My recent detangling session was filled with equal parts despair and frustration.
Actually, I was only half way paying attention to what I was doing to my head because my fingers were on automatic.
I didn’t have to do much steering because they already knew where to go. The other half of my attention was on a very interesting documentary I was watching. As I got lost in the story and re-enactment of the Civil War, my fingers got lost in my hair until they crashed into a snag that jolted me back to reality.
The pattern of getting lost, hitting a snag and having to work my way through a knot or tangle continued until I got fed up enough to give what was happening on my head the full attention it deserved. It was only then that I realized that a jagged fingernail was to blame for my detangling problems.
Also on FNH: Finger Detangle in 3 Easy Steps
Strands of my hair had been wrapping themselves around the split and jagged edges of my nail as I worked my fingers through my hair. Every time I pulled my fingers away from my scalp I had been tearing my hair out. The single strand of hair trapped in my fingernail was all the evidence I needed.
I was tired. I didn’t want to get up and tend to the brokenness at the tip of the index finger on my right hand. I pushed ahead thinking that I could somehow keep my very precious yet very tangled strands of hair from becoming casualties of the finger that only sought to save them from their tangledness.
Needless to say, I heard the snap of more strands of hair and ran into more tangles as a result of my unwillingness to do something as simple as to grab an emery board and file my nails.
Eventually I conceded defeat. If I was going to successfully finger detangle my hair that jagged fingernail had to go. I realized that even the little things are important when it comes to creating and maintaining a healthy head of natural hair. Jagged fingernails are absolutely not worth losing hair over. I began to wonder how many other seemingly small things I had been overlooking that were keeping me from achieving my hair goals.
I came away from that detangling session with a renewed commitment to my hair. I promised myself that I would always pay attention to the little things no matter how inconvenient they may be to deal with at the time because they may make all the difference in whether I lose my hair or keep it in the long run.
Author:
Chanel Polk
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