Detangling your hair before washing is a must, however, the curlier the hair the more fragile it is. Tension naturally occurs with wet hair from the natural weight of the water stretching the hair, this in return causes additional stress along every potential point of breakage. Depending on porosity levels, individual strand density and texture, dry finger detangling with oils or a butter may be a better choice to ensure less breakage, plus using your fingers sans a comb is a gentler option regarding saturated strands.
Nothing beats some tender loving care for your strands. Patience and gentleness while washing your transitioning strands is a weapon that is accessible to everyone in all areas of your natural hair journey. Hair is fragile due to the extreme difference in texture at the demarcation line, so treat your hair like fine silk. Implementing TLC into your routine can make transitioning a less frustrating state to be.
All shampoos, sulfate-free or not strip the hair in some form of its natural oils. To assure minimal breakage, conditioners with good silicones containing evaporating or water soluble properties like Cyclomethicone or Dimethicone Copolyol may be great alternatives instead of shampoos for transitioning strands, but if you are dead set on using a shampoo, try to stick with sulfate-free shampoos. To further up the ante on protection from the ingredients in shampoos, try a pre-poo before your washing sessions. Pre-pooing increases strength to your strands during washing. Simply section hair and saturate each section with your favorite oils, butters or conditioner. Then place a plastic bag or cap on your hair for 20 minutes prior to washing. For maximum effect the pre-poo can be left on for a longer extent of time or overnight.
Washing your hair in sections decreases the risk of unnecessary tangling. Handling your hair in sections while you wash, leads to easier management and control when dealing with transitioning hair. Water can weaken strands so gently working each section from root to tip in a stroking and squeezing manner will produce less tangles, rather than washing your hair section free in every direction all willy nilly! All willy nilly will produce is willy nilly results, leaving you frustrated with a head full of tangles and breakage.
