Can you detangle your hair when it's wet?

[FallingDarkness]

I know it's a bad idea to rip a brush/comb through your hair right out of the shower, but lately it seems like that's gonna be a mandatory evil of my life given how much of a tangled wavy mess my hair is when it finally dries. Ideas on how to fix this?

[lapushka]

Curlies/wavies do it all the time, so no it's not bad, just make sure your hair when it is soaking (preferably squeezed out) and you detangle is full of conditioner.

I detangle my hair with a WT comb only, once it is out of its towel, and before I apply/scrunch in my styling products. I leave it alone from there until the next wash, when I detangle dry (comb/brush) before washing.

[Lauraes]

I always detangle my hair when it's wet. I apply leave-in conditioner and wrap my hair in a towel for about 5 minutes after I get done washing my hair, and then detangle when it's soaking wet (but not dripping).

[Frankenstein]

I've always detangled my hair when wet. As long as you're gentle it should be fine.

[likelikepenny]

This is like the only way for curlies lol :p

[Aredhel]

My hair is pin straight, but I always detangle while conditioning in the shower with my wide tooth comb so that it's more or less detangled when I get out of the shower. Whatever hairs are still tangled after that, I just gently detangle with my fingers. :)

[Dark40]

I always detangle my hair when it's wet. I never use a brush on it though. I always use a wide tooth comb.

[pandabarrier]

I detangle wet hair from the bottom up, when I'm applying conditioner. I use my fingers or a wide tooth comb. So far so good, it hasn't caused damage.

[Carolyn]

I always detangle when my hair is wet. I never detangle in the shower. I use slippy, moisturizing products and a WT comb almost glides through my hair after towel drying for a few minutes. I've found that the right conditioners make detangling a breeze.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

I always detangle mine when it's wet but not dripping.

[school of fish]

Oh yes, I do this every day :D

I can't do it sopping wet - my hair is too delicate for that - but I do use my wide-ish toothe comb (1/8" tine spacing) after my shower when my hair is towel-blotted and shaken out. I condition every day, so the comb glides as easily as is possible with my fine strands ;) I go slowly and gently, but even so it doesn't take that long, since I detangle throughout the day as well. It probably bears mentioning that I wear my hair loose during the day and bunned for sleep :)

[maborosi]

I don't know why, but something changed in the last couple years. I used to only be able to wet-detangle, but now I have to wait until it's dry.

[FallingDarkness]

Wow thanks guys. I've really been trying to avoid combing out my hair when it's wet because I absolutely don't want any damage lol. Sounds like if I'm just cautious that it's all gonna be good tho!

[school of fish]

I don't know why, but something changed in the last couple years. I used to only be able to wet-detangle, but now I have to wait until it's dry.

Mine did that too when I switched up my shampoo and conditioner :) Suddenly detangling could only happen when my hair was totally or almost totally dry, it was strange! I've since gone back to my previous S&C and I'm back to wet detangling again...

I don't know if it was switching from cones to cone-free, or if it was something specific to those particular formulations... I just roll with it and adjust routine elements as necessary when changes pop up :)

[Fia]

For my fine 1a hair I always detangle wet, well not sopping wet but hair that's been squeezed in the towel to blot out most of the dripping water. As long as you're careful not to overstretch the hair you should be fine. Hair is more vulnerable when wet compared to dry.

[Hairkay]

My tight curls require wet detangling.

[Mrstran]

I don't comb when mine is wet, but I do spray on some leave in conditioner and then wait until it dries.

[Totty]

Wet combing here

[Ligeia Noire]

Wet combing here too because otherwise no one, and I repeat, no one would be able to put a comb through it when dried. Good lord it reminds me of my childhood days when my mom had to comb it for me. Not one single day I wouldn't cry my eyes out.

[meteor]

I think the best way is where you get minimal breakage and minimal hairs pulled out and overall minimal drag and resistance while detangling, whether it's on dry or wet or damp hair, crispy clean or covered in oils or conditioners, etc - just find what reduces drag the most.
I'd just keep in mind that hair is stretchier when it's wet and it's a bit easier to pull it out without much pain when wet, so be mindful and if it feels like you are putting undue stress on strands, stop and go slower and/or add silicones/oils, load it with more conditioner, or ditch the comb and go with fingers only or whatever else it may take to not overstretch or snap those strands, because it's easier to snap/overstretch strands in water without really noticing, compared to getting that snaggy resistance, which is like a warning sign, that one can get on dry hair.

For me, if the hair was thoroughly detangled before a wash and there wasn't much build-up, I usually prefer my hair to be almost or completely dry before attempting to detangle it, because some of the tangles in wet hair will work their way out somehow on their own as the hair dries. My hair likes to stick to itself when wet, so detangling wet means it will still tangle up again and again for as long as it's wet/damp, so I might as well wait till it's dry.

But if the hair is pretty tangly, detangling wet sometimes works significantly better, but only for the bigger tangles or bigger sections rather than those tiny SSKs, for example.

[youngtundra]

I keep my comb in the shower, and detangle while my conditioner is in. So by the time it's rinsed out, it's not tangly :)

[Granger Mane]

Despite having wavy hair, I can't. My hair turns turns into a wet solid sheet. Any attempt to detangle wet hair, no matter how much conditioner or detangler I use, is DOA. I can hardly detect, let alone pull apart the knots, and combing with fingers or comb results in broken hair. Even just raking condtioner into it pulls some out. So I always detangle dry. Any other wavies with fine hair have this issue?

[H o n є y ❤]

I would never detangle while dry lol.

[Aunty Miki]

I detangle slowly and carefully from the bottom up with a plastic wide toothed paddle brush when it's completely dry. My hair hates any and all combs. 2B C iii...I think.

[Aunty Miki]

Despite having wavy hair, I can't. My hair turns turns into a wet solid sheet. Any attempt to detangle wet hair, no matter how much conditioner or detangler I use, is DOA. I can hardly detect, let alone pull apart the knots, and combing with fingers or comb results in broken hair. Even just raking condtioner into it pulls some out. So I always detangle dry. Any other wavies with fine hair have this issue?

My hair is M-C and I am the same way. Detangling wet stretches and breaks it.

[Anje]

I shed like crazy if I detangle in the shower, but it's not bad if I do it once I take it out of a towel. Often I'd smooth a couple drops of oil through the damp hair first, which seems to lubricate everything. I have to use a comb/tangle teezer though for damp hair, as it just adheres to my hands in that state. Finger-detangling only works on my hair when it's dry.

[EdG]

I find that the best time to detangle hair is while it is still slightly damp. The dampness gives the hair some slip, resulting in fewer broken ends compared to detangling when dry.
Ed

[mariazelie]

I always detangled wet and had a mess, even if detangled carefully before washing. No matter what shampoo I used or conditioner, it looks weird and does some velcro type thing that looks matty. Finally, after reading this forum, I tried this: detangle dry, shampoo and condition in the shower, keeping hair straight and smooth (still looks frizzy when I am done) and now I just let it dry the way it is. The first time I tried it I was afraid; I thought it might be a matted mess. Not so. It dries and looks normal, with no tangles, plus it doesn't disturb the bit of wave I have. I have been doing this for months and no problem, it works great. I do not understand it, but it works. I grew up on the lake and never combed my hair wet, so it got me thinking about trying this method. Someone made a suggestion and I am glad I tried it. Will never try to comb through those snarls again! It was depressing and it took so much time, and I used to dread the day to wash my hair. Over the years I tried product after product and nothing worked. I tried WO for awhile and that was pretty good, I just don't stick with it. This forum has helped me in so many ways. You never know what will work unless you try.

[Simsy]

Hand up for wet detangle. :waving: if I let the tangles dry in, they just knot and start pulling other stands into dreadlocks. So I comb dry before the shower and detangle with just my fingers and a detangling spray when I get out. Spend 10 mins and save an hour or 2 of frustration.

[rmani]

I detangle wet. Having said that I use a leave-in detangler as a rinse out between shampoo and conditioner. For the moment, its the best way I've found to have enough slip wet or dry to prevent damage. I have coarse thick wavy hair.

[ExpectoPatronum]

I do both on a fairly regular basis, though sometimes I'll prefer to do it one way or the other. Sometimes I'll go through phases where I exclusively finger detangle when my hair is wet and coated with conditioner. Right now I'm in a phase where I prefer to oil it and detangle it dry - gently of course! With my hair, detangling one way or the other doesn't cause more or less breakage. No matter the method, as long as I'm gentle and don't rush and rip through tangles, my hair comes out pretty much the same.

[Granger Mane]

My hair is M-C and I am the same way. Detangling wet stretches and breaks it.


OK, good to know I'm not the only one with this. Interesting that you hair is the same way despite being coarser, I always assumed having a lot of fine hair was the prob. I can't see the tangles, until I feel resistance when combing. But the knots are so small and tight I can't undo them without snapping hair.

[ArtificiallyRed]

I have to detangle when my hair is damp. My hair is unmanagable when dry :p