new thread
I was wondering what kind of brush or comb that those with curly hair on here use. I have to brush my hair when wet after I shower, even know I heard it can damage your hair, but if I dont it just gets really frizzy. Right now I am using a conair medium sized brush with the plastic beads, but I heard that those can damage your hair. What do you think I should be using on my air? Because if I do not brush or comb my air it gets really knoted. Any other tips on how to care for my shoulder length curly hair would help.
Hi Brian,
I also have very curly shoulder-length hair and I havn't used a comb/brush for many months now. Indeed I detangle it with my fingers only which works fine and prevents much of possible damage that can occour du to (wet) combing/brushing. Once I used a comb/brush after showering (my hair was shorter back then), now I detangle it with my fingers while and after showering (but it takes quite a long time). Then for aprox. two days my curls stay in place very well and I have to do only minor detangling. But shortly before my next wash, detanglig (dry) becomes really annoying again (I wash my hair 2 times a week).
This is how I handle detangling, but for you (I also considered about that quite often and still do) I think a wide tooth comb would be a perfect solution (it's what most times is recommended for curly hair), of course used when your hair is wet. But you have to begin detangling your ends first and then detangling higher layers step by step. You have to be extremely careful when combing wet hair to prevent hair breakage (wet hair breaks easier than dry hair, curly hair breaks easier than straight hair anyway). If you keep your hair at shoulder-length wet combing shouldn't be too tragically, though.
I have worries about knotted hair, too, but I think a few knots are better than tons of raped out / breaked hair. The most important thing is to begin with wide teeth when detangling (first your fingers, then a wide tooth comb) and then maybe using a narrow tooth comb (if neccesarry, for me my finger and fingernails work quite well yet).
Many people recommend conditioners for curly hair which might make detangling easier. I don't use one yet, though.
Another problem is to spread your sebum on your hair when it is dry. Normally (for straight hair) you can spread it by combing, but as we know combing curly hair when dry ist extremey painful. So the sebum has to stay on the top layer, the ends can earn the sebum only when it becomes wet again. I havn't found a solution for that yet. But you should apply shampoo only on your scalp, not on your ends, otherwise they dry out (which is important if you don't use a conditioner). Don't worry, the sebum on your ends won't become too much, a bit of it of course gets washed out whith the shampoo which you aplied on your scalp when you let the water flow down your head.
This is what works for me rather well at the moment, but there are also lots of other solutions/opinions.
I know what your feels must be like because I have curly hair myself. You always have to keep in mind that many things which work for straigt hair very well might not work for curly hair, nearly everything is different.
Good luck!
Regards,
Herb2992 (Germany)
[(OT): @ John.B: I hope you read this, please let me know if you received my answer to your mail I sent you 2 times a few weeks ago.]
To make an imagination of my hair, here is my small gallery.
The photo above shows quite well what I meant wih a "wide tooth comb", sometimes the teeth are even wider/shorter, though. You'll find a lot of different types of combs on the internet.
Thanks alot for the advice! Ill give that a try. My hair is very simular to yours, but it gets very frizzy. Probally from the damage ive done to it over time, unless its just the way my hair is. Do you happen to get that problem at all? Im going to continue growing it and being very careful when detangeling to avoid more damage, because I would hate to have to cut it and start over after getting this far.
You can also try the following method: Afer having it well detangled, let water flow agiain over your head and afterwards do a bit head-banging (to seperate the curls from eachother and to reduce remaining water) and only minor detangling. By using this method I achieve very well defined curls which remain for at least two days.
I remeber that my hair was much frizzier when I just combed it after washing having left out the second flow.
You can also try to use a conditioner, but I havn't experienced that yet.
I forgot to mention two other things:
For very tight knots I use a needle (I have a thin one and a bigger one), I quite often find them when my hair is dry and my next wash is imminent. Needles also work sometimes for individual knotted hairs (pic), but they often brake during this process (which isn't too bad because individual knotted hairs would break above the knot some time later anyway). So I carry always a needle with me to eleminate these knots. I know this sounds stupid, but for me it is nothing differnet than the comb or brush for other long hairs. But I don't think carrying needles with yourself is essentially, I mean we're talking about maybe 2 hairs per day, so who cares. You also can keep a tighter knot in your hair (which can't be removed with your fingers) and remove it when you come home again later. You sometimes need patience to remove them, so you shouldn't do it when you are in a hurry.
The second thing I forgot to mention is, that I sometimes, when my hair looks too messy for my taste, I brush the top layers of my hair (dry) which are more or less straight. But I don't pull the brush through the ends, I pull out the brush before I reach the very curly ends. This can help if you have not eneough time for showering (and letting dry your hair. I forgot to mention that you shouldn't use a hairdryer if you want well defined curls (I didn't use one for two years now)). Wearing a ponytail on messy days can help either (I sometimes combine both techniques when neccessary, it also makes the frizzyness not showing that much). I prefer to wear it loose, though, it also helps keeping my head warm.
This is what I do so far, but you shouldn't think that I knew all that yet when I grew it out, many things were new to me (I'm growing out my hair for two years now). So I did many mistakes aswell like combing my wet hair from the top to its ends in one step (which was quite painful either). But I havn't recognised too much damage from these days yet, I'll see. I'll also see if my current care is the best solution, I don't know yet. But don't be too frustrated, I think everything is well with your hair. Sure, it could be less damaged, but mine could be less damaged either. If you want to grow long hair hair you have to accept your mistakes (which you had to do) and learn from them, these are things men can't know and often even women don't know.
But you can also have great although you do some mistakes/don'ts, many people do these mistakes and you don't even recognize it.
That note at the end of my prior message was for a certain mlhh-user, I don't know how to reach him otherwise (I didn't want to make an extra-post for that).
I hope this helped a bit. If you have questions, just ask, but I don't know yet if I'll have the time to answer.
Sorry I missed this before I replied.
[(OT): @ John.B: I hope you read this, please let me know if you received my answer to your mail I sent you 2 times a few weeks ago.]
Im not sure if this is refering to me, but if so I havent.
Some great advice there Herb and a wide tooth comb is a must.
Cheers,
John.B
PS...I replied to your message.