Why gently detangling natural hair is so important

Natural hair needs to be detangled, and gently, for hair growth/retention. Due to the shrinkage in which natural hair produces, it tends to knot on itself which leads to hair breakage. — This is why gently detangling is so important.

If you find that your natural hair has reached a growth plateau, it’s probably because your hair strands are knotting together and therefore, easy to break. Put plainly, your hair isn’t growing because the strands are not retained for growth, instead, the strands are ‘breaking-off.’ Detangling reduces breakage since you are removing the knots that will soon result in hair loss if not proactively removed. I recommend listening to a good podcast, show, or watching a movie, to keep yourself entertained as you spend the time necessary to detangle. As stated in a previous blog post, due to the delicacy of natural hair (especially as in my case - thin 4c low porosity natural hair), solid time investment is needed to detangle properly. It personally takes me about one to two hours, and can sometimes take longer depending on how much detangling is required after wash day.

It’s important to note that the rather time-consuming detangling process simply cannot be rushed; take the time necessary to effectively detangle. Once detangling is done, style your natural hair into a protective style (such as a braided wig) which will maintain your detangling efforts and ultimately grow your natural hair.