Thoughts on washing hair

So today I had a revelation of sorts. I'll admit, I'm kind of a lazy person. Usually when I shampoo my hair, which is once a month, I just lather it up and then leave sectioning and detangling for when I condition my hair. I usually use a comb in the shower for detangling and sad to say I am not as gentle as I could be as I want to get it done quick. lol. Today I decided to do things a little differently.

I have been rocking 25 box braids in my hair for the last two weeks (hair co-washed once with them in). I have been rocking a braidout in various styles for the last three days. I decided that I would try a new shampooing/washing technique today. I sectioned my hair in four before even getting in the shower (usually i do the sectioning after shampooing and protein treatment). When I got in the shower, I wet one section at a time, running my fingers through it and really letting my strands separate and relax out of the braidout curls they were in. I started detangling gently with my fingers in the running water, removing as much of my shedded hair as possible.

I then applied my clarifying shampoo to the section (Giovanni hydrating and clarifying shampoo), first raking the product through with my fingers then placing my palms on both sides of the section and running down from roots to ends several times. I then fingercombed and continued the detangling. Once I had most of the shedded hair out I two strand twisted that section with the shampoo in and moved on to the next section. When I had completed this for every section I then took down section by section and rinsed the shampoo out, massaging the scalp to make sure the scalp was clean as well. I paid particular attention to making sure my curls hung relatively undisturbed, just let the water run and again use the technique of running my palms down my hair from root  to end.

The result: for the first time ever my curls were almost completely detangled after a shampoo! Not only that, my curls were also very defined, shiny and vey clean and moist looking. Usually i can only get a similar effect using herbal essences hello hydration shampoo. In my previous attempts using this Giovanni shampoo, it usually left my hair very clean but also kind of dry (that hay feeling) and no curl definition to speak of, and definitely lots of tangles. But usually when I shampoo, I just lather up my whole head and massage my scalp really good, not really caring that i am tangling my hair. I just accept it as a kind of collateral damage. This got me thinking that maybe the effect we get from shampooing may have just as much to do with our washing technique as it has to do with the actual products we use. Food for thought.