Wash Day | New Detangling Methods

I wrapped up a great Labor Day weekend with the hubby with wash day. After my visit to Be Kekoa last week, I realized that I needed to focus more on my detangling techniques, if I want to keep retaining length. Sure my hair was in need of a trim but single strand knots have been an off an on issue for me. I'm making it my mission to incorporate better practices and having healthy natural hair. Now let's get into Monday's wash day.

Pre-pooed- I recently started following Naturally High's YouTube channel and it's great. I'm trying to follow more women with my hair type (4C). Anyway, she posted this video awhile back and I decided to give it a try. I applied EVCO and then used my fingers to detangle. The oil really helped work out the knots and tangles. Once I detangled a section, I worked in The Antidote to give my hair extra moisture. After I finished with each section, I twisted my hair to keep it from getting tangled. All in all it took me two episodes of The Office (an hour) to do my whole head.

Here's another updated video about detangling from Naturally High below

 

Co-washed with Eden BodyWorks All Natural Coconut Shea CoWash- I decided to wash my hair in twists. I don't know how these vloggers keep their twists in while co-washing. By the time I was done, about have of my twists were undone. Oh, well maybe it'll get better with practice.

I didn't do a protein treatment this week. My detangling process took longer than I thought, so there wasn't any time.

Deep Conditioned with Tangles & Beyond's Deep Moisture Conditioner. I applied the conditioner in sections and then twisted the section. Since we don't have a microwave in the our new place, I couldn't use my Hot Head thermal cap. Instead I put on a plastic cap and left the conditioner in for 30 minutes before rinsing it out.

T-shirt dried my hair for 10-15 minutes. 

Styled my hair- I knew that I wanted to wear my hair in twists, but I wanted to wear it a little differently. So I opted for a hairstyle from Naturally High's channel using two strand twists.

It only took me about an hour or so to do all of my two strand twists. After I finished I put on my bonnet and went to bed. The next morning put all of my two strand twists into two big plaits and pinned them to get a crown braid look.  

Looks like I lost a bobby pin here in the back during the day

This will probably be my style for the week. I plan on undoing the plaits on Thursday to moisturize the twists and then re-do the crown braid.

How was your wash day? Are you trying out any new hairstyles or techniques?

Wash Day: Success and A New Challenge

Yesterday's wash day was both a success and failure. For the past month I've noticed a good amount of hair in the shower after my normal wash day routine. I started washing my hair in loose braids in January to prevent tangling/knots and to decrease manipulation. This seemed to work but the shedding and breaking increased. While breaking and shedding are normal during this process, I was starting to get a little worried. After doing a little research about shedding (the average person can shed from 40-120 strands a day depending on age, length of hair and growth cycle) and breakage, I decided to change my wash routine just a little. YouTube came to the rescue yet again :)! I found this video and it helped tremendously.

I was happy... until I started to detangle my hair. After using a very generous amount of Kinky Curl Knot Natural Leave in Detangler, I used a wide tooth comb to detangle my hair. I had three huge knots in my hair!  I defeated all of the knots except for one. By this point I was tired, it was late and I just wanted to be done with my hair. I got the knot out (probably not in the best way) and ended up losing some hair along with it. Even though my relaxed hair will eventually be chopped off, I have to be careful that I don't experience breakage with my natural hair. Oh the joys of transitioning!

The pesky knot and the hair I lost with it :( .

On a happier note, I also tried an apple cider vinegar rinse based on this post to help with my dry, itchy scalp.  My scalp felt great after and I hope to see a difference with continual use. Check this out  for more ways to use apple cider vinegar to promote healthy hair .

That's it for now. Please feel free to share some tips/advice on how to prevent knots during the washing process. I may try out some of the homemade detangler recipes seen here.

Until next time :)