Instead, finger-comb or finger-detangle your hair. This method will not only help you to retain more length by reducing the amount of shed hairs, but it will also preserve the natural shape of your curls, resulting in less tangling of your hairs.
The correct method to finger-comb through your hair is by simply raking through the hair with your fingers, beginning from the root to the tip. This is best achieved while the hair is wet. ProtectivePrincess demonstrates this method expertly!
Be sure that your nails are neatly filed or hangnails can snag your hair strands and cause split ends. Finger-detangling is one of the healthiest ways to manage single-strand knots and even clumps of matted, tangled hair.
Isolating the problem area is key, so when you encounter a single-strand knot, separate it from the rest of your hair so that you can adequately focus on detangling.
Hold the tip of the tangled hairs between the index finger and thumb of one hand, while, using your other hand, begin to pull out hairs from the knotted area by pulling on a few strands at a time from an area along the curl shaft, approximately one inch above the tangle.
This will release strands that are trapped in the tangled area, but that are not actually part of the knot, reducing the amount of hair shed from your detangling efforts.
This method will usually reveal about two or three hair strands which are the real culprits of the knot, and allow you to detangle them very easily rather than ripping or pulling at a mass of tangled hair with a comb. In order to maximize length retention, delicate handling of your hair is essential.
But first, if you’ve never even seen your curls before, you have to figure out what works best to hydrate your hair so that they begin to clump together.
ProtectivePrincess discovered that diluting conditioner before applying it to her hair allows her curls to soak up moisture better, but for you it might be deep conditioning* more frequently, or even applying an extreme treatment like the Maximum Hydration Method.
Stop assuming that your hair has no hope and doggedly experiment until you succeed. A dry, frizzy head of hair is severely lacking in moisture!
This is also what limits length retention and causes tangling. If you want to achieving the maximum health of your hair, you have to learn to listen to it. So first, tackle the moisture, and once your curls are popping and singing, make sure to keep them that way by finger-combing. I switched nearly one year ago, and I haven’t looked back since.