Detangling hair which has been cut off?

[LiberalUnicorns]

Hey guys. I recently had my waist length hair cut into a bob, and the hairdresser let me keep the cut off hair in a ponytail. However, after showing the ponytail to a friend, the top of the ponytail (just above the scrunchy) has become horrifically tangled, and has pretty much just matted into one incredibly ugly lump. I really want to try and detangle it, if at all possible. I'm not sure how to do that, though, since the hair is no longer attached to my head. I've tried searching, but all the results were how to avoid cutting off very tangly hair. So I figured it would make sense to ask here.

Do any of you have any suggestions on how to go about detangling it?

[DoubleCrowned]

I de-tangled my rat so I could reshape it, would that be similar? I used the pointed end of a compass, but an ice pick or nut pick would probably work. My tactic was to stab deep into the mat with the pick while pulling away from it with the other hand. I had a surgeon's clamp for the pulling, but my fingers did a better job, once I could get a grip. The trick seemed to be to keep changing locations and directions, and not really worry about getting the thing apart so much as getting it looser. I ended up with a big fluff of wiry-looking hair from which I think I could have pulled individual hairs free. Had I wanted them to be smooth again, that would have been a lot more work, because of the treatment the hair had endured.

I can't quite visualize what happened to your hair, why it tangled, but I wonder if just cutting off the mat might be more efficient, if it does not take off too much length. You could use it as a rat. Then, to keep the freshly-cup ends nice, I wonder if you could use a glue or a product like Fray-Check (from a sewing store). I have a switch which was very tightly bound with some sort of tape, right up to the end, if I remember correctly. It didn't mat because the cut ends could not move. Maybe googling wig-making would help you figure out how to keep the switch from getting tangled a second time.

Good luck.

[Madora]

If you can, try and separate the tangled area as much as possible. Then use a safety pin and start detangling slowly, in small sections. Start at the ends and work towards the scrunchie. If you can clamp the ponytail itself before you start working on it, you might find the detangling easier. Perhaps you could "caterpillar" the ponytail to keep it together.

[akilina]

Just be very gentle and work in very small sections..
I worry though that it could mean disaster and not be as neat as you'd hoped. Hair is super tricky when its in the pony tail and cut off..I have a braid I cut off of me when I shaved my head and its a nasty mess but I dont dare even touch it because it could just "derail" in a sense

[lapushka]

First I'd try and use a tighter elastic at the top (and tie it really tightly), so you don't pull out the hairs you're trying to detangle.

[spidermom]

Oh dear; sounds difficult. I don't know how you would avoid pulling hairs loose while detangling; maybe a vise grip.

I saved my son's hair from a past haircut but braided it right away and keep it in an angora draw-string bag. It better still be perfect! I haven't looked at it in a very long time.

[cathair]

What are you going to do with the hair afterwards? Are you just keeping it for keeping it's sake, or do you want to use it for something? You could try making it into a weft first, so it doesn't come apart and you don't lose loads of it, then trying to de-tangle it. You can do that by putting the hair between two sheets of tissue paper and at one end sewing together with a sewing machine a couple of times. Then you can rip the paper off and the hair should hold together in a strip.

[LiberalUnicorns]

DoubleCrowned, I'm not sure if that would work with detangling my ponytail, due to the location of the tangles. Cutting it off would take way more of the length off than I'd like. Here's a picture: http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/8945/screenshot20121123at201.png Your suggestion of fraycheck is brilliant, though. If I do manage to get it detangled I'm totally going to use that.

cathair, I'm planning on just keeping it for keeping its sake. Sewing it would work well if the tangles were lower down, I think.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to detangle it at all. If I tried detangling away from the scrunchy I'd essentially be backcombing the hair, which I think would make it worse. And I couldn't really detangle towards the scrunchy because that would just force the scrunchy lower down until it eventually fell off. :(

[kurlywurlygurl]

I have been searching for a detangler recently and I came across mane n tail detangler. Well that's kind of a lie because I have not actually used it myself, but I have yet to hear a bad thing about it. Maybe you could give that a wurl?

[cathair]

That does look tricky :/ If it was plastic hair, which I know it is not, I would wrap the un-tangled part round my hand as many times as possible and hold it really tightly to try and keep it together. Then I would spray it with silicone spray, then try to split it into as many small sections as possible with my fingers, then try to comb it with even more silicone spray. Maybe you could try something similar with something like the de-tangling spray mentioned above? I like spidermom's vise idea too, that might work even better. I think you need to be able to hold it all together really tightly somehow, then you stand a chance of being able to separate it without it going all over the place.

[Not Lynn Merely]

*snip*

I don't know if I'm going to be able to detangle it at all. If I tried detangling away from the scrunchy I'd essentially be backcombing the hair, which I think would make it worse. And I couldn't really detangle towards the scrunchy because that would just force the scrunchy lower down until it eventually fell off. :(

I don't think it would would be like backcombing at all. The hairs are no longer attached, so it would not mat up the way it would if you had tried to comb it that way before cutting it. You can comb either end of the ponytail in the direction of elastic to ends.

[sfgirl]

^^I've backcombed extensions, so yes It's possible.

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Hmmm, maybe try using a tangle teezer gently. Make sure you have an elastic really tight on the hair though so you minimize the hair which could come out as you detangle. (Even if some did come out you can always recombine it back into the ponytail afterwards. When you have finished, keep your scrunchie/elastic close to the end of the hair, ie within an inch, so the ends do not re-tangle again. HTH!

[jacqueline101]

Separate into small sections and detangle with a spray in detangler and use a wide tooth comb.