So, what is pre-pooing anyway? Pre-pooing, or pre-shampoo, is the process of applying a treatment before you shampoo. I swear by pre-pooing every wash day because my hair tangles so easy, as does most individuals with type 4 hair, especially 4b/4c kinks like mine. When you wash your hair, it often shrinks up, and therefore, can become more prone to tangles.
If you wear your hair in protective or low maintenance styles, you’re likely not combing or detangling your hair everyday or every other day. For example, I currently have in two-strand twists and will keep them in for about 2 weeks before washing my hair. Since I will go 2 weeks without combing or detangling my hair, it’s in my best interest to detangle my hair some before jumping straight into shampooing my hair.
Keep reading below for the benefits of pre-pooing, product options, and step-by-step how to videos.
Benefits of Pre-pooing
If you’re wondering what the benefits of pre-pooing are, there are several including:
- Makes detangling easier during your wash day. I hinted at this above. When you go to detangle your hair during your wash day routine (I detangle my hair while deep conditioning and styling), it will be SO much easier because you’ve already worked through those tangles.
- Reduces breakage. By pre-pooing, you remove any shedded hair beforehand, which will reduce the amount of breakage and tangling during your wash day.
- Adds moisture back into your strands. When you do a pre-poo treatment, you typically add a product, liquid, water, or a combination of those to your hair. This will bring your dry curls back to life. Keep reading below for product suggestions.
- Adds softness and shine. Depending on the treatment you use, your hair will likely be softer (which is usually the case when using a deep conditioner or detangler) and/or shinier (which is usually the case when using an oil).
What Products to Use to Pre-poo
There are plenty of product options out there even if they are not labeled as a ‘pre-poo treatment’. Most commonly, many naturals use:
- Pre-poo/Detangler. Some detanglers are literally labeled as a pre-poo. Essentially both pre-poos and detanglers accomplish the same thing- detangle your hair. You can check out one of my favorite pre-poos here.
- Conditioner. Some naturals like to just buy any cheap generic conditioner to detangle/pre-poo with since you’re just going to rinse it out anyways. As long as it has plenty of slip, you’re good to go and that is a fine option. As a beginner product junkie, I have plenty of conditioners in my product stash that I can use if I run out of detangler.
- DIY (do it yourself). For those naturals with the extra time, feel free to make your own pre-poo! Many naturals love to use aloe vera gel, aloe vera juice, olive oil, avocado, and other natural ingredients to make their own. This is a fantastic option because these ingredients usually add great nutrients to your hair. Y’all, I don’t have the time for DIY, so I can’t speak to this personally, but I trust that it works well because my curlfriends that do it, love it and their hair is thriving!
- Oil. I love to use oil roughly once a month as my pre-poo to do a hot oil treatment. It’s quite simple: heat oil by doing the double boiler method, spray hair with warm water, apply warm oil to hair in sections, detangling as you go, sit under a hooded dryer or steamer for 15-30 minutes, then rinse out and continue with your shampoo and conditioner. See step-by-step how to video below of me doing a hot oil treatment on my mother.
Step-by-step How to Video
Check out this step-by-step video for pre-pooing. I used a detangler in this video, but these same steps can be taken for pre-pooing with a conditioner, pre-poo, or detangler.
Hope that provides some clarity and help to all my naturals! Feel free to comment with any questions!
Have a bomb wash day!
Margaret Nicole
Marg, The Med Beauty 
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