Detangling thick curly hair

[sapphire-o]

I've had long hair for many years and never realized how blessed I am in regard to tangles. My hair is slippery and combs just slide through most of the time. Now, my whole family also have longish hair. The guys (husband and two sons) all have mid-back length hair. They all seem to spend forever combing their hair out everyday (with Tangle Teezers mostly). Still about once a week, I need to help my younger son to detangle all his hair. He has thick, heavy, curly hair that neither me or DH have. I put some argan oil on it and comb it out section by section. Each time it took like 15 minutes. Is this normal for 2C hair? I suspect the Tangle Teezer is not deep enough to go through his hair.

I honestly didn't expect this. His hair was smooth and straight when he was little. He doesn't have much hair care skills and just wear it down all the time. I'm really not sure what he can do. He uses regular sulfate shampoo and cone conditioner. Any suggestions on avoiding tangles? Or should I just expect them? I don't really want to cut it as it's so gorgeous. He's always had longish hair and it's part of his identity (except it didn't tangle before puberty).

[MamaLou]

I think this is very normal. Only thing he can really do about it is braiding or bunning it but if he is more comfortable with other hairstyles than that is no option. Maybe it will help him to brush it in the shower with conditioner in this hair. He can also try doing a very loose braid at night to avoid more tangles.

[Ligeia Noire]

I can relate. I have 2b/c and it takes me around 40 min to an hour to detangle. 15 min is a blessing.
What helped me. Wearing it braided and up, enables me to only have to really detangle once per week. He has much shorter hair though.
Only doing it when wet.
And i only use a comb, much easier to go about the sections. Conditioner with great slip is definetly a miracle worker. Back in college, when my hair was shorter, i would dampen it and add a coin sized Pantene conditioner amount and would spread that over the length to help me detangle when dry. I wear it braided all the time now. So not much in tangles. Only after washing.

[lapushka]

I honestly didn't expect this. His hair was smooth and straight when he was little. He doesn't have much hair care skills and just wear it down all the time. I'm really not sure what he can do. He uses regular sulfate shampoo and cone conditioner. Any suggestions on avoiding tangles? Or should I just expect them? I don't really want to cut it as it's so gorgeous. He's always had longish hair and it's part of his identity (except it didn't tangle before puberty).

Maybe try a Wet brush (but on dry hair). And section his hair, halfway, and half again. 4 sections at least, I'd say.

I just do 2 sections, but I can get through with the TT just fine then.

There's also this type of brush by Philips that seems to be awesome but I can't say anything about it (haven't tried it).
https://www.amazon.com/CURLY-HAIR-SOLUTIONS-Flexy-Brush/dp/B077H5G7ZB/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_194_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZWJP28YAQ7XF0MS7R8R0

The daughter on the "MAD curls" channel raves about this brush though.

I guess try only detangling it pre-wash dry as much as you can, and do the rest in the shower with plenty of conditioner. If that's possible at his age (can he do it himself)? I don't know how old he is.

[NeonPink]

My hair is a bit curlier but what I found helps is to use a Wet Brush on wet hair covered in a detangling leave-in cream or conditioner. When my hair is dry I can only comb it when it's heavily oiled or if I add more leave-in. The tangle teezer doesn't work as well as the Wet Brush for me cause like you said the bristles are too short, but the Wet Brush has longer ones.

What might also help is to finger comb for a bit to take out the bigger tangles, as those are usually the worst ones and easily found by hand.

[milosmomma]

I agree that a wet brush is a really gentle and thorough tool to have in your hair tool arsenal. I also recommend adding slip, and trying to just detangle wet and let it clump and dry into its wave/curl pattern. The clumping will help it stay neat and less tangled. You could try a roo(rinse out oil) between the shampoo and condish. For me it locks in alot of moisture, helps with wurl clumping and adds a bit of slip. Light oiling between washes could also help if you need to detangle on dry hair.

[Panthera]

Your son's hair is completely normal and 15 minutes is actually very fast. I usually detangle my hair for 45 minutes, I use just my fingers, tangle teezer helps but it can be damaging so I rarely use it. You could try to detangle the hair when it's dry and without any product or use some slippery conditioner instead of oil. Or, cwc, wcc, roo and detangle after that. It need some experimenting to find the best method. Have you tried the tangle teezer thick & curly? It has longer spikes than the regular one.

[ravenheather]

Kinky curly knot today is a great detangler and leave in. Also love a set brush on my tb length 3a daughter.

[EdG]

I suspect the Tangle Teezer is not deep enough to go through his hair. That is likely the problem. Get him a wooden comb with tines long enough to reach the scalp and to get underneath tangles.
Ed

[blackgothicdoll]

TT thick and curly + detangling in sections works for me. I do four sections - hair in half, then the top and bottom section. I'm just going to fairly assume his hair is not as thick as mine, and maybe 2 sections, half and half or top and bottom would suffice.

But also, it's best if he is detangling hair wet, in shower (or bath?) with conditioner (not sure how old he is or if he bathes/showers by himself). Anyhow, if you're combing thick curly hair when it is bone dry, that's probably part of the problem. KCKT is very good, or conditioner if it's pre-wash. Oil alone isn't going to do it on dry hair.

I think keeping hair braided is always a good idea when you're dealing with tangly hair. Else, it will just tangle itself again in a few minutes. 15 minutes is nothing to me, I wish it took me that long to detangle my hair! :o

[GrowlingCupcake]

I do not have thick or curly hair but I have extremely tangle prone hair (on a good day, it takes me about a half hour to an hour to detangle, and I detangle twice a day + use a detangler + wear it up/contained/braided; on bad days, it can take close to two hours, and involve cutting tangles out). I strongly recommend the wet brush as well, and a good detangler. I like NB's Selkie Detangler; it's the only one that's worked for me. Definitely detangle in the shower with conditioner as much as possible; trying to get all the sheds out then helps a lot.

Does his hair have to be detangled every day or would just pre-shampoo be fine? While it might be longer detangling all at once, that could cut down on how often, and maybe you could even CWC so you can detangle with some conditioner?

I'm guessing he's in his early to mid teens if puberty has hit. He should be able to learn to braid his hair at night so that can help with tangles.

[Kalamazoo]

I like using a wooden comb & cocoa butter.

Before starting, I rub CB on the comb's tines, on both sides of the comb. Of course, work from the ends up. When I get to a tangle, I hold the tangle against the CB with my finger or the palm of my hand, so that the warmth of my skin melts the CB onto the tangle. Then start combing again, find the knot, & hold the knot with the comb while using the other hand to pull one strand at a time out of the tangle.

Usually, I find a tangle has a split end as its foundation, because the broken hair has wrapped itself around other, healthy hairs, which leads me to conclude that split ends are contagious, in that one hair with a split "infects" its neighbors. So I keep a small pair of scissors handy while detangling, for S&D. I think embroidery scissors are great. Also, they come in collapsible, folding styles, so that one could carry them in a pocket. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-Scissors-Steel-Handy-Folding-Pocket-Travel-Small-Cutter-Crafts-Sewing/122715554105?hash=item1c926ac139:g:OfAAAOSwYmZXGDb U

CB is also ideal for travelling, since it's solid at room temperature.

Perhaps detangling more frequently throughout the day would minimize the number of tangles needing work at each session? So this would mean your son would be carrying comb, travel scissors, & cocoa butter in his pants pocket.

I know that the standard advice is to use a wide-toothed comb for detangling, but personally, I prefer a fine-toothed comb.

ETA: I recognize that my hair's less curly than your son's, but it still tangles.

Here's https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cococare-Cocoa-Butter-Stick-1-oz-Stick-S/26958318 an ad for cocoa butter in a stick at Walmart. I'm used to paying just $1.50 for a stick of Queen Helene brand, so I'm surprised that this ad's price is so expensive. And I'm definitely talking about 100% pure cocoa butter in a stick, NOT a cream containing CB as one ingredient in a mixture.

ETA: Or one could carry a fingernail clipper that was used only for S&D.

[AutobotsAttack]

It comes down to technique when dealing with curly hair. Just find a conditioner or detangled with slip.
But a rule of thumb when detangling curly hair, is to detangle in section.

please detangle in sections

It’s easy to want to just detangle his how, how you do with yours, but brushing or combing large sections of curly hair is a gateway to excess breakage.

It’s best to detangle hair when it’s damp. Not wet, but not dry either

[Spikey]

I second everyone telling you that 15 mins is normal. And braiding hair at night is a godsend when you have curls. I would also recommend that you try fingercombing, it's very gentle and works well to get out all the initial knots, so you can then comb more easily to finish up.

[sapphire-o]

OK, thanks for all the tips! I just bought him a Wet Brush. :D Never heard of such thing before. It wasn't easy to find a non-girly one for him so I picked a shiny gold one. He tried it once and said it's good.

Thank you for setting my expectations straight! I guess I'll teach him to braid. He's very clumsy, though. :D

[lapushka]

OK, thanks for all the tips! I just bought him a Wet Brush. :D Never heard of such thing before. It wasn't easy to find a non-girly one for him so I picked a shiny gold one. He tried it once and said it's good.

Thank you for setting my expectations straight! I guess I'll teach him to braid. He's very clumsy, though. :D

I'm glad he likes the brush. I absolutely love mine (and it's "only" a dupe, really).