A lot of natural women tend to confuse ‘fine’ with ‘thin’ when it comes to describing their hair texture and type. Some even assume that because your hair is fine that it cannot be thick or if your hair is coarse, it cannot be thin–this is not always the case. “Thick” and “Thin” are usually used to describe the density of your hair as a whole. Thick hair has a high density–more hair strands per square inch, or denser hair follicles–while thin hair is low density.
On the other hand, “fine” and “coarse” are used to describe the thickness and thinness of the individual hair strand itself. So no, having coarse hair doesn’t always mean you have thick hair, and having fine hair does not always mean you have thin hair. It’s important to know the difference in terms so that you can properly care for your hair–especially when detangling.
Detangling is one of the most tedious tasks when it comes to natural hair; it becomes a lot more complicated when your hair is fine because fine hair is usually fragile, and detangling can bring a lot of shedding and breakage if done incorrectly. This is why finger detangling is usually the better option for those of you with fine, natural hair.
There are tons of products and techniques you can use to make sure your hair care goes as smoothly as possible, but here are just a few basic tips that’ll help you build a strong method when figuring out how to detangle your fine hair, no matter the texture.
Dampen, Don’t Saturate, Your Hair
Fine hair can be a bit on the fragile side so you want to avoid any products or liquids that’ll weigh down your hair. This means it may not be in your best interest to detangle your hair in the shower–or at least immediately after wetting or washing your hair.
After sectioning off your hair, take a spray bottle and give your hair a few light sprays and then begin to work through it. This will give your hair some slip, but won’t weigh it down or cause it to shed more than it should.
Separate, Don’t Pull or Tug
When running into snags, tangles, or knots, it’s tempting to want to yank or pull at them. Of course, we all know that this can cause a crazy amount of breakage since natural hair of any texture seems to tangle a ton. Instead, you should work your way through each tangle by separating each strand! This may take a little big longer, but it’s totally worth the very little shedding.
If you have thick, fine hair, you may even experience matting. For this problem, you still should separate strands but be sure to use a light cream or oil for some extra slip. Matted hair usually takes a little bit more ‘elbow grease’ to loosen up.