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| Straightened Hair with Front Section Pulled Back For School |
Quick Background on Dimple's Hair: It is extremely coily, seems easy to break. To look at it in it's coily state, you would make the mistake of thinking it was thick. Probably because it has extreme shrinkage, and it has great coil definition. However, I find her hair to be fairly fine. And to compound the situation of fine hair, this little diva chopped off approximately 3-4'' of length on about 8 braided plaits. This not-so-funny incident occurred about 18 months ago (when she was about 4 years old). It can break easily, so the following info is the best regimen for length retention that I have figured:
PRE - (SHAM) POO (Conditioning and detangling or Oil/Conditioning before washing):
It took me a while, but I figured out that her hair must be conditioned for slip and detangled before I even wash it. I take a spray bottle, mix some conditioner and water (maybe oils sometimes), and spray her hair so that I am able to section (never manipulate dry coily hair). Once her hair is sectioned into 4, then I saturate the ends in the conditioner mix, and detangle each section. Put each section into a two strand twist until ready to wash.
WASHING/CONDITIONING/DEEP CONDITIONING: I wash her hair in sections (either 2 sections or 4). The hair is already in 4 sections from the PRE-POO that was done. With the pads of my fingertips, I massage her scalp with a small amount of shampoo. Once the shampoo is rinsed out, I will put the conditioner on the section, and place the section into a Bantu knot. Same process for the other 3 sections. Once all sections are in Bantu knots that have saturated in the conditioner, I will rinse out in sections. I deep condition her hair once every 2 weeks. I steam treat her hair at least once a month.
STYLING: I do low manipulation styling on her hair. That, for me, includes wash n go's, two strand twists, box braids, braid outs, or most styles you can think of. How I make those styles low manipulation is by creating the texture on wash day, putting the hair into the style of the week, and keeping the style for the rest of the week (between 7 to 10 days). So basically, we don't change the style up and risk split ends, or any sort of breakage.
DETANGLING: I only detangle her hair during a pre-poo with the ends saturated with conditioner/mix. I begin by saturating with water/conditioner, then use my fingers, then with a wide tooth comb, then use a specific paddle brush to finish up the detangling process. I detangle in sections (4 sections minimum).
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| African American Girl With Long Length Hair |
It took me about a year to come to this regimen. I will be consistent with it, because it works well for her. Going by the motto "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Not everybody's regimen will work for you, but if you are a coily girl with fine hair, and experience breakage easily, as well as knotting easily, you may want to try this if you haven't quite yet figured out a regimen.
