Why is my hair so knotted with many split ends?

[cryptorchid]

For years, my hair hardly ever had tangles. I would brush it very often with a paddle brush and rarely ever encountered tangles. And during this time I would flat iron my hair nearly every day and had a couple of bleached pieces. Yet, I hardly had any split ends. I would also get my hair trimmed every few months. At that point (2009-2011), my hair was between armpit length and bra strap length.

Now, my hair is tailbone length at 44 inches long. Currently, my hair has an insane amount of split ends. Not just at the bottom, but even the ends of my hair that are short, half the full length of my hair, are splitting. Last week I spent an hour cutting off individual split ends from 1.5" above the ends. But now, looking at my hair again I seem to still have tons of split ends, maybe even more noticeable than before. Also, my hair gets rather tangled. It gets small knots at the ends that I have to pull apart with my fingers. My hair gets especially knotted after I put it in a bun. I've been using a tangle teezer for about a year and it's much easier to brush out the knots with that than a regular hair brush, but I'm not sure if it could potentially damage my hair. I haven't had a real professional trim in a few years, but I do give myself micro trims of no more than a centimeter every few months. My hair started becoming so tangled a year ago. I used Organix for a while but then I switched to Paul Mitchell awapuhi shampoo and "the detangler" conditioner, which have sulfates. Right after I started using Paul Mitchell my hair became SO knotted. My hair was literally matted at the back of my neck, it was horrible. I switched back to Organix and my hair recovered somewhat since then.

Can using a salon quality shampoo really damage my hair so much that even a year later it's still not quite back to the way it was? Or could my hair be suffering from use of a tangle teezer or being put in a bun? What can I do to fix my split ends and tangles? Any product recommendations? Thanks:pumpkin:

[Sarahlabyrinth]

That damage could well be from the constant flat ironing, which is so damaging to hair, and now that your hair is older and longer it is showing up. The damage can be disguised to some extent but the only way to fix it is with -scissors.

[Anje]

Is there anything else that's changed in the last couple years, other than length and products? Are you handling it differently, dyeing it, heat styling, doing those keratin treatments, etc.? Did you move to a different city? Have you been wearing your hair loose more? When you use your Tangle Teezer, are you starting your detangling at the ends, or are you starting higher up? Are you wearing fabrics that get linty? Did you get a fluffy pet? :) (I find cat hairs in my tangles with some frequency!) :kitten:

My first thought is to wonder when was the last time you clarified. It's a bit on the extreme side, but buildup can definitely lead to tangles, and tangles lead to splits. My hair gets tangles when I'm regularly using protein-containing products (which is a very individual thing) and less easily when I moisturize it well.

[lapushka]

Eventually damage catches up to you. If you flatiron on virgin hair, in the beginning it will still look okay, until those ends get more fried and older (longer). I haven't seen damage from my Tangle Teezer. I think it's rather the flatironing you'll see further damage from. Don't blame a brush when you fried your hair for years.

Use whatever works for you! It doesn't matter what brand it is, as long as you see good results, that's what matters. I'd also try plenty of conditioner with silicones to get the knots out.

[cat11]

You answered your own question in paragraph 1. It might have been fine short but that stuff damages the integrity of the hair permanently and it doesn't hold up over time.

[Nique1202]

For years, my hair hardly ever had tangles. I would brush it very often with a paddle brush and rarely ever encountered tangles. And during this time I would flat iron my hair nearly every day and had a couple of bleached pieces. Yet, I hardly had any split ends. I would also get my hair trimmed every few months. At that point (2009-2011), my hair was between armpit length and bra strap length.

Now, my hair is tailbone length at 44 inches long. Currently, my hair has an insane amount of split ends. Not just at the bottom, but even the ends of my hair that are short, half the full length of my hair, are splitting. Last week I spent an hour cutting off individual split ends from 1.5" above the ends. But now, looking at my hair again I seem to still have tons of split ends, maybe even more noticeable than before. Also, my hair gets rather tangled. It gets small knots at the ends that I have to pull apart with my fingers. My hair gets especially knotted after I put it in a bun. I've been using a tangle teezer for about a year and it's much easier to brush out the knots with that than a regular hair brush, but I'm not sure if it could potentially damage my hair. I haven't had a real professional trim in a few years, but I do give myself micro trims of no more than a centimeter every few months. My hair started becoming so tangled a year ago. I used Organix for a while but then I switched to Paul Mitchell awapuhi shampoo and "the detangler" conditioner, which have sulfates. Right after I started using Paul Mitchell my hair became SO knotted. My hair was literally matted at the back of my neck, it was horrible. I switched back to Organix and my hair recovered somewhat since then.

Can using a salon quality shampoo really damage my hair so much that even a year later it's still not quite back to the way it was? Or could my hair be suffering from use of a tangle teezer or being put in a bun? What can I do to fix my split ends and tangles? Any product recommendations? Thanks:pumpkin:

I've bolded a few things that could absolutely have lead to the current damaged state. Flat-ironing, as mentioned above, is REALLY BAD for hair in the long term, especially doing it nearly every day. Also, any bleached sections if they haven't been trimmed out (even if you dyed over them) will have accumulated extra damage. And, brushing with a paddle brush (especially if it was one you bought at a typical pharmacy, as they often have sharp seams that can wear away the cuticle over time even if you don't rip them through your tangles).

Also, the simple age of the hair! With average growth rate, EVEN if you just measured the hair from the nape instead of the front hairline the hair at your tailbone is probably at least 4-5 years old depending on your growth rate (even if you grew a foot of hair a year, it would be about 3 years old) and the hairs from the top of your head that are shorter may be this old because they're higher up and have to be that much longer than the nape section hairs to be just as far down your back. This means that almost certainly a lot of your current ends were growing during your flat-ironing, heavy-brushing days, on top of all the daily friction and manipulation that hair goes through. Just because you didn't find any damage until now doesn't mean it wasn't there, it just means it wasn't bad enough for you to notice.

If you've treated your hair better since then, then eventually you'll trim out the worst of the damage and you'll have fewer split ends and probably fewer tangles as well. In the mean time, silicones (even just a serum, from your shoulders down, as often as you need it whether that's every wash or once a month) can help patch up damage, and you'll probably want to do regular trims to take out what's already split or splitting, if you can bear to maintain at your current length for a while.

[EDIT] I should say, by silicones patching up damage, I mean from wash to wash, not permanently. There's nothing that will fix damaged hair to be new again. You can only band-aid the solution until you trim out the problem.

[spidermom]

I haven't done any of the damaging activities that you describe to my hair for a very long time, but by the time my ends get to around hip to tailbone length, they're so old and fragile that they start splitting and breaking off. I've done everything that I'm willing to do to correct the problem, but nothing has worked for my tired old ends.

[cryptorchid]

Sorry I suppose my main question is not why my hair is like this but if anyone has suggestions on how to prevent hair from tangling and getting further damage. I currently am rather kind to my hair. I don't use sulfates, I don't really blowdry, I brush carefully with a tangle teezer, I don't dye it, I don't use heat styling, and I don't use much product in my hair. I don't think the way I treat my hair currently should result in so many split ends, especially ones on short pieces of hair near my neck, which are newer strands that weren't around when I used to straighten my hair. But I imagine the tangling of my hair and having to untangle it is what causes many of my split ends. My hair has changed a lot and I'm guessing there is a hormonal or medical component.