can't comb through last few inches of hair - why?

[hennared]

I've been a member here off and on for the past dozen years or so... I've not been around much in recent years due to hair loss (thyroid related). Despite having lost TONS of hair a decade ago, I have off and on grown my hair long. At near 52, it is now the longest it's ever been, hovering around waist. And in some ways I am glad for finally reaching this length, but in other ways... meh. With age and screwy hormones, my hair strands are a lot finer than they used to be; there's a lot less hair, and it's more fragile. Between my texture challenges and the 'new' length, I'm not sure what to expect. Anyway, my question!:

The last few inches of my hair seem to be a shed hair trap, these days, and are near impossible to comb out, no matter what or how much, conditioner I use. It is especially ridiculous when wet after washing, but even dry, it's really hard to comb those last few inches. It makes me NUTS. It seems the shed hairs get 'stuck' there, and cause tangles, as once I get those carefully out, the combing improves. But I never had this problem before the last few inches of length came in? So, I am really wondering if it's damaged hair cuticle that is catching the fallen hairs, and if my hair is that damaged... perhaps it's time to give up on waist length hair and chop off 3" or so. If it's damaged ends, it may likely expand up the hair shaft, isn't that the theory? And I don't want that.

I do all the the standard protective things (and then some) and I S&D the visible split ends (easy for me, since I ain't no more got a lot of hair!). I have tried many, MANY products and clarifying shampoos, moisture treatments, I rinse thoroughly in distilled water (I have horrid hard water where I live)... nothing helps, except maybe for a few hours on a good day.

So.. should I give up and cut it for damage control, or is long fine hair just 'like this' for some?

[SeRe]

I've been a member here off and on for the past dozen years or so... I've not been around much in recent years due to hair loss (thyroid related). Despite having lost TONS of hair a decade ago, I have off and on grown my hair long. At near 52, it is now the longest it's ever been, hovering around waist. And in some ways I am glad for finally reaching this length, but in other ways... meh. With age and screwy hormones, my hair strands are a lot finer than they used to be; there's a lot less hair, and it's more fragile. Between my texture challenges and the 'new' length, I'm not sure what to expect. Anyway, my question!:

The last few inches of my hair seem to be a shed hair trap, these days, and are near impossible to comb out, no matter what or how much, conditioner I use. It is especially ridiculous when wet after washing, but even dry, it's really hard to comb those last few inches. It makes me NUTS. It seems the shed hairs get 'stuck' there, and cause tangles, as once I get those carefully out, the combing improves. But I never had this problem before the last few inches of length came in? So, I am really wondering if it's damaged hair cuticle that is catching the fallen hairs, and if my hair is that damaged... perhaps it's time to give up on waist length hair and chop off 3" or so. If it's damaged ends, it may likely expand up the hair shaft, isn't that the theory? And I don't want that.

I do all the the standard protective things (and then some) and I S&D the visible split ends (easy for me, since I ain't no more got a lot of hair!). I have tried many, MANY products and clarifying shampoos, moisture treatments, I rinse thoroughly in distilled water (I have horrid hard water where I live)... nothing helps, except maybe for a few hours on a good day.

So.. should I give up and cut it for damage control, or is long fine hair just 'like this' for some?

My mom has super tangled hair, but the following combination really helps her - pre condition with oil, wash, condition with a silicone conditioner, then apply a leave in serum containing silicone. Using henna regularly has also helped her along with using a wet brush / tangle teezer.

I'm sorry if my suggestion is not useful, in my opinion silicones work very well for hair that tends to tangle.

The other experienced members on this forum may have better suggestions for you, good luck!

[Sarahlabyrinth]

Do you do vinegar rinses after washing to combat your hard water?

[hennared]

SeRe: Thanks for sharing your mother's routine.. I do still use henna and it DOES help. I haven't tried a serum on the ends; that might be worth a try. Preoiling my ends the night before a wash does seem to help a bit, when I remember to do it.

Hi Sarah Labyrinth (GREAT name!):

I have tried ACV rinses after I wash, but I never really saw/felt much difference doing that vs. rinsing my hair with about a gallon of distilled water, to be honest. If I use enough vinegar to see a difference, I end up with rather lank flat hair - not a good look with my hair density. I do have a water softener in my showerhead, by the way; but it's the fussy sort I do have to remember to recharge often. I guess I have just been reminded to recharge it :)

[SeRe]

SeRe: Thanks for sharing your mother's routine.. I do still use henna and it DOES help. I haven't tried a serum on the ends; that might be worth a try. Preoiling my ends the night before a wash does seem to help a bit, when I remember to do it.

Hi Sarah Labyrinth (GREAT name!):

I have tried ACV rinses after I wash, but I never really saw/felt much difference doing that vs. rinsing my hair with about a gallon of distilled water, to be honest. If I use enough vinegar to see a difference, I end up with rather lank flat hair - not a good look with my hair density. I do have a water softener in my showerhead, by the way; but it's the fussy sort I do have to remember to recharge often. I guess I have just been reminded to recharge it :)

Good luck. With repeated henna use, your hair will tangle lesser and lesser. My mom's hair never tangles when she uses silicones, else it tangles like crazy.

[lithostoic]

Have you tried a protein treatment? Sounds like what my hair does when I'm due for one.

[Joules]

Do you do vinegar rinses after washing to combat your hard water?

Vinegar rinses were what made my last few inches of hair tangly, and my hair overall super dry. I'm better off with hard water.

In my case protein treatments helped. And oiling ends, oil added slip and made brushing easier, the downside of it was, of course, greasy hair. I didn't have any tangles because of shed hair though, it was just my hair itself tangling.

[AutobotsAttack]

Sometimes shed hair just does that. Espeacially if your texture isn’t pin straight. The shed parts don’t mind catching onto any part of your hair.

Maybe detangle under running water with conditioner so that the stream can glide the hairs out. Or at least the majority of them.


This happens to me anytime I try to detangle out of the shower. It’s just what my shed hairs like to do. Most of them come out while I detangle under running water. It also depends on how much shed hair you have. I wash every three days, and I typically will have a golf ball size amount of hair that I shed. It lessens up during the winter months though. Me trying to detangle that without any help from the shower is asking for a crap ton of breakage.

But it’s not likely that you need any treatments or anything, unless your hair is mushy or it’s too elastic.

It’s just figuring out how to make sure those shed hairs don’t tangle themselves up near your ends.


And from one fine haired lady to another....yes. It’s mostly something that just happens to us fine haired folks.

If you don’t like detangling under running water you can try taking a bit of oil or a serum and coating your hand with it, and before you wash, just gently run your fingers through your hair to loosen up the shed hairs and get as many as you can out before washing. Then detangle slightly in the shower if it doesn’t bother you too much to further get most of the shed hair out. That way by the time you detangle one last time, there will be a lot less shed hair to detangle and they won’t have as big of a tendency to tangle themselves up near your ends.

Hope this helped.

[hennared]

Thank you all, for the ideas, so far. Yes, my hair is sure not pin straight, in fact, though it overall gets straighter with length, I get some hairs with REALLY weird curves and turns at the ends, these days!

I will try a protein treatment - I haven't done one in a good while, as I've been more focused on the obvious need for moisture. I do, by the way, detangle before going anywhere near water when I am going to wash. I flip my head upside down, and first finger comb, then use a wide tooth bone comb, to try to remove shed hairs before getting my head wet. But I never get them all out, not anymore! I wash every other day (I have some psoriasis at the nape and it demands to be washed, back there.)

Any recommendations for a particular protein treatment? I'll try anything from DIY to salon level; as long as it 'works'.

[spidermom]

One more thought: do you CWC (conditioner-wash-conditioner)? I can't remember exactly how it goes, but shampoo and conditioner have opposite ionic charges. One is positive and one is negative. When they're on your hair together, the molecules cling to each other, and this builds up. I used the CWC method for awhile when my hair was long. At first my results were so good that I thought I'd found the holy grail of hair care, but after awhile the ends would stick together like Velcro. One of our LHC scientists posted about this phenomenon, so I stopped CWC, and had much less trouble with my ends.

[lapushka]

Do you let the suds just run down? When I clarify-wash, I put shampoo on the very ends and suds that up separately, being very careful about washing those final inches of my hair.

Have you tried that? Often it is a matter of build-up, especially if you never wash the lengths.

[nycelle]

If it's only happening on the last few inches, then I'm thinking it's just damage. My hair behaved like when it was dry, and I had splits.

[Obsidian]

You mentioned clarifying but have you tried chelating? Rinsing with distilled water will help but if you ever wet your hair with tap water, you will eventually get mineral buildup.

[Jo Ann]

Silly question, but do you detangle from the ends UP? Put another way, do you start at the bottom and work your way up?

Back in the day, when my hair was SL or shorter, it didn't matter how I detangled my hair, but from about APL south, it DID. Treating my hair like short hair wasn't conducive to long hair.

[hennared]

One more thought: do you CWC (conditioner-wash-conditioner)? I can't remember exactly how it goes, but shampoo and conditioner have opposite ionic charges. One is positive and one is negative. When they're on your hair together, the molecules cling to each other, and this builds up. I used the CWC method for awhile when my hair was long. At first my results were so good that I thought I'd found the holy grail of hair care, but after awhile the ends would stick together like Velcro..

Spidermom, YES, I often do; because I also thought it was helpful. Hmm. I don't CWC everytime I wash, but I will for sure now avoid it and see if that's contributing to my problem. 'Velcro' is EXACTLY what I'm experiencing!

And Lapushka; that's also a good point. I usually don't make a point of directly shampooing my ends, for fear of stripping them of moisture.

Obsidian - I DO chelate; at least I think I do. I have a shampoo with EDTA in it; isn't that the chelating agent for mineral buildup? I use that about once a month.

Joann - that's not a bad question at all. I have to admit to starting at the root. I tend to comb with my head upside down, and 'surface' first, root to tip, then go deeper into my hair (if that makes sense). I do finger comb first. But I swear, I can comb my hair and then 5 minutes later, the ends are tangled again, or at least. 'velcroed'.

I really appreciate all these suggestions. Sounds like there is hope, yet!

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

My hair is just like this:
ACV helped slightly. At the end of the day, it’s all damage though.
No matter what I apply or do, I end up just really having a lot of splits and needing a trim.
The hairs are only catch other hairs because they’re splitting. The splits catch onto the hairs and tangle.
Your hair might be like mine, needing frequent trims.

[enting]

I wouldn't go for a big chop just yet. If you haven't figured out what's causing it, you may end up with the same problem, just with shorter hair.
If this were me, I'd try adding oil or leave in conditioner to just the ends, detangling under running water with conditioner or vinegar on the ends, and/or frequent microtrims.
Another tip I received here on the forums was to detangle sideways, meaning, gently pull sections of hair away from the main section in a sideways direction. For some reason this sometimes works when combing straight down the length gets stuck. Sectioning hair before combing may also help.

[lapushka]

And Lapushka; that's also a good point. I usually don't make a point of directly shampooing my ends, for fear of stripping them of moisture.

I would do this at least once a month, to give it all a "reset", you know. And then follow up with a nice conditioner or a good thick mask, to get the moisture back in.

Who knows it may just be build-up on the ends - let's hope that it is, because that is the easiest to solve! :flower: