Welcome back to my guide to customizing your perfect curly hair routine (you can check out Part 1 here). Today, we’re going to be talking about the techniques you use for every step of your wash day. I chose to approach techniques before products because the techniques you choose to try can sometimes dictate what types of products you'll use.
A significant choice I recommend before examining other techniques is deciding if you are going to follow the Curly Girl Method or not. The CG method basically comes down to a philosophy of embracing your natural texture and making your hair as healthy as possible. This involves giving up sulfates, silicones, and drying alcohols in hair products and refraining from heat styling. I recommend reading Lorraine Massey's book, The Curly Girl Handbook (which can be found at your local bookstore, in the Naturally Curly shop, or from major retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble). It has good information for all curlies, even if you opt not to follow the CG method.
Another curly hair care method is the Tightly Curly Method which is, you guessed it, geared toward those with tight curls. It’s sometimes described as being the Curly Girl Method but with sulfates and silicones. The book on the Tightly Curly method, Curly Like Me by Teri LaFlesh, can be purchased through Amazon (just make sure purchase by clicking the link on TightlyCurly.com rather than searching on Amazon itself. This supports the site that provides so much excellent info for free). I’m sure there are other philosophies of curly hair care, but these are the big two that I know of.
After you've decided if you're following a method or not, it’s time to look at individual techniques. For each step, I've listed some of the most commonly used techniques, who generally tends to favor them, and, to the best of my knowledge, why. Remember that your mileage may vary and that some experimentation will inevitably still be required. This information is merely a starting place to help you make the best possible educated guess about what will work for you and your hair.
Cleansing
The biggest question to tackle when thinking about cleansing is how often to wash your hair. Most people with textured hair opt to wash their hair less often than once a day. There are a couple reasons for this. The first is that over-cleansing can be very drying to textured hair, which is already more likely to start out dry. This is because the structure of textured hair makes the cuticle more vulnerable to damage. The twisting shape also makes it more difficult for sebum (the natural oil produced by the body) from the scalp to travel all the way down the hair shaft to the ends. This brings me to the second reason curlies tend not to wash their hair every day, which is that it simply isn’t necessary the way it can be for straight hair, which can get limp and greasy from sebum much more easily. Given how involved wash day can get for those with textured hair, why do it every day if it isn’t necessary?
So, how often should you wash your hair? It, of course, comes down to your preferences. However, if you’re unsure, a good place to start is two to three times a week if your hair is wavy (type 2), if you have an oily scalp, or if you sweat a lot (whether this is due to climate or exercise). If your hair is curly (type 3) consider washing once a week. If your hair is coily and/or kinky (type 4) or if you have especially dry hair, you may prefer to cleanse more infrequently, perhaps once every two weeks. A good plan is simply to be mindful of your hair and scalp and wait until they feel like they need to be washed. Limp, greasy hair or an itchy scalp are good indicators. If you are accustomed to washing your hair every day and switching to two or three times a week is too drastic a change for you, simply start by washing your hair every other day.
Conditioning
Everyone seems to agree on how much conditioner is best to use: enough to make your hair feel like wet seaweed. This means you’ve saturated it with the maximum amount of water and conditioner it can hold and also have enough slip for detangling. However preferences of where to apply conditioner and how much to rinse out vary. If you have fine hair, a looser curl pattern, an oily scalp or a desire for more volume around the crown (and your hair isn’t overly dehydrated), consider applying conditioner from the ears down. If you have dry, high porosity, consider applying conditioner all the way to the root. Those with adequately moisturized, fine, wavy, or otherwise easily weighed down hair generally prefer to rinse out all their conditioner. Those with dry and/or high porosity hair generally prefer to leave some, most, or even all of their conditioner in.
In my opinion, though, absolutely everyone should use the Squish to Condish technique, which was invented by hair stylist Melissa Stites. This is because, regardless of your hair type, this technique will help ensure that every strand is optimally hydrated ensure full coverage of your conditioner (for more info on why and how this works, check out this blog post). The Squish to Condish technique involves further wetting the hair when it is soaked and full of conditioner (remember, that seaweed texture is key) and catching the water and conditioner mix into cupped hands as it drips off your curls. I like to do this with my head upside down by ducking quickly under the shower head (with the pressure turned down low) and then out again. Lower your curls into the water/conditioner cupped in your hands and squish it using a gentle scrunching motion, almost like you’re massaging the water into your strands. It should make a “squishy” sound. Continue with each section of hair. You can use this as your only method of rinsing and simply continue until the amount of conditioner you leave in is all that remains or you can rinse after squishing.
Some people swear by rinsing their hair with cold water in order to “close” the cuticle. There’s actually very little scientific evidence to support this claim. However, it does appear that very warm water can temporarily slightly increase porosity. This is a good thing for those with low porosity hair who struggle to moisturize their strands. However, it can be drying to porous hair. So, while there doesn’t appear to be much benefit to rinsing your hair with ice cold water, you may want to stick to cooler, room temperature water if you have high porosity. It should also be noted that warm water helps to remove dirt and oil from the hair, so you may want to vary your shower temperature depending on whether you’re cleansing or rinsing out conditioner.
Detangling
Believe it or not, brushing your hair while it’s dry can damage it. To limit damage, textured hair should be detangled in one of two states: saturated with water and conditioner or dry BUT coated in your favorite natural oil (I use coconut oil). What these states have in common is lubrication which helps both to loosen knots and help detangling tools to glide more easily through the hair. Properly hydrated hair is also more flexible, so if your hair is brittle or damaged it’s probably better to detangle wet with conditioner.
The three main tools used for detangling are fingers, a wide tooth comb, and brushes with flexible bristles such as a Tangle Teezer or a Wet Brush. Finger detangling is the gentlest option because you feel every knot you encounter and are less likely to rip through them. This is a good option if your hair is delicate, brittle, or damaged. A wide tooth comb is also fairly gentle but generally detangles faster than finger combing. They work wear for tangle-prone hair that is fairly healthy and not delicate. A Tangle Teezer or similar brush can help ensure that you’ve worked through every knot but you may want to avoid these if your hair is particularly damaged. Personally, I like to finger detangle first and then use a brush to check for small knots and to align my hairs.
No matter what you use to detangle, the key to detangling without damage is patience. When you hit a knot, gently undo it, adding more lubrication (oil or conditioner, whichever you’re using) if you need to. Never, ever rip through knots. You can prevent the number of tangles that your hair develops by protecting your hair while you sleep with a satin bonnet, silk or satin pillowcase, or both.
That’s it for today! In the next update of this series I’m going to talk about styling techniques.
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