How & Why I Pre-Poo

I am not a huge fan of wash day however it has to be done. I have found the best way to wash my hair to ease the process of detangling. As you may already know, I have Afro Fro hair which means that my hair curls tangle easily creating fairy knots and other knots that can rub up against the shaft of other hair and cause breakage. As I am on a journey to grow color treated hair to bra-strap length (because I love color), I need to follow the best course of action to maintain my length. Pre-pooing my hair allows my curls to relax which makes it easier to detangle. The pre-poo creates slip and slip allows the detangling process to be much more of a breeze. In case you are new to your natural curls, slip is the ease in which your hair can pass through your fingers due to product being added to your hair. In this case, the slip is created by the pre-poo applied. 

What’s my pre-poo formula? It’s simple: 

1 part water

1 part conditioner

A few drops of essential oil* 

*not necessary but I like to add if my hair has been in a protective style for weeks and needs to be refreshed

How to Apply pre-poo:

1.  Add the pre-poo formula into your hair with fingers from root to tip. 
2. Cover with a plastic cap
3. Keep in for 15 minutes  ( You can sit under the dryer on a low setting OR you can use your steamer) if you use the steamer, you will not need the plastic cap. You will need a towel/tee-shirt to keep your neck and clothing dry. 

Now that you have the formula, and how to apply it, let’s begin the pre-wash process. (BONUS!!!) Here’s what’s next:

1. Separate your hair into 4-10 sec. the thicker your curls, the more sections you should create. I started with 3 sections and separated each section further into 2, making 6 sections overall. I prefer using 8 sections. 
2. For each separated section, spray your pre-poo formula on the tips of your hair first, then spray at the roots and work the pre-poo down the hair shaft. Don’t be stingy! You want there to be a lot of slip. 
3. Toulse** each separated section. 
4. Use long wide tooth comb to detangle hair. If you are not able to comb through pretty easily after toulsing, add more pre-poo formula and toulse again. It’s really the pre-poo n toulsing that should do most of the detangling for you. Save your hair strands! And your scalp. When we pull and tug at our hair, we inadvertently pull the newer hair out of our scalps.  It’s normal to have older shedding hair come out during the detangling and styling of hair as the hair is old and will fall out anyway. Newer hair strands should not come out. Also, breakage occurs from pulling. So be gentle. (Protein treatments can reduce breakage - that’s for another blog post)
5. If you were unsuccessful with step 4, then attempt it again. 
6. Twist each section after successfully detangling and use clip to secure hair. 
7. Shampoo each section 2-3 times focusing on scalp. I repeat that often because I want clean hair and scalp. I like to pull on the section of hair I’m shampooing to reduce tangling at the roots while I thoroughly wash my scalp. Too much pulling can break hair, not even tension may still cause tangles at the root. Medium tension is perfect. :-) 
8. Condition each section. Hair should still be easy to slide your fingers through. ( if it’s not, repeat toulsing and detangle with long tooth comb)
9. Rinse thoroughly and apply leave-in as necessary
10. Style hair

** Toulse/ing is the method used to detangle hair. Use your finger tip to separate hair. Keep separating hair until the hair is separated throughout section from the root to the tip. For extremely tangled hair, apply pre-poo directly to tangled and use fingers to separate. Try not to use comb to detangle hair. If your hair is matted, you may need professional help. Our hair can loc easily if we style our hair without detangling efficiently. (I am not the founder of Toulsing. My new hairdresser: Ladosha Wright created this method and it works for me.)

I hope this information is helpful. It will take a little more time to use this regimen but what do you prefer to have? More time or more hair in your scalp? You’re welcome lol

Feel free to pop a comment or question below this post. If you would like a video demonstrating toulsing or any other processes described above, let me know. 

Thanks for reading! Follow me at @lofanaturalista or @LWCounsels on IG