Tangle city!!

[kganihanova]

Hey y'all, can you help me out? My hair has been so tangly lately! I've tried everything: a microtrim, an smt, chelating/clarifying (swimmers shampoo). I haven changed my routine: coconut oil, HE honey I'm strong, Pantene sleek and shine and healthy sexy hair soy tri wheat leave in. I've had the same routine for months and it's worked...until now. Help!

[Nique1202]

You've got a looooot of protein going on there. How many times did you wash with the swimmer's shampoo? Coconut oil adds to protein buildup, HE Honey I'm Strong has lots of protein, your leave in has wheat in the name so almost certainly has a good bit of protein, and I'd guess that Pantene probably has some kind of protein in it as well as many of their products do. I mention this because the first sign of protein overload in my hair is tangles all over the place.

I'd recommend a few more washes with your clarifying shampoo and cutting back on the number of protein products you use for a while. Check the ingredients lists on your bottles for anything that has the word hydrolyzed and anything that looks like a plant extract (corn silk, aloe, banana, etc) and anything that says keratin anywhere on the label as these all add protein, and use only one of these products at a time. Don't trust online ingredient lists because often manufacturers have different ingredients in the products they sell in different countries, and they change their formulas pretty often so unfortunately you'll have to read the bottles in person to be sure.

[EDIT] Plant oils are usually fine, excepting for coconut as I noted above. It's the extracts that often concentrate the plant proteins, the oil is a different matter entirely.

[Anje]

Agreed -- I've experienced the most horrible and sudden tangliness when I've had protein overload. If a bunch of your products have that in it, it's a good thing to suspect. Get some conditioner that does not contain protein, stop using your protein leave-in. Try another SMT or two, perhaps, but with protein-free products. Usually that's enough to at least tell you if you're going in the right direction or not.

Coconut oil itself doesn't have protein, but it's notable for having been demonstrated for helping hair to retain it. I'm not certain other oils don't have similar effects as compared to no oil at all, but coconut is the most studied.

[meteor]

Kganihanova, so these products have always worked well for you in the past until recently, even with periodic clarifying and chelating?
Then I would wonder if there have been any seasonal changes where you live? Did you start using heaters or did the air get dry recently? If so, try moisturizing hair more (and use humectants inside steamy shower, not outside in dry air) and try using more oils (to seal moisture) more frequently. Things like LOC, oil rinses, pre-poo oiling, adding oil to conditioner can really help combat the dryness and add elasticity to hair. Try other oils, coconut oil is not always great for all people at all times and it solidifies at temperatures below 24 C, so can contribute to temporary stiffness sometimes.

Sometimes just temporarily rotating to new products (keep the old ones for rotation, too), more humectant & occlusive-rich ones, can make a difference. Adding a silicone serum or an oil-based detangler can help.

How do you style your hair? I find with greater lengths, styling hair in simple but sectioned ways (e.g. braided buns) is the most important factor in preventing tangles from daily wear.

Also, it could be just the length producing more tangles compared to when hair was shorter. Are you by any chance comparing the tangliness to a long time ago? Tangles literally come with the long hair territory, unfortunately :( , so there is more work involved in preventing tangles: putting hair up or just keeping it contained when worn down, sleeping with it contained on silky-smooth materials, sectioning it while detangling, washing it in ways that produce the least tangles (I love braided washes, for example)...


(A quick note since coconut oil & protein connection was mentioned:
While coconut oil helps hair hold onto its own keratin (protein) - which is *always* a great thing (loss of hair's own protein = broken bonds and damage) - http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc2003/cc054n02/p00175-p00192.pdf, oil does not contain any protein and does not deposit any external protein on hair.)

[kganihanova]

Kganihanova, so these products have always worked well for you in the past until recently, even with periodic clarifying and chelating?
Then I would wonder if there have been any seasonal changes where you leave? Did you start using heaters or did the air get dry? If so, try moisturizing hair more and using more oils (to seal moisture) more frequently. Things like LOC, oil rinses, pre-poo oiling, adding oil to conditioner can really help combat the dryness and add elasticity to hair.

Sometimes just temporarily rotating to new products (keep the old ones for rotation, too), more humectant & occlusive-rich ones, can make a difference. Adding a silicone serum or an oil-based detangler can help.

How do you style your hair? I find with greater lengths, styling hair in simple but sectioned ways (e.g. braided buns) is the most important factor in preventing tangles from daily wear.

Also, it could be just the length producing more tangles compared to when hair was shorter. Are you by any chance comparing the tangliness to a long time ago? Tangles literally come with the long hair territory, unfortunately :( , so there is more work involved in preventing tangles: putting hair up or just keeping it contained when worn down, sleeping with it contained on silky-smooth materials, sectioning it while detangling, washing it in ways that produce the least tangles (I love braided washes, for example)...


(A quick note since coconut oil & protein connection was mentioned:
While coconut oil helps hair hold onto its own keratin (protein) - which is *always* a great thing (loss of hair's own protein = broken bonds and damage) - http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc2003/cc054n02/p00175-p00192.pdf, oil does not contain any protein and does not deposit any external protein on hair.)

This routine worked for me up until recently when it started getting colder. Honestly, I don't usually do much with my hair...it's usually braided or ponytailed.

[meteor]

This routine worked for me up until recently when it started getting colder. Honestly, I don't usually do much with my hair...it's usually braided or ponytailed.

Colder as in you use have to use heaters or central heating? Then yes, it's probably dry there.
Maybe a humidifier can help with that. From my experience, dry hair tangles more easily, for sure. Also, be very mindful of static-inducing and rough warm materials like wool/flannel, they can increase tangling, for example at the nape (if you wear scarves, hats or use flannel bedding). Try to line or cover materials like that with silky smooth ones (e.g. silk).

My advice would be to rotate to more oil-rich and silicone-rich products (rinse-out and leave-in conditioners, serums/oils). Lots of products marketed for "dry, damaged" hair or "anti-frizz" products or "smoothing" or "straightening" leave-ins and oils can be good for such times.
I'd go heavier on occlusives, especially for leave-ins (check LOC routine), and be careful with humectants.

3 products that you mention are pretty rich in humectants, so I would be careful not to overdose on them or use them in shower only for now and rinse them out properly (though they do look like good products!): SMT, Honey I'm Strong, Healthy Sexy Hair Soy Tri wheat leave in. Humectants can draw moisture to themselves, which is good in good humidity but can dry out the hair a bit in really dry air.