A few months ago I would have turned my nose up at the idea of “dry detangling” natural hair. I made a promise to myself that I would never attempt to detangle my fine, kinky curly hair without it being fully saturated and loaded with tons and tons of conditioner!
As many of us naturals already know, finding the proper detangling technique for your hair can either make or break your wash day. Like many curly girls, our hair is always changing and requiring us to adopt new techniques that will best serve our hair. Now that my hair has reached new lengths, I’m finding that my usual detangling routine just isn’t cutting it anymore. It is causing me more of a headache, with extra knots, and breakage. So I was desperate and ready to try a new technique called “dry detangling”.
WHAT IS DRY DETANGLING?
Dry detangling is a technique that calls for the hair to be detangled while in its dry state. Dry detangling can be done by finger detangling (my personal favorite) or with tools such as wide tooth combs or denman brushes. This all depends on you hair type and personal preference. In addition, you can use your favorite oil to act as a barrier between your hair and the tool which provides extra slip or you can just do without – it’s completely optional.
BENEFITS OF DRY DETANGLING
Besides applying nourishing oils to your hair, which is a benefit within itself, dry detangling is mostly beneficial because you are manipulating and detangling the hair in its strongest state. Minimizing the chance of unwanted breakage, extra knots & tangles. Some of you may be asking, “Our hair is strongest when dry?!” Simply put, yes!
Hair strands are made up of keratin protein, which is chained and linked together by bonds called hydrogen bonds. When the hair becomes wet the hydrogen bonds in the hair are broken down by the water. Allowing the hair to become more pliable, fragile and easy to mold. Curls when wet become elongated and easy to mold, this is simply due to the hydrogen bonds in the hair being temporarily broken down. Hydrogen bonds do become restored once the hair is dry, which is the cause of shrinkage.
THE HOW-TO FOR DRY DETANGLING
Dry detangling is best performed on stretched hair, making it extremely easy to detangle without having to worry about your curls wrapping around each other, shrinking back up and creating more knots and tangles. The concept of dry detangling stays the same, however depending on your hair you may want to use a variety of different techniques.
1. Section hair into sections (4 or more. It’s your preference.
2. Select and oil of choice to act as barrier and extra slip for dry detangling.
3. Working with one section at a time, apply a generous amount of oil and began to finger detangle your strands working from the ends to the roots, slowly working out knots and tangles. Repeat for all sections.
4. Optional: At the end you could use a wide tooth comb to go over sections to ensure it’s fully detangled. Be very careful and mindful that you do not rip out hair while using tools.
5. Cover your hair with plastic cap and do a pre-poo treatment before washing or skip the pre-poo and start the washing and conditioning process.
Play with the steps and techniques above until you find what works best for you. Pick your favorite oil and get to detangling! Let us know below if you prefer wet or dry detangling? And what techniques you use…
Photo Credit: Bianca of @Bummblebee7
