My worst natural hair day ever

I read the owner of Carol's Daughter Lisa state the best advice she can give a natural is not to wash your hair on top of your head. WHY?

Because i receive the biggest birds nest on top of my head that you can imagine. When I washed my hair i was over the sink, head down and massaging in the conditioner. What a mess

Ladies, Please if you don't listen to anything else after moisture, moisture, moisture, please when you start getting length don't wash your hair on top of your head. It took me so much time with the care and detangling. I was almost crying while hurting me.

I'm so confused by this honestly lol

Can you explain what you mean by washing your hair on top of you head? I don't want to make this mistake lol

@deeply rooted, I understand I guess I was too when I read the article.
Just imagine washing your hair in a kitchen sink bent over, I pulled all of my hair together while holding my head down. I applied the conditioner and started massaging the scape and fully applying the conditioner down the length of the hair with water of course

While I am doing this I'm ensuring all the hair is included in the process then rinsing. during this process the hair is getting really tangled unbeknown to me. My hair felt smooth and not tangled until i went to rinse it out the proceeded to pat with a paper towel. When finished my hair was extremely tangled and looked like a Birds Nest.

Not sure if longer hair natural ladies wash in this matter or if they only wash in the shower while the hair is hanging straight down.

Comments Welcome, this was a first for me

I understood what you meant. Maybe that's why my hair is a hot mess at the crown, lol. Mostly I'm over the sink, massaging my hair upwards when I shampoo and condition. Hmmmm.... I'll try washing "down" more often and see what happens.

Sorry to hear about this Hun but yes you do have to wash your hair differently once it gains medium length and better. My hair was well below my bra strap before I big chopped. During my relaxed days, I always braided my hair in 4-6 loose braids and washed my hair. I would primarily wash it in the kitchen sink and apply shampoo to my scalp and sometimes inside the braids with an application tip bottle and massage and clean my scalp and hair. I still use the app bottle to wash my hair in that manner as a natural. After shampoo, I would loosen each braid, apply conditioner, detangle, and rebraid and pile my braids on my head and wrap with Saran wrap and sit under my dryer for at least 20 minutes.

Listen ladies, if you don't find a controlled manner to wash your hair as you obtain length, you are surely going to lose it or have a significant amount of breakage and damaged hair. Take heed early. CurlyTee, thanks for sharing such an unfortunate experience to help others along their journey.

1FlySista wrote:Sorry to hear about this Hun but yes you do have to wash your hair differently once it gains medium length and better. My hair was well below my bra strap before I big chopped. During my relaxed days, I always braided my hair in 4-6 loose braids and washed my hair. I would primarily wash it in the kitchen sink and apply shampoo to my scalp and sometimes inside the braids with an application tip bottle and massage and clean my scalp and hair. I still use the app bottle to wash my hair in that manner as a natural. After shampoo, I would loosen each braid, apply conditioner, detangle, and rebraid and pile my braids on my head and wrap with Saran wrap and sit under my dryer for at least 20 minutes.

Listen ladies, if you don't find a controlled manner to wash your hair as you obtain length, you are surely going to lose it or have a significant amount of breakage and damaged hair. Take heed early. CurlyTee, thanks for sharing such an unfortunate experience to help others along their journey.

I agree. I dilute my shampoo in an applicator bottle and use the applicator bottle to squeeze the diluted mixture on my hair and scalp. I never rub my hair because that would cause it to tangle. I use my fingertips to massage my scalp but I do not rub my hair. I finger comb the shampoo through my hair. I rinse my hair by using my shower head hose. I rarely have any tangles.

I always wash in the shower and in sections. I am sorry this happened to you but thanks for sharing!

Today made me realize how much my length has changed and Now it's time to change my habits.

I will be find a controlled method, this is my last day practically crying. I know for sure I'm at another stage in my Natural Hair Journey. Thanks Ladies.

I did forget to mention I didn't have much hair loss because I was verrrrrry careful. Yes, I was luckly.

Curlytee, I think most, if not all of us, have been down this road. I use to dread wash day until I looked at a YT video one day and saw Kimmaytube talking about this very subject. Know better, do better is my philosophy. Really, it makes perfect sense b/c we are allowing GRAVITY to work for us. Like Naturally Esq., I use an applicator bottle with diluted shampoo unless I am using a shampoo bar. I actually prepoo with oils and AOHC the night before. I use kimmaytube leave in after conditioning and I do not have a tangles, nor do I have dry hair.

Sorry you went through this frustration, but glad you realized what change to make. Thxs for sharing your story to help warn others

I used to wash my hair like that and I had a ton of breakage so I feel your pain. It was def. a bad idea because the hair at the top of my head is the thickest and would get so matted and tangled. ugh

I've found that I hate washing my hair in the sink-- I shampoo in the shower, and then after I'm done detangling and putting my hair in twists I can rinse in the sink. Twisted hair = no tangles, even if you're 'upside down' in the sink.

It's way harder to detangle my hair if i wash it bent over in the sink. I only wash in the shower curls hanging down . Seen a dramatic decrease in tangles and hair clogging up my drain. a HUGE difference

ohhhhh that makes sense

O i get it, i dont have that problem tho they both seem to be effctive

i wash my hair in the sink all the time..no problems here.
maybe bcuz i finger comb while rinsing, while washing the shampoo out, and while the conditioner is in my hair

also i never get alot of tangles to begin with. i finger comb everyday. tangles have never been a problem with me.

Can't do the sink. Miss spots, everything gets tangled....it's a bad scene.

curlytee wrote:@deeply rooted, I understand I guess I was too when I read the article.
Just imagine washing your hair in a kitchen sink bent over, I pulled all of my hair together while holding my head down. I applied the conditioner and started massaging the scape and fully applying the conditioner down the length of the hair with water of course

While I am doing this I'm ensuring all the hair is included in the process then rinsing. during this process the hair is getting really tangled unbeknown to me. My hair felt smooth and not tangled until i went to rinse it out the proceeded to pat with a paper towel. When finished my hair was extremely tangled and looked like a Birds Nest.

Not sure if longer hair natural ladies wash in this matter or if they only wash in the shower while the hair is hanging straight down.

Comments Welcome, this was a first for me

i always wash my hair in twists. u must understand that are not sally and susy and them who see in those herbal essence commercials; it is ok for them to wash their on top of their head. not so for us. so wash ur hair in sections, pre-poo helps, make sure to use a gentle cleanser (if ur co-washing use one that has a detangler), oil or acv rinse with cold water helps tremendously with closing cuticle to help in detangling, wash hair by holding the ends to ensure less tangles, etc

Yes, I JUST this week started combing my hair in the running water while in the shower. I have washed my hair in the sink before and didn't really notice any extra tangles. But I have to say that detangling your hair with condish UNDER the water in the shower has made a WORLD of difference for me with the tangles overall. I had been combing while in the shower but not UNDER the running water... I can detangle now in less than FIVE minutes. Before it must have taken me like 10!!!! I can't believe it took me FIFTEEN years to figure that out!!! LMAO....thanks CN.

Ladies, thank you all for your shared experiences and methods of alternatives. I really appreciate your feed back.