4 Reasons to Detangle Your Type 4 Hair Before Shampooing
Detangling coily, curly type 4 hair can be quite the chore. For me personally, it’s the most time consuming part of my wash day regimen, and takes roughly 1 – 1 1/2 hours. I dread wash day and try to prolong my braid out by 2 weeks, if possible. Recently, I mistakenly came across another method that worked amazingly well! It was my usual wash day and I was about to shampoo my hair. Then I had a thought, whenever I have a protective style like box or crochet braids, I always detangle my hair first. So why am I not doing that on a regular basis? Well I had a few reasons…
For one, when I have box or crochet braids, my hair is blown dry prior to being braided up. Therefore, I can easily detangle it since it’s in a stretched state. When I’m wearing my hair in my usual braid out style, I wouldn’t dare put a wide tooth comb or brush to my hair! The thought wouldn’t even cross my mind… and it didn’t! However, detangling my hair before shampooing was a genius move. It took 45mins off of my usual time and made my life so much easier! As type 4 girls, we have to stick together. So I’m sharing why you should detangle before you shampoo and my new wash day routine!
You have loose shredded hair
I read an article that said, we lose 50 – 100 strands of hair per day. If you’re anything like me, you probably do little to no manipulation in between wash days. Therefore, if you haven’t detangled your hair in 1 – 2 weeks, imagine how many loose shredded strands are awaiting you. Shampoo lifts the cuticle and causes more friction among each strand. Factor that in with loose shredded hair and tangles… what a nightmare! Detangling beforehand, removes this nightmare from your reality almost completely. It’s in your best interest to get rid of that loose hair so it doesn’t tangle up while you’re shampooing.
Shampooing causes more tangles
When we shampoo and wash our hair, it’s easy for the strands to “interact” and create tangles. This is especially true if you’re washing your hair outright and not in sections. Factor in using our hands to get down to our scalp to clarify it. Our hair strands are moving allover, especially when we rinse, as type 4 hair does nothing but coil up. When you detangle beforehand, you’re able to prep the hair to be washed in sections. This will make it more manageable during shampooing and after for styling.
Hair is most fragile when wet
Let’s be honest here, none of us are probably detangling our coily, curly hair in it’s dry state (unless it’s stretched). Therefore, that leaves us to detangle while wet and in it’s most fragile state. The key here is to dampen the hair before shampooing and then proceed to detangle. This way, the hair isn’t completely drenched and fragile. I recommend using a wide tooth comb or modified denman brush, where the “pins” or rows are far apart. You don’t want to necessarily detangle completely, just get that loose hair out!
Sectioned detangled hair is easier to manage
With my type 4 hair, I can’t do anything with it unless I part it into 8 – 10 different sections. This makes wash day easier and keeps my hair more manageable. After I’ve finished detangling, I section my hair into two parts right down the middle. Then I shampoo one side of my head, while the other is being held in a hair tie, and do the same for the other side. By doing this, I have more control and prevent less tangles during shampooing.
My New Wash Day Routine
Every time I style my hair, I use the LOC method. If you’re unfamiliar with the LOC method, it means Leave-in, Oil and Cream. My hair strands are fine yet thick therefore, to prevent it from drying out quickly, I do LCO instead. Sealing the leave-in and cream with an oil, really helps to keep my strands moisturized in between wash days. The key here is, use a leave-in that’s also a detangler. You don’t want to use just any leave-in detangler though; do your research and pick one that has A LOT of slip. My staple leave-in detangler is the Kinky Curly Knot today! It has tons of slip, smells good and interacts well with my styling cream.
When wash day arises, I dampen my hair and the leave-in detangler kicks in immediately! This makes detangling before shampooing an easy 20 – 30 minute task! I part my hair into about 6 – 8 sections and that helps for more control. During my pre shampoo detangling session, I use a wide tooth comb to get out any loose strands. I also recommend that you start from the ends up and add more detangler if need be! Personally, the Kinky Curly Knot Today works so well that I don’t have to add any at all. However, if your detangling tool isn’t gliding as well, add more detangler!
Once all the loose hair is out, I shampoo in two different sections right down the middle. I’ve found that washing my hair as a whole, creates tangles and I end up detangling everything allover again! So I prefer to wash in two sections where I can manage the hair and stop it from creating so many tangles. After shampooing my hair, I apply a conditioner with lots of slip and use my denman brush to go back through. This is to get any last tangles that I missed or new ones that were created while shampooing. I purposely will work “down” when it comes to detangling tools. To prevent any damage, I’ll finger detangle first, use a wide tooth comb second and denman brush last.
I hope my newfound wash day routine with pre detangling helps to cut your time like it did mine! If you have any additional tips for type 4 curls, please let me know in the comments below!
Until next time ASSASSINS. . . Stay Disciplined!
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