Pre-Wash Detangling My Hair
Up to this particular wash day, detangling my hair before I washed it was not one of my habits. After all, I thought, why detangle your hair before you wash, during your wash (with conditioner) and after your wash (when you're combing it?) Isn't that too much manipulation?!
This particular wash day, I was almost forced to pre-wash detangle my hair because it was so fragile and I really didn't want to have a hard time detangling it after I washed it. So, I pondered on what I could use to detangle my hair.
But first, what exactly is pre-wash detangling?
I'm sure you already guessed it from the name, but just in case you didn't, pre-wash detangling is removing the tangles from your hair BEFORE you wash it. This is best done using a product that contains slip (a type of oil than lubricates your hair preventing or untangling knots...it can be natural oils or mineral oils and silicones). THE MORE SLIP, THE BETTER!
Benefit of pre-wash detangling:
The key benefit is that your hair has less chance of breakage. In the shower, especially during the shampoo process, your hands are all over your head, mixing up hair strands and posing a big risk for creating knots. Detangling before you wash helps to keep the strands in a certain order, so the chances of over-tangling are minimized.
Also, a certain percentage of the slip from the detangling product you used will usually remain on the hair even during the wash process. This added lubrication will prevent your hair from tangling up.
What I did:
After browsing my small collection of hair products, I decided to try out a little bit of my Suave Naturals Morning Bliss 2-in-1 Shampoo / Conditioner on a small section of hair to see if it would do the trick. And yes, it did! That Shampoo/Conditioner ha SO much slip - perfect for detangling dry, fragile hair.
Tools:
I used my fingers, wide-tooth comb and the shampoo/conditioner.
How I detangled my hair
I started on dry, dirty hair.
1. I finger parted my hair into relatively small sections
2. I misted the section with water from my DIY mist bottle (I recycled an empty Victoria's Secret perfume bottle - note, you will need to rinse a gazillion times with soap and water...maybe a little bit of baking soda....eventually the perfume smell comes out)
3. I applied sufficient product to the section and worked it up into a lather.
4. I gently combed out the section, then repeated the entire process until all my hair was detangled.
This picture shows the process of detangling.
Final Thoughts:
I was thoroughly impressed with this pre-wash detangling session. My hair really was very hard, actually practically impossible to comb through without breaking several hairs, and I knew that after the wash, it would be the same way. The shampoo/conditioner had the right amount of slip to melt out my tangles.
Will I do this again? DEFINITELY, but I will try to find an all-natural product rather than the Suave Naturals. I've caught on to the pre-detangling train!
Until my next post,
