Detailed finger detangling - how often is it necessary for 4cHair?

Detangling is a process of unraveling the knots or intertwining of the hair strands. This is an act commonly found in hairs of women with curly or kinky hair and occurs due to the natural tendency of the hair to coil up. Tangled hair can be worsened by bad hair habits such as rubbing hair with a towel on wash day, wearing kinky hair in an unstretched state for long, letting hair rub against clothing (collars and scarfs), sleeping without a satin scarf/bonnet etc. Bad weather can also cause hair tangles.

Methods of detangling

• Finger detangling
• Comb detangling 
• Brush detangling
• Snipping with scissors

Depending on how sensitive your hair is, how patient you are, and how knotted your hair tends to get there are many options one can use to detangle. The above listed methods all have their benefits and disadvantages, so ensure you do proper research before deciding which method to follow. Personally I tend to use the comb detangling method as well as the finger detangling. I tend to do a quick finger detangle that usually takes me 30-40 each week when I wash my hair, and a quick comb detangle once a month. Further to this, depending on how knotted my hair is, I also often do a detailed finger detangle which usually takes me between 3-4 hours and can be done once every 4 weeks or every 6 weeks. 

Detailed finger detangling

When I perform detailed finger detangling, the following is what I do:

• Section my hair into very small sections, usually 10 to 12
• Go through each section, apply slight moisture (a mix of water and olive oil) then apply coconut oil or olive oil to my fingers and start detangling
• Within each section, I take time to really separate the strands by very small sections as I search for tangled hair
• For stubborn knots, I attempt untangling but if I fail I resort to snipping them with a pair of scissors
• The frequency of when I perform detailed finger detangling isn't preset and followed dogmatically, I usually assess the state of my hair and then decide if I need the short or detailed detangling. 

Example of the amount of knots I found in my hair after a detailed 4 hour detangling sesssion