Finger Detangling Challenge

The finger detangling challenge enters its fourth week.  Woop Woop!

Doesn't seem like much but honestly, I almost crumbled on Day 1; it just didn't feel like my hair was ..smooth.  Again with that word.  I admit, I love the way my hair felt after working through it with my assorted combs and brushes.  

If you are squeamish about using a comb, look away now.

From left to right: Wide Tooth Comb, Denman D31 Detangling Brush, Denman D3 Styling Brush

Ordinarily, I take a three prong approach to detangling.  Co-wash, then, with conditioner in, comb through with a wide tooth comb, follow with a Denman D31 brush and finish off with a D3. Overkill, I know.  Technically, the D3 is a styling brush but I like how smooth it leaves my hair.  Hardly any hairs remain on the bristles plus it clumps my hair, which really helps when separating my twist-outs.  I confess though, that although the D31 is touted as THE detangling brush for naturals...I don't like it! The bristles are really stiff and spiky and it feels scratchy going through my hair.  If i could leave it out, I would, but the D3's bristles are too close together to work through my hair without it. 

Back to the finger detangling. I decided to try it for the remainder of the year to see if it helps with my length retention, as I felt my growth had stagnated a bit.  I am super impatient when detangling and I suspect I was removing much more than just shed hair.  Unfortunately for me, the one thing finger detangling requires, is patience.  It takes. A long. Time! Hopefully, practicing my technique will make it quicker as time goes on but for now, it is up there as the thing I LEAST look forward to on wash day.

It is really useful to get a conditioner with good slip.  Of the conditioners I have, Tresemme Naturals provides optimum slip, followed closely by Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition.  Although I love Timotei Pure for co-washing, because it is so thick, it needs watering down slightly to make it slippery.  Oil rinsing really helps with the detangling and in future, I will experiment with only detangling during an oil rinse. 

I do miss my combs and brushes, but I will remain strong and hopefully, the pay off will be lots of lovely length. 

Give me strength!