Dreading Curls

[Simsy]

I have been running an experiment of sorts. I was trying to see how long I could stretch detangling sessions on the curls. Managed to go nearly a week just in and out of buns. Good news, the Mop held up reasonably well and the sheds decreased slightly. Bad news, the bottom 3-5 inches started to form dread locks all by themselves and got a little crunchy (possibly because of the dreads, hard to say). As a result of this experiment, and the heavy oil and detangling spray to pull the dreads apart:disgust:, (and the double condition plus oil to lose the crunchy feeling:disgust:), I have gone back to detangling at least once a day. Lesson learnt:patrol:

How long does everyone stretch detangle sessions? And do you find any benefit to not detangling every day?

[MsPharaohMoan]

I stretch at most 4-5 days. Usually 2-3. Detangle before shower is ideal, preferably with an oil. I think it has helped reduce mechanical damage enormously.

[01]

Wow. Mine used to dread *during* detangling with brush. I can go a couple of days without detangling, I'm not sure, maybe 3 or 4 days? If I go longer they're harder to comb but I can comb them out without product. Dunno if it has any benefits. I hope less mechanical damage... I used to have a lot of damage from improper combing/brushing. I'm on WO and noticed that on days when I don't comb my ends kind of get moisturized all by themselves. For some reason they're drier when I comb. Oily hair with dry ends. But when I leave them alone for few days my ends stop being dry.

[LongCurlyTress]

Well, I am going to share my :soapbox::twocents: here....

I am curly3b, TBL, iii... and...if I do not wash with very, very diluted sls free shampoo, and use gobs of thick conditioner for detangling in the shower...everyday... I get a lot of breakage and shedding. I detangle according to the book, Tightly Curly, by Teri La Flesh...only I do this in the shower and rinse out almost all if not all of the conditioner after detangling with a Madora wide tooth comb, (anything else leaves tangles and goes right over and around them). I know washing everyday is frowned upon in these parts, but my shampoo is very diluted and on my scalp only. Then I let it run down my length. My hair naturally dreadlocks if I do not detangle in the shower, ends to scalp, with a comb... (a detangling brush is too soft for me and will not go through my thickness) I loose alot more hairs the next day as the comb tears out my hairs as it is detangling through the matted hairs. Also, I no longer use coconut oil on my ends at night due to the fact that it sticks my ends together like glue. I now am using sweet almond oil on the braid tassel before sleeping and detangling the next day in the shower is much easier with a lot less breakage. Good luck!! Follow your own hunches. Curly and very long hair is not straight hair and detangling takes on a life of it's own... so we do what we have to do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gwRVX7YzRw

One more thing that works for me.... After washing my hair, I let it dry combed out in a lwb bun so it dries wavier. If I let it dry curly, then it is very hard to detangle the next day, even with a lot of conditioner and I notice alot more breakage. Good luck!!

[Beborani]

I wash every third day but I remove some sheds daily while separating the curls with fingers. I don't aim for complete detangling which happens during cowash process but neither do I walk around with tons of shed hair stuck in my ends. It is just a balance that works for my hair.

[Upside Down]

Ok. I used to detangle once a week when I washed. This caused quite a bit of damage but I was apl and didn't care.

Then I started bunning and I would detangle during wash with conditioner over it and then wear t down for the day/evening, after that detangle (yes, dry. Very carefully!) and braid it for sleep. Tomorrow bun and keep detangling everyday but by that time my curls were gone. So I was basically wearing my hair up and detangling everyday.

I don't know if this helps. I still got breakage but much less than before when I did it once a week and wore it loose

I never got dreads though!

[Hairkay]

Once a week detangler here but I keep mine plaited/braided for the whole week.

[meteor]

I stretch at most 4-5 days. Usually 2-3. Detangle before shower is ideal, preferably with an oil. I think it has helped reduce mechanical damage enormously.

Same here. :D
I keep my hair in braided buns, so it's really easy to avoid tangles.
I think this stuff is YMMV. I try to detangle hair as little as possible but just enough to prevent knotting and longer detangling sessions later. When I handle hair, I use my fingers and a wide-tooth comb only.

[littlestarface]

I get matts of hair near my scalp and my hair dreads at the bottom after only 1 day without combing :rolleyes:

[Simsy]

I finger comb right before I have a shower at night, and pull everything up into a bun so it doesn't get wet. The bun stays in until morning, then I pull the bun out, finger comb and put it back up. I can occasionally skip a session and just leave the bun in, but I wont be skipping more than one from now on. Those dreads were painful to pull apart, even with palm fulls of conditioner and water.

Thank you all, I feel a little better about trying in the first place, but I don't think this will be a repeat performance. Once was quiet enough to kill any enthusiasm I might have had for Bun-n-Go hair.

[spirals]

I have to detangle every day, twice if I wear it down. I should call it naturally tangly, not naturally curly.