How To Stay Sane While Finger Detangling

There's no question about it, finger detangling is the biz. It dramatically reduces breakage caused by combs and brushes. And the less breakage you have, the less split ends are likely to form, the better your hair health and the more length you retain overall. But damn if it isn't a pain in the buttocks. 

Let's face it. Gently separating 150,000 (don't quote me) strands of hair one at a time to remove shed and broken hairs is not for the faint hearted. Yes non-naturals and naturals who comb, pick your jaws off the ground; that is literally what we do.

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To prevent the loss of any marbles during the process, here are a few tips on how to keep finger detangling as mentally palatable as possible:

1. Give yourself enough time

You're going to be a while so don't start your finger detangle late at night or when you're tired or pressed for time. You will get frustrated and/or impatient and either start being rough with your hair, give up or..tan tan taaaaa...resort to a comb. 

2. Detangle in sections

I do everything in sections so this is a no-brainer but for those who are used to working on their whole head at once, it can be a daunting task. If you work section by section, not only do you see how much you've done (and sadly, how much you still have to do) but you also keep the detangled sections separate from those you're yet to tackle. It also means you can stop and come back to it if you need to without having to figure out where you left off last.

3. Use lots of lube *smirk*

Childish thoughts aside, apply lots of conditioner or oil to give you slip. Slip means your strands are less likely to tangle or break from friction during the process. Trust me, slip is your friend. Apply more than you think you'll need. And then apply a little more. 

4. Get some eye-candy

Since getting Idris Elba in once a month to do a strip tease while you detangle is off the cards, you need to find something else to distract you while you work. You may be tempted to read a book or muck about on your phone but this gets messy, fast. For hands-free distraction, I find TV works best. This is usually when I shamelessly indulge in trash-tv rather than anything profound or educational but hey, whatever works for you.

5. Take a break

Rome wasn't built in a day. You don't have to do it all at once. If you don't mind running around with an oily head, you can detangle over a couple of days.

6. Don't Overdo it

You don't need to detangle every time you manipulate your hair. A full detangle is not only time consuming but also pretty stressful for hair as it's a lot of manipulation. For that reason, I only fully detangle when I prepoo, prior to shampooing, which is every 4-6 weeks. The rest of the time, I do mini-detangles when I cowash or oil rinse. Nothing major, but using running water to work out any shed hairs is very efficient, if not exactly eco-friendly. 

There you have it, detangling made bearable easy.