner through my hair. I also don't detangle in the shower anymore. I put my conditioner in my hair and step out of the shower. I like detangling in front of the mirror where I can see any knots that need to be handled carefully. I guess trial and error is the only way to figure out hire to take care of or curls! Yours are beautiful by the way...

Sent from my Handy dandy cell phone using CurlTalk App

nakka89

Omg I read this yesterday and was having a similar problem!! I was trying to stay away from combs and demans because my curls weren't as defined after I used them...then when you guys said that the fine tooth comb was working for you I decided to try it too...tried it today and my curls came out so beautifully!!! They sprang right up!! it was wonderful!! Thank you so much for sharing this, you have literally turned the life of my curls around!! We really appreciate it lol

Sent from my HTC EVO

nakka89

Detangling with my leave-in products instead of my rinse out conditioner was also a great suggestion... loved the outcome!!...but how often do you all detangle?

Sent from my HTC EVO

QtBoutique

This is really interesting. I might have to try this out. ^_^

curledlove

I detangle every time I wash which is usually every 3-4 days. I work out a lot so if I want presentable looking hair I have to wash more often, but I really don't like to because I feel like too much hair is coming out.

CraftyKell

Curledlove, I sometimes feel as if I see a lot of breakage too! But we have to keep in mind that we're seeing breakage from multiple days.

Also, I really want to understand why I'm experiencing breakage at all. Breakage is the result of weak hair strands, right? So what can I do to make sure my hair stays strong?

1. Make sure I'm healthy first of all (eating right, drinking water, exercising).
2. Keeping my hair healthy. Which for me means not using sulfates, heat, or any other harsh chemical.

I feel like the only things I really need for my hair are my detangling paddle brush, a light oil similar to my body's natural oils, my leave in conditioner, a very mild gel or serum to help maintain my style, and scissors for awful ends (which will hopefully never get awful again due to consistent moisturizing!).

I think the key to having tangle free curls is to detangle when necessary. We shouldn't wait days or weeks when we obviously have a curls that won't separate or look clumped together and gross. All it takes is wetting the hair, applying the styling products, and gently detangling while allowing the fine tooth comb to activate your curls!

CraftyKell

I usually detangle on the third day. Day one is spectacular, day two I'm starting to see clumping. Day three I nip those clumps in the bud before they become fairynots!

CraftyKell

Curledlove, I hope that when you say wash, you just mean rinse out dirt barely every 3-4 days. When you exercise, do you put your hair up? Unless you have naturally oily hair, I wouldn't do anything but rinse every few days. Once a week I would do a major clarifying shampoo wash, followed by deep conditioner, followed by normal styling.

curledlove

Unfortunately, I can't get away with just rinsing my hair every few days. I do put it up when I exercise and when I wash I dilute which ever shampoo I'm using that day and I wash. I really only shampoo my scalp and let the water run down my hair shaft, I feel like that's cleansing enough. I do this every 3-4 days, depending on hire much I've worked out and how I need my hair to look. When I just cowash my scalp gets very itchy and if I go too long without shampoo my face breaks out terribly.

Sent from my Handy dandy smart phone using CurlTalk App

Sempath

I'm going to try this. I have a rat tail comb. Is that ok for detangling?

nakka89

Are you sure that what ur seeing is breakage?...ur probably just shedding... everyone's hair sheds around 100 strands per day thats apart of the natural growth cycle...so for instance, if you're washing ur hair once a week ur gonna see a build up of all those strands opposed to if you wash everyday...so it's ok to see hair coming out when you wash...its normal

Sent from my HTC EVO

nakka89

Sempath wrote: »

I'm going to try this. I have a rat tail comb. Is that ok for detangling?

I used a comb with a tooth width similar to a rat tail when I did it and it worked fine

Sent from my HTC EVO

TeenNatural

THANK YOUU ! I'm a new natural and I just had a bad episode with my hair yesterday didn't even detangle the whole thing because I was so irritated and I didn't want to break of my hair. -Bookmarks-

CraftyKell

Curledlove, I usually just rinse my hair in the shower- no shampoo or conditioner- when I need moisture. If I use conditioner all the time, I get horrible breakouts too. I've been using Clean and Clear after I style my hair to make sure that I don't leave any hair products on my face.