Hair Care tips from ethnic mers?

[Mermaid Marius]

Hello, buoys and gills!
(Please forgive me if this thread already exists) As an African American mer swimming is always a double edged trident. I love being in the water, but as any ethnic mer will tell you, our hair is extremely difficult to manage after being wet as it tends to kink up :I I was wondering if there were any ethnic mers that had some suggestions as to how to delay/slow the process, or at least tips on how to make hair management easier after mermaiding?

[Mermaid Cascada]

Apply conditioner before and after swimming. And when you're done swimming shampoo and condition your hair to remove chlorine. After that apply hair vitamins and leave in conditioner.

[Mermaid Momo]

Before I swim, I always put my hair into Bantu knots or braids. So once I'm done swimming, I give my hair a quick rinse with fresh water, and after it dries (my hair dries in the drop of a hat) I take my braids or Bantu knots out and I have a very curly Afro (I have 4b hair, so there aren't any curls in it at all) and with a braid out, I have relaxed waves. When I get home, I co-wash my hair and add some leave in conditioner,and detangler then I braid it up again or put it in some other protective style.

[Mermaid Veruliya]

One of my old friends who was half black half white had bought this box stuff from Walmart that smoothed out her hair a lot, it had also been chemically straightened. I'm guessing it was some kind if conditioner like mentioned :P sorry if I was no help haha. My hair is really tangly and frizzy if I don't have product, so I use a hot oil treatment once a week, and put a conditioned serum in right out of the shower, right after drying, and whenever I feel I need it throughout the day, if at all. Also before and after swimming, it also protects hair from the damaging sun and chlorine, you should always put some type of product in before atleast. Ahh, I hope this helped any :P

[Mermaid Momo]

One of my old friends who was half black half white had bought this box stuff from Walmart that smoothed out her hair a lot, it had also been chemically straightened. I'm guessing it was some kind if conditioner like mentioned :P sorry if I was no help haha. My hair is really tangly and frizzy if I don't have product, so I use a hot oil treatment once a week, and put a conditioned serum in right out of the shower, right after drying, and whenever I feel I need it throughout the day, if at all. Also before and after swimming, it also protects hair from the damaging sun and chlorine, you should always put some type of product in before atleast. Ahh, I hope this helped any :P
That's a relaxer. Even if you get one your hair will still poof up web wet, and its advised that you don't get relaxed hair wet too often. Because it can cause your hair to fall out/ break off.

[Mermaid Marius]

Thanks all. My hair is already relaxed (the box from Walmart) which does make it a bit easier.
Cascada - I condition afterwards, but I never thought about conditioning beforehand. I'll try that from now on. Thanks much!
Keri - I hadn't thought of doing hot oil treatments, I'm sure that would help heaps. Thanks for the tip!
Draggersprez - That's a good idea, especially since you mentioned relaxed waves being the outcome (I love that style of hair). Thanks for the help!