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Washing Your Hair -The Golden Rule – Treat your hair like fine lace.
Taking Out Knots & Tangles Prior to Washing
Use your fingers to take out any knots. DO NOT rip the knots out, even if you are tempted or frustrated. Instead, find a way to locate the center of the knot by using a round tip pen or a slender and smooth object like a bobby pin. Insert the pen or pin into the center of the knot and wiggle it to loosen the hair coiled in the knot. Once the knot is loosened, gently pull strands of hair out of the knot (pulling only a few strands at a time). If the knot is extremely small, you may use a needle, but be very careful not to destroy the hairs (or prick yourself) with the sharp point when you wiggle the needle to loosen the knot.
A good product to use if your hair is really tangled is Knot Today. It simply makes the hair feel like silk and easy to untangle. A small amount of this product goes a long way. Apply the Knot Today in small sections and untangle with your fingers.
An Hour Prior to Washing
An hour before washing your hair, you should put on a deep conditioner or moisturizer that you will let sit in your hair. Apply the moisturizer in sections and braid each section up. Apply the product over the entire length of your hair, making sure to saturate your ends. Ideally, when you are done you should have 8 braids (4 braids on each side). (Some folks sleep with product in their hair overnight, however, there is no evidence that leaving a product in your hair for several hours longer will give better results).
Washing Technique
If you have hair prone to tangling while washing, minimize tangles by washing your hair in the 8 braids. Here’s how to do it: Take out one braid, rinse out the conditioner/moisturizer, and wash with shampoo. When you are done washing that section of hair simply re-braid and twirl or pincurl the hair up, this way you don’t get it confused with the other braids that haven’t been washed. Only shampoo each braid once.
How often to shampoo?
If you are truly treating your hair like fine lace, than less friction and manipulation is better! Now we know the advice we are about to give will not be pleasing to everyone, but we have found that you don’t need to wash your hair every week. Every other week is fine or once every three weeks. If you use heavy oils in your hair, then this may not work for you. If you feel that a moisturizer that usually works is no longer working, you may have product buildup and will need to wash your hair.
A good shampoo to use is Kinky Curly Come Clean. Whenever you feel your hair is dry and brittle you may need to restore the ph balance and porosity of your hair.
In that case, a good shampoo to use is Roux Porosity shampoo.
Important Tip: Don’t use any shampoo with sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate – they simply rob your hair of moisture and cause your hair to become dry. Get in the habit of checking the label on your products. You learn more about this ingredient on Wikipedia.