9 Questions To Ask Yourself If Your Natural Hair Is Suffering From Breakage

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Taking care of her locks

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AM I DETANGLING MY HAIR SAFELY?

One of the number one culprits of breakage is poor detangling methods, especially for those of us who started with relaxed hair and transitioned to natura. It can take a while to get the hang of how to properly detangle curly and coily hair, but this is a good formula.

  • Always start at the ends and work your way up to the roots. It may seem counterintuitive, but if you take a comb or brush to matted roots, all you’re doing is pushing the knots further down the length of your hair. Think of trying to unravel a ball of yarn from the middle rather than slowing down, and finding the loose end.
  • Next, it’s almost always best to detangle your hair when wet and soaked in a conditioner with lots of slip. When your hair is wet it’s more pliable, making it easy to manipulate without snapping off your strands. Conditioner makes the detangling process much more manageable by creating extra lubrication that allows your fingers or tools to slip and maneuver more easily in between tangles.
  • Finally, I’m a huge advocate for finger detangling before going in with any standard detangling tools. Because your fingers are yours, they allow you to feel the most tangled areas of your hair that a comb might rip right through. Use your fingers to gently tease apart your knots and then go in with a comb or brush if necessary to strain out the rest of the shed hair. For a great detangling tool, try a wide tooth comb or the Tangle Teezer ($12.00, sephora.com).
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