FRIDAY BREW

If your like me, you know what it's like to spend more than an hour tackling pesky tangles. This is the unfortunate nature of hair strands that are densely packed together. You may even find it harder to achieve optimal curl definition with strands that are so close together. I've learned to work with it but I wanted to share some of my helpful tips that I've used throughout the years to tame my dense curls and coils. It's not easy dealing with all these strands but the time and effort I spend maintaining my mane is worth it in the end and I always experience amazing results when I follow these 5 tips.

1. SECTION OFF
If you have dense hair or curly hair in general, you've heard this tip before! Sectioning your hair is the best advice I can give you when detangling dense hair. Dense hair has a tendency to entwine with other strands causing pesky single strand knots and split ends. Section hair off during the detangling and styling process and it may save your strands in the long run from stress and will make the detangling process a whole lot less overwhelming.

2. USE A WIDE TOOTH COMB
They have all kinds of fancy hair styling tools that claim you will get fantastic results if you invest, but honestly, I always end up coming back to my ol faithful orange wide tooth come. Fine tooth comes will tear the hair out and I find that the Denam brush does the same. A wide tooth comb is the best thing for navigating through hair that is so close together. Strands that are packed together can miss out on moisture and nutrients if not detangled properly so using a wide tooth comb will help stretch the products you use to each individual strand.

3. USE THEM DIGITS
When I have a little extra time on my hands, I finger detangle rather than using the wide tooth comb. Finger detangling is a tedious process for me but I know I have a whole lot less hair shed with this method. I'm able to feel my way through difficult areas and resolve the problem head on, literally. This process is much gentler on the hair and gives me full control.

4. BE A CONDITIONER CHEAPSKATE
That sounds really bad but there is good reason for investing in cheap conditioners. Sometimes the only way you can get those pesky tangles out is by using obnoxious amounts of conditioner. Nobody wants to use their expensive conditioners for this so investing in a cheap one won't make you feel like your just tossing your cash down the drain. Also, some cheap conditioners are actually very effective and are jammed packed with quality ingredients that soften and tame frizz. Tresemme Naturals, Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle, Aussie Moist are a few that I've used strictly for detangling and co-washing.

5. USE OIL
Yes, I'm a bit of an oil snob and have tried a lot of different oils for detangling.  Oil softens the hair, makes it pliable and easier to work with. I typically apply oil to my ends because my ends are the problem area and get tangled the most. Dense hair tends to get pretty difficult to detangle at the roots so adding a dime size amount of oil to the roots loosens the hair and helps with the detangling process too. Oil helps separate hair and provides an amazing shine. Dense kinky hair is bound to entwine with other strands because the hair is so close together, so your mission should always be to use products that help separate each individual strand so that all the strands can benefit from the moisture and nutrients from your products.