Brushing My Hair In The Shower

Artemis68

So spending most of the day researching and reading all over this site I'm realizing that I might have been doing things WAY wrong all along.

First of all, I shower and wash my hair every morning, load it with conditioner and brush it with it in. Rinse, scrunch dry with a towel. Put some curl cream or gel... or both.. in it and air dry.

My main question here is the brushing in the shower. Every video and article I've read today not once have I seen anyone brush or comb with conditioner in it. Should I not be doing this?

If I shouldn't be, how do I get the knots out? I get terrible knots at the back of my head where for some reason the under hair seems to be finer and straight (wth??)... and when I say knots I mean like rats nest in a day.

The rest I think I can deal with... I shouldn't be shampooing daily, or at all. No more towels on my hair... I've got plenty of old shirts I can repurpose.

Any advice would be so appreciated!!

Linnea :flower:

Blueblood

Loads of people on here comb or brush their hair with conditioner in it regardless of curltype.

There are YouTube videos with people doing this but sometimes they use a rinse out conditioner as a leave-in.

BotticelliBrit

Most people opt for wide-toothed combs, or simply use their fingers, rather than brushing their hair (as it's less damaging). But if your hair isn't breaking / snapping with your current routine, and what you're doing works for you, then stick to it. There's no right or wrong way.

A bunch of people wash their hair daily too, because they can't get second day hair etc. Of course, lots of people choose not to wash their hair every day for various reasons (myself included) but, again, if it's working for you then that's fine.

With shampoo, the issue is that most shampoos contain very harsh ingredients called sulfates, which strip hair and, for curly hair especially, can be very drying. So the majority of folks on here follow the CG method, which eliminates sulfates (and, with that, certain silicones) and choose to either co-wash (use a conditioner to wash their hair and get rid of shampoo altogether), or low-poo (use a gentle shampoo with none of the nasties).

Artemis68

Lol, I never really said I have a problem with my routine did I...just that it seemed wrong.

I guess I should describe my issues. I think is a mixture of 3b/3c, can be nice and spirally but most of the time kinky, frizzy, wonky type curls. My hair is extremely dry and I've never liked anything used on my hair other than Pantene Extra Moisture. I definitely have breakage, I've noticed it more lately, areas of very short patches.

I've posted a picture in my profile. It's a couple years old, but not much has changed. Now I did make my hair big on purpose...it was for an 80s dance. But even so, thats typically how it ends up no matter what.

I bought myself a Carol's Daughter Hair Milk set to try. I really would love my hair to be more healthy, moisturized and longer if possible.

ashlyndmarie

If you have breakage and dryness then I would stop brushing and start finger detangling and then start deep conditioning more often. The green house method has done Wonders for me

BotticelliBrit

@Artemis68 ahh, I see.

Right, yeah, if you're getting breeakage I'd definitely say to stop brushing and start finger-dentangling (as ashlyndmarie suggested). Or, if finger-detangling doesn't work for you, try a wide-toothed comb. Always remember to be really gentle when combing / detangling your hair, as it is fragile and can rip or tear easily. That's why it's good to do it when you have conditioner in your hair, as that added slip will help the knots slide out and it'll mean you'll be tugging on your locks less

I'd really recommend you trying the CG method (I don't know much about Pantene, so not sure if that product is CG or not). CG will cut out the main drying chemicals in shampoo that could be stripping your hair of moisture.

Deep conditioning once a week is great to do. Also a pre-poo treatment with coconut oil will really help as it can penetrate the cuticle and temporarily patch damage.

If you have split ends, you should cut them. Don't wait until your hair grows out a bit more, because the splits can travel up the shaft and break further off. So it'll seem like your hair isn't growing. Best to snip off the damage now and grow out healthy hair

I can't see your picture, so my advice is a little blind right now. You should be able to post pics in the thread once you have 5 posts though!

In regards to generic styling tips though: a good leave-in conditioner for moisture, and a good gel for hold / to aid clumping, is essential (for me, at least).

Artemis68

I so need to figure out these acronyms... lol

So two days of using co-wash (is that right? Washing with conditioner). I dug out my wide tooth comb. I squeezed out the water and put some conditioner in as a leave in then wrapped my hair in a shirt.

I also tried a deep conditioner sample I have from Briogeo.

I can't believe the difference two days makes! I have curls!!!!

Also, yesterday I got to the city to try to find some curl appropriate products. There's a whole section for curly girls!! I picked up Curly Girl shampoo and conditioner from Dippity-Do, a sample pack of deep conditioning treatment and a tub of coconut oil I think both from Palmer's.

Thank you all for your advice. I so excited to see what my hair can become. (but I do gotta say... paying this much attention to my hair feels slightly weird, lol)

:hello1::hello1::hello1:

SmilingElephant

I use a paddle brush to detangle my hair in the shower with my hair drenched in conditioner.

I used to use a comb... But I just didn't cut it for me. It doesn't do so well at getting all my sheds out and it does a sorry job of getting out my knots. I've been doing the paddle brush for almost a yr now and I love it! It also gives a really good scalp massage!

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