If your hair is very dry or tangled, apply conditioner all over your hair before getting into the shower and cover it with a shower cap. Then, leave the conditioner to soak into your hair while you shower. Rinse your hair, then shampoo and condition again the way you normally would. [2] X Research source Unless you have very fine hair that gets oily easily, leave some of the conditioner in your hair instead of rinsing completely. The leftover product can make your hair shiny and more manageable. [3] X Research source

Leave-in conditioners are best used on thick or coarse hair. They can make thin hair look oily or dirty. Apply leave-in conditioner after you shampoo or when your hair feels dry and brittle. If your hair tends to get oily easily, you may want to choose between using leave-in or regular conditioner. However, if your hair is very dry, you can use both regular and leave-in conditioners for extra moisture and detangling.

You can buy a detangling spray at any drugstore or beauty store, or you can make your own out of hair conditioner and olive oil.

You can also use just a light coating of coconut oil on the ends of your hair as you style for a smooth finish. If the coconut oil alone isn’t enough to loosen your tangles, use a traditional conditioner, then add the coconut oil after you towel-dry your hair.

Detangling with your fingers is a great way to start because you can really control how much pressure and pulling you do with your hands.

Wet hair is especially prone to breaking when you comb it, so go slow and use a wide-toothed comb to reduce the damage.

You can also use a brush that has very widely-spaced and stiff bristles. Flexible and narrowly-spaced bristles will get caught hair and also make it frizzy.

You don’t need to secure your hair with ties or clips into separate sections, just hold one small section at a time as you work through it. When you’re finished, release that section and grab the next.

When you comb your hair this way, you can work through one knot at a time. If you begin at the scalp, each section may have two or three knots and you will just push one down into the next, creating a potentially bigger mess.