How To Detangle Natural Black Hair

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The ultimate guide on how to remove knots and tangles in natural hair

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Whether your pilus is relaxed or natural, detangling takes patience and a gentle touch. Water, thick conditioner, and your own fingers volition all help you lot separate knots and tangles without causing damage.

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Section your hair. Using your fingers, divide your hair into convenient sections. If you accept long hair, twist it into iv or more sections. If yous have shorter hair, use pilus clips instead. Either style, care for your pilus as gently every bit possible.^[1]
- Although working with sectioned hair takes longer, information technology greatly reduces the amount of tangling that can happen.
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Launder your hair. Launder one section at a time, and prune or twist it again once washed. Smoothen your hair back over your scalp until it feels fully wet. Gently utilise the shampoo or other washing treatment in a smoothing motion from scalp to tip. Massage the scalp with your fingertips, so launder thoroughly with water. Tilt your head back and wash in the direction your hair falls to reduce tangling.^[2]
- Try a gentle washing method, such as co-washing, homemade cleansing mixtures, or shampoo that doesn't contain sulfates, paraben, or silicone. Sulfates, paraben, and silicone are damaging to hair and cause frizz and hair harm such every bit split ends and dry hair.
- Exercise not pile hair on height of your head while washing. This will but crusade more tangles and breakage. If your hair is very tangled when wet, consider taking a wide molar comb in the shower to help loosen knots carefully. Beingness likewise rough or using a brush may split ends shorter or cause harm.
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Apply conditioner. Section by section, saturate your pilus with a conditioner that has plenty of "skid." A conditioner with good slip makes it easy for your hair strands to slide by each other, practically undoing tangles by themselves. Detangler conditioners, pilus mayonnaise, or other creamy conditioners generally piece of work best. Y'all may demand to try several to find one that works on your hair blazon.^[3]
- Whenever applying conditioner, focus on the ends of the hair, the oldest and almost easily damaged surface area.
- You can make your own detangler conditioner from Aloe vera. Cut the Aloe vera leaf in the eye, scoop out the gel and alloy it until it is foamy and slightly gel-like.
- Olive oil or another medium or heavy natural oil can piece of work as well.^[4]
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Put on a plastic hair cap. Cover your conditioner-coated hair with a plastic cap. Leave on for 10–20 minutes to allow your pilus to absorb the oils.
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Detangle with your fingers. Let out one section of your hair. Detangle every bit much every bit possible with your fingers. Exercise non use strength.^[5]
- If your pilus starts to dry out, add together more than water. The weight of the h2o pulls your hair downward, lengthening curls and making them less likely to tangle.
vi
Terminate with a wide rummage or castor. If your fingers can't do the job, move on to a seamless wide-toothed rummage or a widely spaced, rubber bristled brush (such equally a Denman brush). Commencement from the ends, gradually combing from college points equally the hair detangles.
- After detangling each section, the pilus should be braided, twisted, or hair clipped in such a style that it won't tangle support.
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Rinse out the conditioner. Detangler conditioner is usually too thick to leave in comfortably. Rinse out and apply a lighter, exit-in conditioner instead. Style your hair every bit you practise commonly.
- Nearly conditioner labels say to rinse out with warm water, only some stylists become improve results with common cold.
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Protect your pilus while sleeping. Put upwardly your hair at night and wear a satin or silk hair bonnet. At minimum, sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase instead of cotton, which tin tear out your hair or tangle it.
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Change your way earlier it tangles. While braids, twists, and other protective styles reduce exposure to damage, they can't practice so forever. Leaving them in for as well long tin can crusade stubborn tangles.

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Question

When should you detangle natural pilus?

Ndeye Anta Niang is a Hair Stylist, Master Braider, and Founder of AntaBraids, a traveling braiding service based in New York City. Ndeye has over twenty years of feel in African hair including braiding box braids, Senegalese twists, crochet braids, fake dread locs, goddess locs, kinky twists, and lakhass braids. Ndeye was the first female of her tribe in Africa to move to America and is at present sharing her knowledge of African braids passed on from generation to generation.

Pilus Stylist & Master Braider

Expert Answer

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When your hair is wet or after you lot've applied conditioner, y'all're likely going to have a much easier time detangling your hair. Outside of that, you tin utilize a detangling product and only brush or comb your hair to remove knots. Just go along in mind, y'all should detangle your hair regularly to keep issues from getting out of hand.
Question

What kind of shampoo is all-time for thick, wavy, coarse, and frizzy pilus?

Products from Shea Wet are skillful for this pilus type.
Question

What do I exercise if my hair is actually dry, thick, and disordered? I try to use my fingers but it still hurts a lot.

I would propose moisturizing with water. Grab a spray canteen and moisture your pilus, then use a good conditioner to assist smooth out the process of detangling.
Question

What kind of detangler shampoo is practiced for black hair?

Endeavor using an olive oil shampoo or Argo oil shampoo. Information technology works for all hair types, and is a great moisturizer.
Question

Is it a good idea to relax hair even if it is tangled?

You shouldn't relax your hair. Doing and so damages your hair, makes information technology fall out and creates dissever ends.
Question

What tin can I do to detangle my natural hair?

If your hair is natural, information technology'southward important to make sure that y'all leave your conditioner in for long enough. Instead of using a comb, utilize your fingers to detangle. Beginning from the scalp and work your way outwards.
Question

Can I use normal shampoo and conditioner, or should I use some designed for African hair?

It actually depends on your hair texture. My hair is thick, merely it thins out when it'due south wet, and so I use Clear. If your hair is thicker, yous might use Crème of Nature.
Question

It hurts when I brush my hair. What tin can I do?

Employ some detangler if it is really bad. Or go your hair thinned out the adjacent time y'all get a haircut. Shorter hair is also easier to manage. You could also try a different style castor.
Question

Is information technology safe to rinse your hair every other twenty-four hours, or every day?

If you moisturize your hair after you rinse, then every day is fine.
Question

I take used Head & Shoulders shampoo for years. I clothing my hair natural. I know that this shampoo has sulfa. Is it notwithstanding okay for my pilus?

If it works for your pilus type and it doesn't strip your hair of oils that go on information technology healthy, information technology should be okay.

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Natural hair is easier to detangle when moisture and saturated with conditioner.
If y'all must detangle your hair when it's dry, use a leave-in conditioner or a moisturizer, a wide tooth comb, and some patience.
Information technology is not recommended detangling natural hair when it'southward dry out. Just recommended for when you wash your pilus.
If you come up across a really nasty tangle, it's best to endeavor to work through it with your fingers to decrease breakage. Never try to forcefulness a rummage through a tangle. The gentler y'all are with it, the better.

Never detangle with a fine molar comb. That's simply asking for trouble.
Your hair should not feel crude after applying any production. This may exist a sign that the product is damaging your hair.
Don't endeavour to comb through a complect; this volition simply effect in more tangles. Unravel the braid, and so detangle.
Never rummage hair from root to tip! It will crusade major breakage.

Things Yous'll Need

Shampoo (optional)
Conditioner
Wide tooth comb and/or wide-spaced castor
Clips/scrunchies to section off hair
Water

About This Article

Commodity Summary X

To detangle African hair, outset by dividing it into 4 or more sections to make information technology easier to work with. Offset, wash each section of hair one at a time. Take a single section of hair and moisture information technology, then massage shampoo through information technology and rinse thoroughly. Clip that section out of the mode and move on to the side by side one. One time all of your pilus has been done, apply plenty of conditioner with good sideslip to each section and then that the tangles can come up out easily. Cover your hair with a plastic cap and keep the conditioner in for ten to 20 minutes to absorb the oils. Remove the plastic cap from your head and apply your fingers to detangle 1 department at a time. Use a wide rummage to remove any stubborn tangles then rinse out the conditioner thoroughly. For more information on detangling African hair, like how to forbid tangles, read on!

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