Detangling

[melahnee]

Yes! You read my mind- I was about to mention that! I noticed a lot of people in the fine hair thread also said they needed to comb regularly.

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=679863

I think fine hair has a tendancy to get matted. Also, tangles are sooo damaging to fine hair.

About half of my head is fine, half mediumish. It's the fine part that *really* needs the regular combing now that I think about it...hmmm....

Also, I notice differences based on hair type for wet/dry detangling. The very loose areas (3b & lower- anything that gets super straight/limp and stretches a lot when wet) I can't detangle wet or the hair stretches and breaks if it meets any resistance. It is also nearly impossible to remove tangles from wet hair. I need to comb dry first. I can comb it wet, it just has to be perfectly detangled. The 3cish(?) areas I can detangle dry or under running water.

@KittyMeowMeow , that makes a lot of sense.. I'm pretty sure my hair is mostly 3B, there is definitely some 3A and a few 3C's in there as well. It looks kind of similar to yours in your siggy after bantu knots. My hair stylist told me my hair is medium and not fine, but I have so many characteristics of fine hair I don't even attempt untangling when wet honestly, ever. It's terrible, soo much unnecessary hair coming out. Probably equivalent to what I would get in about 2 1/2 weeks otherwise!

also thank you for linking me to that thread!

 

[melahnee]

Nonie - thanks so much for writing all that information for me! twice! LOL you're a good advice giver-- such detailed posts!

I read the thread of how you wash in braids and it was a liiittle confusing I'm a real newbie lol. but I'm going to reread it in the morning and see how I can apply it to my hair! Anything to rid these tangles. haha. I also really freakin wish I could do cornrows. I've tried and tried. on my head, on my sister's, my cousin's and they look so messy. the struggle is real, haha

 

[melahnee]

How long should i let a tea rinse sit?

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie
Are celie plaits cornrows? I literally just finished twisting my hair and it's taken me a couple of hours. I am livid and just done honestly. I do not know how to cornrow my hair (my mother does not know how to cornrow..so she never could teach me..believe me I used to ask her lol!). I wear my hair in kind of chunky messy twists 99% of the time. They look nothing like yours..most of them aren't very neat or as stretched out. Again, thanks for the visuals!

I used to be one of those type 4s to not wear my hair braided at all..I'd wake up with a shrunken fro, wet it, brush it out and slap a headband on it...I never moisturized it either.

How often do you wash? I think I'm going to try to go weeks without washing to cut down on all the manipulation and retwisting.

I feel like I've hijacked this thread......

myronnie No, Celie braids are the braids that Celie from the movie The Color Purple wore.

This is Celie:

And these are examples of the Celie braids I wore to go to bed or that I would wear to wash my hair:

Even when my hair is straightened, I still do not go to bed with it loose like most people do. I put it in Celie braids aka square plaits or single braids:

Folks use Celie braids to mean they aren't supposed to be cute.

Cornrows would be too much work! I don't even like to cornrow coz my arms get tired. The idea is to make hair care easy. I'm way too lazy to work hard for my hair. I'd shave it if it was a chore, so I've simplified my regimen by making sure I avoid getting into situations that will take work to get out of, eg tangles!

I wash twice a week. Don't forget I'm in twists. So I basically pour shampoo on fingers and feel through my twists to my scalp after wetting my hair. Massage the shampoo into my scalp to clean, spray my hair with more water so the suds can run down my twists and I squeeze them to clean them (encouraging suds to penetrate the twists). Rinse. Apply conditioner to a few twists at a time braiding them up to get them out of the way. I apply relaxer style. Leave conditioner on for however long directions say (3-5 minutes). Rinse. ACV rinse dunk. Or I towel dry and spritz the twists with an ACV rinse.

I let my hair drip dry. This is an example of my twists after a wash:

My wash takes about 10-15 minutes in the week. Then on the weekend when I do a DC and followed by shampoo then another conditioner or (shampoo, DC, shampoo, conditioner) my wash takes about 30 minutes.

I don't have to do anything else after the wash than just let my hair drip dry and leave it, or I can put it in an updo that I can wear all week if I don't feel like redoing any twists. For example, if I do this updo:

I can wear it all week. I don't use any leave-in products. At night, I just take off the clip and wrap head with Saran wrap, which preserves the do and gives my hair a moisture infusion.

In the AM, take plastic off, put a different clip or flower with pin and I be out the door in no time. So time spent on hair that week outside of washing...hardly any.

Like I said, I like simplicity. I just treat my twists as if hair. I can change the styles but I never have to spend hours taking tangles out and my hair stays detangled.

I find nightly braiding quicker and perhaps gentler than twisting. You just have three sections that you lay one on top of the the others alternating keeping hair strands parallel. Twisting involves wrapping the strands and I find it not to stretch hair as well as braiding which means combing isn't as easy after twists as after braids. Not combing means shed hair (about 100 strands) stay stuck in your hair and they add up each day so detangling becomes necessary and harder.

Like EnExitStageLeft said, keeping tangles from ever existing means less work for you and an easier journey.

 

[myronnie]

Doing a reply from my phone so hopefully it doesn't look haphazard!
Nonie Thanks for the def of celie plaits! I think I've been doing celie twists for the last couple months. When my hair gets longer I will def try to incorporate your washing in twists. I tried braiding a couple sections this morning and it didn't work out too well..I don't think my technique is great right now so the hair didn't want to stay.

When I twist my hair after washing (on 80% dry hair) it stretches it quite a bit! I have 4a/4b fine hair with defined curls so maybe it is easier to stretch. I also do not experience detangling issues since I've been keeping my hair in SEALED twists and gently removing the shed hair. The oil really keeps the knots at bay and allows the shed hair to glide out.

I used to baggy a long time ago (maybe 5 years ago) but I found that my strands were becoming weak from constantly being wet. Being a chemistry nerd and all I wanted to find out why. I think I read that water swells the cuticle and constant swelling may lead to a more raised cuticle and predisposition to damage.

Thanks for all the ideas and the great pictures! Your mom's hair looks really healthy! You're obviously doing things right with both of you guys's hair!
I'll PM you a pic of my celie twists when I get a chance

 

[mshoneyfly]

How long should i let a tea rinse sit?

melahnee
I put my moisturizing DC on top of my tea rinse (oil prepoo/HOT under the tea). Then I let it sit anywhere from 30 mins to several hours. I found that if I do the tea as a final rinse, it makes my hair hard. On my next rinse/ DC I will try washing it out sooner. Some people on this board use tea along with their cowashes. Check out the coffee, tea, avj, acv, ayurvedic powders challenge thread. Lots of knowledgable people on there