How a Head-Spa Visit Led to a 6-Hour Detangling Session

Photo: @zakiablain/Instagram

“Do you do Black-girl hair?” was the first question Zakia Blain asked when she called a Philadelphia Korean head spa earlier this year. She just finished uninstalling faux locs, a protective style that wraps your natural hair for an illusion of real locs. Blain had them in for two and a half months so she wanted to treat her hair and scalp to a little extra detoxification with a head-spa experience. It wasn’t her first. Her cousin owns a head spa in Atlanta, and that was the first place she ever tried the massage treatment. She loved it and thought the treatment would be beneficial for detangling post faux locs.

The service started off fine with microscope images of her scalp that revealed lots of buildup — no surprise to Blain, who is used to that after having a protective style for almost three months. She tried to relax as the experience started with a scalp massage and some detangling before going in with shampoo. Because she was at a trusted spa with a specialist who was firm in saying they could do Black hair and that they’d done it before, she thought she could relax, but she started feeling the detangling being started from the top of her strands to the bottom. It’s normally detangled in the opposite direction. Then they started going in with shampoo instead of conditioner to help the detangling and softening process. Blain, who has been a beautician, knew certain shampoos could cause more matting to her hair if it wasn’t properly detangled so she started feeling her hair and she immediately knew something was wrong. “I started touching the back of my hair and all I could feel was clumps of hair. I asked for a comb and conditioner so I could just do it myself.” Well, that wasn’t working, so Blain left with four huge clumps of matted hair connected in the back of her head. At that moment she didn’t know if she was going to have to cut all her hair off (she’s been scissor happy in the past) or be determined to get it detangled. It took over six hours and a few different attempts, but she did it. Here’s how.

The first thing Blain did when she stepped out of the head spa was call her cousin who owns a head spa. When she didn’t answer, she called her friend and stylist, Kee. “She’s the only person I let cut my hair. I called her and told her, ‘I’m about to cut it all off.’” Kee convinced her not to, so she started looking up flights to Los Angeles, where Kee is based. “She sent me a video of her detangling someone’s hair before and it took ten hours, so I figured I can just fly to L.A. and have her do it for me because I was becoming stressed and overwhelmed with the situation.” Instead of a flight, Kee told her to get two things: a rattail comb and Silicon Mix conditioner, a Dominican hair-care staple that is rich in hydration and best known for its detangling properties.

Price: It almost cost her a cross-country flight ticket.
Verdict: She couldn’t find the conditioner in a store so she went home to try what she knew first.

Blain had Cécred’s reconstructing treatment mask, a vitamin-rich treatment for damaged hair and the Doux conditioner, a honey-and-aloe blend that nourishes and detangles hair. Both are staples that she uses in her routine all the time, but she couldn’t get the slip she was looking for by using both products together. She tried to work through one section at a time with a comb, but it just wasn’t working.

Price: $54
Verdict: It didn’t work.

“It was like magic,” is how Blain described the moment she put the conditioner to her head. She used detangling brushes and about a quarter of the bottle and her hair slowly started to be released from the matting. Blain thinks the Cécred and the Doux products that were sitting in her hair for a few hours helped a bit of the tension, making the detangling easier by the time she found the Matrix conditioner. To her surprise, when she was fully detangled, she didn’t have a lot of breakage and her hair was still full. Now, it’s become an added staple in her hair routine.

Price: $22
Verdict: The conditioner worked like magic.

Blain incorporates Matrix’s conditioner into her routine now while keeping her other staples around, including Cécred, the Doux, and Amika. She’s happy she didn’t get scissor happy and cut her hair, but safe to say she won’t be experimenting with new head spas anymore.