HOW I COMB MY TWA (TEENY WEENY AFRO)

Hey guys, in this post I’m going to be sharing with you how I comb my kinky twa. 🙂

My hair is such a forest.

And I love it! :p

I’ve been asked a few times how I manage to groom my kinky hair. Does it hurt? Isn’t it painful? The answer to this is NO. It isn’t painful when you comb the right way.

Yes sistas, there is a right way to comb natural hair. The wrong way brings you pain and way more breakage. Breakage is bad, real bad, especially if long hair is one of your goals- like yours truly.

You cannot comb your kinky hair the same way you would if it were relaxed. I mean you can, but you shouldn’t. Don’t! It does not look the same. It does not feel the same. While relaxed hair is straight and the strands are easily separated, Natural hair is not straight. It’s all curly and twisty- some people’s strands are more tightly curled or coiled than others. Yes, like little springs or squiggles. Springs that get intertwined with each other, squiggly strands that love to stick together.

So, the right way to comb natural hair is really simple:

1. NEVER comb natural hair dry! Not combing dry doesn’t mean it should be soaked o. A little bit of the science is explained in this quote below from BGLH. If your hair is as kinky as mine, I think you’d be happier not combing dry. My hair is about 4,5 inches long.
   

   Comb wet or comb dry?

   Breakage is likely to happen whether hair is combed wet or dry and the method you choose is really a question of preference and ease. Breakage during wet combing is because although hair is very flexible, its strength and ability to resist the force applied from combing is at its lowest. Conversely, when hair is dry, it is at its strongest but it lacks flexibility and therefore is likely to snap. The ideal condition for combing would therefore be when hair is mostly dry (about 80%) so that it is strong and pliable.  However, no matter what your preference, consider using some hair conditioner to increase slip and help reduce damage.

   Spritz some water on it, put in some moisturising cream or lotion, conditioner is your best friend! When you are shampooing on washday, comb with some conditioner to do your detangling before you shampoo.

2. Wide toothed combs only! Here, this is what I mean by a wide-toothed comb.
   

   Anything smaller than this is not meant for your curls!

3. ENDS TO ROOTS IS THE MOTION, NOT ROOTS TO ENDS. Say it again “Ends to roots, not roots to ends”. With relaxed hair, you could freely run your comb through from front to back, that is, roots to ends. (Your roots are just above your scalp, where your hair starts to grow- and your ends are yes, where it ends) Natural hair isn’t the same. If you start combing from the roots, you’re going to meet some resistance. You can’t just move up freely, because of all the curls and kinks. That’s when it hurts. That’s when you put pressure on your hair and make it want to break.

So instead, you start from the ends. Comb the ends, and like that, gently move lower and lower till you get to the roots. You’re detangling and moving down step by step. By the time you’re done, go in the opposite direction and you’ll see you’ll have no problems. This is just to show you how it works. You don’t need to do that, but you can if you want- after the first combing the right way.

        4. OF COURSE, COMB GENTLY. You might not always have the patience or the time but as much as possible, try to wake up early  enough so that you have enough time to comb. It takes me about twenty minutes in the morning for me to spritz, moisturise, seal and comb. The combing takes me about 13 minutes, but it could be less for you. I tend to over-do.

I made a video of me combing for a little bit, just in case anyone doesn’t really get it yet. It’s my very first video (took me four attempts) and I was SO not the best I could be, but please forgive me, I’ll do much better videos in the future. Shoutout to my very own Clara Peters, my videographer, Iby!! And DJ Dilys for my previous attempts!

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!

X

*the background music in the video: White Nights- Oh Land, Pizza & Burger- Sarkodie x Jayso, Disparate Youth- Santigold.