We’ve all seen the memes:

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Yes, wash day can be involved. If I want to shorten wash day and reduce tangles and single strand knots (SSKs), the following tactics help tremendously.

TACTIC #0: Don’t Allow the Hair To Tangle Too Much in the First Place

Wash day gets VERY long if my hair contains lots of tangles. In this case, detangling will take a looooooooong time. Easily more than an hour, possibly 2 hours. I learned the hard way: Just don’t wear a style that allows my hair to get significant tangles.

I had a HUGE epiphany about this after watching the GreenBeauty channel’s video below. I wish I had seen this video at the start of my hair journey. It’s impact has been indispensable, completely transforming my hair journey for the better.

The detangling of a significant amount of very shrunken tangles causes my fine, naturally highly porous to break. Yep. It’s just best for me to keep my hair as tangle-free as prudent, and that means wearing a style that doesn’t allow significant shrinkage. For me, a two-strand twist out styled with a hard hold gel prevents tangles more than any style, with exception of wearing my hair flat ironed.

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Complying with the tactic of not allowing my hair to tangle in the first place used to mean that I had to say NO to wash and go’s. This is because no matter what I did, in a day or two my wash and go would be filled with tangles. I’m elated to be able to say this is no longer the case. I’ve discovered a gel that gives my hair SUCH A STRONG HOLD that my hair does not tangle when styled in a wash and go. As long as I don’t try to layer the gel over a cream or butter (which I learned interferes with the hold of that gel on my hair), this gel freezes my hair in place for days and days and days until I rewet my hair. This gel is Bronner Brothers Firm Hold Curling Gel. I wish I could say BB gel would do every head the way it does mine, but that just isn’t likely. The good news is that it’s economically priced if you decide to give it a trial.

The point: If my hair isn’t permitted to tangle in the first place, then wash day is pretty much a BREEZE, comparatively speaking. 🙂

TACTIC #1: Start Wash Day the Evening Before “Wash Day”

I can’t believe I didn’t come up with this tactic sooner. If I predetangle, detangle, rinse, and twist up my hair the evening before wash day, then “wash day” only consists of washing, deep conditioning, moisturizing, sealing in the moisture, style prepping, drying, and completing styling. That’s still quite a bit, right? 😀 It is. And that’s even more reason to have gotten detangling out of the way on the prior evening.

I can implement this tactic if the next day I wear a wig over my detangled twists (see photo above) until my schedule opens up to commence washing, deep conditioning, and styling. And now that I am trialing RoyalHerbalOrganics Fermented Rice Water products, it’s very helpful for me to do this: The no poo is best used on DRY hair, and if I have detangled and towel dried my hair the evening before, twisted it up, and worn a wig over it all day, my hair is typically dry just in time for the RoyalHerbalOrganics no poo. Perfect! 😀

Tactic #2: Detangle With the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush AFTER Doing YouTuber “What The Kink’s” Finger Detangling Method

So, I talk a lot about the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush and how it has changed my whole hair life. I won’t do it again here. Instead, I’ll just link video reviews and demos below that let the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush speak for itself. 🙂

I do need to mention that I only use the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush on my hair AFTER I have lightly finger detangled the section to the point where I can finger comb through the section without my fingers getting caught or stuck. Only then do I start at my ends with the KareCo Tangle Buster Brush. I learned the technique from YouTuber “What the Kink”, and it has resulted in significantly reduced breakage. 😀 Excellent!

YouTuber What the Kink’s Detangling Method That I Use

TACTIC #3: Do Just About Every Step of Wash Day in Sections, in Twists

As I detangle my hair section by section, I twist up each section (I end up with 3 sections on each half of my head for a total of 6 twists). I do this so that my hair does not re-tangle. Later, I apply my shampoo section by section. I also rinse out my shampoo section by section. The same with my deep conditioner. I even apply my moisturizer and sealant (usually a gel) section by section.

It may seem like working in sections and re-chunky-twisting would take up a lot of time, but the prevention of re-tangling MORE than makes up for the few minutes it takes to re-chunky-twist as I go along. Keeping my hair elongated in twists makes everything smoother, including product application. Wash day goes much faster for me with my hair in twists at just about every step.

TACTIC #4: Squeeze Excess Water from Hair Before Drying

Applying styler to damp versus soaking wet hair makes a HUGE difference in my hair’s drying time. However, sometimes it is best for me to apply styler to wet hair and not damp hair, such as when I’m doing a wash and go and want to capture the definition that I get when my hair is very wet. In this case, I apply my gel and then plop my hair using YouTuber Mahogany Curls’s microfiber towel method (see video below). Her method of plopping involves an initial step of gently ringing the hair with the microfiber towel to remove excess water. This is brilliant! It cuts down drying time for me drastically, and that means a shorter wash day. 😀

Your Turn!

Have you found ways to shorten wash day and/or reduce tangles and single strand knots? If so, please do share in the comments! Inquiring minds want to know! LOL! A more streamlined wash day and fewer knots a happy naturalista make! And the more ideas and tactics, the merrier.

As always, thanks for visiting! Many blessings to you and yours!

Yvette