Shrinkage Free Natural Hair Detangling. Secret Revealed!

Do you want to know the best kept secret to shrinkage free detangling?

Let me waste no time and tell you.

It is called dry detangling.

In this post I’ll tell you about what dry detangling natural hair is, what tools and products you will need and, most importantly, how to do it safely without breaking your precious strands and ensuring you retain length.

But first let me tell you how I stumbled across dry detangling and how I have made it part of my natural haircare regimen….

I came across it years ago and concluded it couldn’t be for my fine strands! I needed my natural hair to be drenched in some conditioner with tons of slip before I could attempt to detangle! Or so I thought.

Recently, while preparing to detangle my hair, I applied a whole lot of coconut oil to my hair and wrapped it up to detangle the following day. This I did as a pre-detangling step.

The plan for the following day was to add conditioner/detangler and detangle away! The day arrived, I had my conditioner ready and, instead of applying it I added more coconut oil to a small section and I just started to detangle. It wasn’t supposed to be a thing, it wasn’t the plan. I just went along with the flow.

But when I saw how the strands were easily gliding passed each other, I kept going! Until I was done with my entire head! I had successfully used the dry detangling method on my fine 4c natural hair!

What is dry detangling natural hair?

To dry detangle your natural hair entails detangling without any water or water based product.

However, it does not mean carelessly detangling your natural hair without any product altogether, that would be disastrous! You would break a lot of your hair strands.

With dry detangling, you still need something that will create a slippery barrier around each hair strand. This is achieved by using an oil or combination of oils.

What is wet detangling natural hair?

To wet detangle your natural hair entails detangling by first applying a conditioner or a detangler. These are water based products that also enable your hair strands to easily glided past each other.

As you may know, when your natural hair makes contact with water or a water based product it shrinks.

But when you use the dry detangling method, your hair doesn’t shrink at all.

This makes it easier to detangle because you are not contending with coils from shrunken hair.

Tools and products needed for dry detangling your natural hair:

Tools

Your fingers

Detangling your natural hair with your fingers ensures that your hair isn’t being yanked out.

Your fingers enable you to be in control; when you feel your hair is knotted you are able to stop and focus on the knot and gently pull strands away from that knot.

This saves your hair strands and helps with length retention.

A lot of times it is a shed hair strand that has trapped other hair strands around it. Other times it is a hair strand, because of its coily nature, that has wrapped itself around another hair strand.

If you still cannot unravel the knot, then you will need some scissors.

Why I recommend your fingers and not a comb is because with a comb you run the risk of snapping your hiar.

A pair of hair shears

A good pair of scissors especially designed for cutting hair is what you will need.

These are especially sharp and ensure a clean cut. Other scissors (for example, for cutting paper, cutting fabric, etc.) are not as sharp and will cause split ends to your natural hair. The pair I use is by Kellermann 3 Swords.

So, instead of pulling out a stubborn knot, snip it off.

Towel

Use a towel to protect your clothes from oil stains. Put the towel around your neck and shoulders.

Products

Use an oil or a combination of oils that provide your natural hair with lots of slip mine are:

Coconut oil

Although coconut oil has amazing benefits for your natural hair, for dry detangling you want to particularly use it for its excellent slip.

Your natural hair will also benefit from its deep penetrating of the hair shaft property. My favourite is by Lifestyle Foods, you may click here to purchase it.

Castor oil

Castor oil is a thick oil and is popular in the natural hair community. There are many touting its ability to grow hair, but there isn’t much research backing up this claim.

However, for dry detangling your natural hair, it also has excellent slip. My favourite is the Jamaican Black Castor Oil by Tropic Isle, you can click here to purchase it.

Process for Dry Detangling your 4c Natural Hair

Place a towel around your neck and shoulders
Gently divide your hair into smaller sections. (You can use some oil to help you section if needed)
Working on one section at a time, apply a generous amount of oil to a section and work it into the hair. Make sure you cover the length of your hair – for end to root.
Gently finger detangle.
1. If you come across a knot, unravel it by gently pulling hair away from the knot.
1. Add a bit of condition if it is still stubborn.
1. Snip it off with your hair shears it is really knotted. Do not break off the knot by yanking your hair

I am meticulous and separate (almost) strand by strand. My technique remains the same as when I am wet detangling.

Technique for Detangling your 4c Natural Hair

Here’s a short video showing how I dry detangle my 4c natural hair.

When not to dry detangle your 4c natural hair

If you’ve slipped up and allowed your natural hair to get extremely matted I would not recommend you use the dry detangle method.

In this case I would recommend using a conditioner with slip – wet detangling.

I alternate between these two methods, depending on the condition of my hair at the time.

Even during the same detangling session, you may interchange between the two methods depending on the particular section.

With our 4c hair there’ll sometimes be one or two sections needing you to intervene with wet detangling.

Have you tried dry detangling?