Ever cut because you're sick to death of dealing with tangles?

[DarleneH]

Mine is waist length now. I generally love long hair but tangles are a nightmare. Have you ever just given up and cut because of that?

[ladyfey]

I went swimming with my kids yesterday, tangle city, even though it was braided. Things like that sometimes give me the urge to cut. It would be nice to be able to just go swimming, and not have to deal with all of this hair!

[meteor]

I've felt like that when I tried to do some fancy braid and my hair tangled in the process, but I remind myself that it's just a temporary feeling and I need patience. I always recommend, if your hair is super-tangled and you are feeling impatient/angry, just put it up in a simple bun (without brushing or any other manipulation) and come back to it when you are in a better mood.

[HintOfMint]

My hair tangles at any length below collarbone, so I would be giving up on long hair entirely if I cut due to tangles. I wouldn't say they're any worse at hip compared to BSL or even APL.

I'm a cone-fanatic and frankly, that keeps a lot of tangles at bay, or at least makes it easier to undo.

[ARG]

I know a lot of people have reduced the amount of tangles by switching to a silk/satin sleeping cap, or pillowcase. Tangles have never been a problem for me as a teen/adult, but when I was younger I remember my mom taking the scissors to my hair quite a few times.

[Anje]

I did once, when my hair was just being a tangly nightmare all of a sudden. It didn't help... turned out my problem was protein overload. Had to solve that before the tangles from h*** went away.

[artiste]

I did... recently. In early January, my hair was tangling at the nape of my neck every day from rubbing against my jacket, even when I had it safely in an updo. So, since I was feeling the need for a change anyway, I took the plunge and cut my waist length hair back to above shoulder.
I actually really liked it, and my hair is healthier for it. It was the right call at the time
Some days I really miss my long hair so I am of course growing it out again ( its currently just past my shoulders again). I'm enjoying the ease of it at this length, as I can put it up now, and when down it doesn't tangle.

[spidermom]

I've never cut because of tangles only, but I've cut with tangles as one of the cons of keeping it long. When my left wrist was injured and in a brace, it was hard to manage my tailbone-length hair in general, tangles included, so I got a good 10 inches cut off, with layers and a V hem. It's grown back out to almost hip, and I still love the layers and the shape. My wrist has healed, too.

[sarahthegemini]

No, and I never would. If my hair was tangling so badly on a regular basis I would re-think my routine.

[DarleneH]

No, and I never would. If my hair was tangling so badly on a regular basis I would re-think my routine.

What suggestions do you have?

[YGDW]

I have extremely tangly hair. As a child, I had to wear it short because when it reached shoulder length, the tangles would be more than my mother could handle. For the rest of my life, I kept it around shoulder/APL because of this problem. Even my 2 inch bangs managed to tangle. So.... yes!

It's almost MBL now, and I think that I can't wear it down anymore outside. Even when I wear it up or stay inside with my hair in a bun, it sometimes manages to tangle. The joys of having a lot of super baby fine hair and curly nape hair. Yay! But I'm taking good care of it, it looks ok, so I hope I can grow it to waist.

[kayeburth]

Mine is waist length now. I generally love long hair but tangles are a nightmare. Have you ever just given up and cut because of that?

yes. YES. I did. I started with the length in my profile picture and slowly got to layered, to shoulder, to bob, to short bob, to shag, to pixie. I hated, HATED all the tangles (and my hair wasn't even really damaged, just curly). then I began hating how long hair felt. and my hair kept tangling and being annoying at all stages except the actual pixie. which feels great BUT the look is just not me. so right now I am sort of growing it out but I really don't know how I'm going to deal with the feel of long hair and all the tangles that come with it........... but I REALLY want long hair, it is part of my personality. with this pixie I'm like a sort of Miley and I'm not a Miley. I wish I knew how to be able to stop hating the feel of long hair......................................

[kayeburth]

What suggestions do you have?

second that! my hair routine is pretty healthy, yet I had lots of fairy knots, it was a NIGHTMARE!

[martyna_22]

I'm in this place right now, an inch from waist length (I might be wrong, I just don't obsess over length anymore and don't bother with measuring), and f I wear my hair down tangles are horrible to deal with. During the holidays I don't feel like wearing i down, as I don't go out much, but when I'm in college.. I am really intent on wearing my hair down a lot. And I don't know, I'll see if it's possible, I sure hope it is. I think the safest bet would be conditioning a lot, oiling and using cones on ends. Other than that? I'll listen to suggestions to figure it out!

[kayeburth]

guys, I just figured out my tangles probably resulted from hard water, check if the water you are using for washign the hair is soft!

[chen bao jun]

I wash in braids, use satin cap and pillowcase clip the ssks and put satin covered rollers on the ends of my hair to deal with them and the tangles have really improved.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

In my experience, hair only tangles near the ends (under normal circumstances) so i just detangle last 4 inches and the rest is usually tangle-free.

[Madora]

I hate tangles with a purple passion but have never cut them to get rid of them.

If your hair is tangle prone, then its time to figure out WHY it does: For instance:

Do you have hard water? If so, then perhaps a filter on your shower head will help matters

Do you comb your hair every day? This is important because tangles that are not taken out only create MORE tangles.

Do you wear your hair down? If so, then start wearing it up to keep from getting tangles.

If you like to wear it down, then you must be more proactive and detangle at least once every 3 hours. Don't wait until you get home...or go to bed. You'll just have more tangles and it will take longer to deal with them.

Be sure your hair doesn't have buildup! If so, clarify with a clarifying shampoo, followed by a conditioner.

If you braid your hair and are experiencing tangles, be sure to keep each of the sections free and separate, EVERY time you do a crossover. Use your fingers like a mini rake (spread them wide and go down the strands to separate them). If you don't keep the strands separate, then the braiding makes them self-braid at the bottom, creating a mare's nest of tangles

If you find a tangle or a mat, don't try to take it out while holding it vertically! This only tightens the thing! Instead, hold the tangle horizontally, then work both sides..a little at a time, to undo the snarl.

If all else fails, put a bit of baby oil, mineral oil, on the snarl and see if you can work it out with your fingers.

Try and reduce the products you put on your hair, if at all possible. And, for the sake of your hair, never just grab a comb and yank it through the snarl. You'll be causing damage if you do.

When searching for tangles, take small sections of hair and gently comb thru them. Confine the hair you have already searched so it doesn't get mixed in with hair waiting to be detangled.

And most importantly...if you love your hair, hold your comb GENTLY and lightly! Don't have a death grip on it! You can still feel the snarls..but a gentler pressure is less likely to injure the hair when you DO find a snarl/tangle.

[1nuitblanche]

I have. On thing I love about my hair is that it typically doesn't tangle at all. When it started getting tangly at the ends all the time regardless of what I did, I trimmed off a few inches and the tangles went away. I think that it was just the way that damage was manifesting itself.

[Rushli]

For my hair, 3 things keep my hair from getting to a snarly, tangling mess....

1. satin sleep cap!
2. I do a heavy oiling every other week and leave it over night.
3. If I dont oil, I use poo bars. My hair has soooo much slip it is it was hard to do undos with my thickness at BSL/MBL without braiding first.

The past couple months I have not done any of that and have been getting the worst tangles of my life. I did a heavy oiling and pulled out some poo bars. We will see in a couple weeks if these really are the key to no tangles.

[DarleneH]

Thank you, Madora, Rushli and everyone else who answered! I was thinking this morning that oiling might help, so I will start adding baby oil on ends. I haven't done much oiling because of how it straightens waves, but I may have to give up the waviness to prevent the damage.

[seamstress]

Last time I cut my hair to chin length, one of my reasons was because it got caught on everything. I really had no idea how to take care of my hair. I could barely do a ponytail. This time, I'm going to grow my hair out and take care of it while doing so.

[Natalina]

Unless it's an undo-able tangle, no. My hair generally doesn't tangle much.

Ironically though, when I do get bad tangles, it's my bangs and the back of my head (as in above nape) that are the worst. While my lengths are an ease to deal with.

[Creagan]

I can't deal with my hair getting in my face, but up-dos give me headaches (hair-stick buns aren't as bad, but still hurt after a while.) So I HAVE to wear a head-band all the time, otherwise I will literally pull out any little hair that gets in my eyes. This is terrible for two reasons- 1, pulling hair out is bad, and damages it. 2, I already have mild trichotillomania that affects my eyelashes, and I don't need it to get worse. But I hate wearing head-bands all the time and only have two that fit properly (other ones pull too tight and slip off my hair.)

So I'm thinking about getting bangs again. Bangs never used to bother me like my BLS no-longer-bangs do now. But if I get bangs, I'm going to get a lot of flack from my mom & sisters about the rest of my hair "weighing down the sides" and making my head look pointy. Because that always happened when I was trying to grow to waist with bangs, and any time I got close to waist, my mom lopped off like six inches of hair.

[Johannah]

At the beginning of this year my ends (last 2 inches) were dry and they didn't do anything than tangle tangle tangle. That's when I decided to do some trims (around 3" in the past months) because I needed to get rid of my layers anyway. Right now I use a detangler-spray after I've washed my hair and it doesn't tangle anymore, AT ALL.

[TSwan]

This is embarrassing...but when I was about 6, I would just chop out tangles (I had a very tender scalp)

No one even noticed until my teacher found clumps of hair in my desk..oops! :o

After learning that cutting clumps out of my hair wasn't exactly ideal, whenever I noticed my hair was getting tangled often I would just go get it chopped to a shorter bob (never went past my shoulders until I was 14/15). It frustrates me when I think of how long my hair COULD be vs. how long it actually is because I just cut (and cut, and cut...) when I could have just used a better conditioner or detangled more often :shrug:

I would never, ever cut because of tangles now...I've learned that if I take my time, I can usually figure out the problem

[lapushka]

Ever since I switched from WC to CWC (less with that method) to WCC now, tangles don't bother me in the least anymore. It got better with each method, until now I'm tangle-free (after washing especially). I use WCC + LOC and it's been the best thing ever. I don't think I could keep it this long without the tangles being taken care of.

[schnibbles]

^^ I also WCC and I love it.. I have hard water and a light coney condish for the 2nd condish really helps. Citric acid also helps with my hard water issue..