Have you seen a Faery Knot? (pic)

[Arctic]

Yes I have them. Faery knot is single hair that has knotted itself. I didn't know these things existed before I joined here, so I thought I can't be the only one :laugh:

Here's a photo of the faery knot in my hair, for all of you who still don't believe they are really knots (I didn't at the beginning):

http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc33/LingonberryMist/Hiukset/20081016002-muoks.jpg

Sorry about the bad quality, the light was too dim for a good photo, but you can clearly see it, I hope!

I usually snip them off while S&Ding.

But why faery knots? Who knows the origin of the name, but as faeries are sometimes described as mischievous creatures and because they are said to be very small, I guess tying a small knots on the hair of humans is just a perfect activity for them :D

[Siava]

That's one thick strand of hair! Yea, I've had a couple of them and can't for the life of me figure out how. It MUST be faeries.

[Sammybunny711]

OMG...that is your HAIR!? That is so thick!!!:agape:

[Arctic]

Is it thick? *happy dancing* I'm constantly debating if my hair is in F category anymore or not :) It used to be very fine but has gotten more robust with henna over time...

I can't figure out how these knots form themselves either if it's not the doings of faefolk :D

[Arctic]

Ha ha, I guess part of the thick appearance is explained with my camera which has excellent macro setting!
ETA: the background is newspaper paper.

[Dolly]

Well, my hair is very very fine (I'm envious)......I get those knots ALL the time (and I cut them during S & D too)......I have been pondering how they happened....I think the faery activity is a good explanation!

[birthmarkie]

I get those too. I would love to see a slow-motion sequence of how they happen!

[lora410]

I get them as well.

[RavennaNight]

I get these. I always wondered how they knot by themselves like that. I mean an actual knot is quite deliberate. Mischievous fairies!

[ale]

I never experienced these knots in my hair, but I do get them in my beard!
They are the result of curliness and not brushing, that's one of the reasons I brush the beard every morning.

...of course when I find one I untie it!

[utsusemi]

Yep, I've been finding those occasionally for as long as I've been paying attention--years now. They always show up in the ends of my hair, where it gets more damaged, brittle, and bendy. The healthier bits of my hair are too springy to twist up around themselves like that.

However, that still doesn't explain the actual mechanics of hair tying itself in a knot. "The faeries did it" is better than anything I've come up with so far!

[mellie]

That's a great pic!! Your hair is very thick and healthy too - how did you get the pic so in focus so closeup? Do you have a scanning electron microscope, haha?

[JessTheMess]

I get them every so often. If they are loose enough I untie them...if not I snip it off :) Your hair looks super thick and healthy :cheese:

[vampodrama]

I've never seen them before.... or maybe I haven't been paying attention.

but definitely fairies, yeah... :cheese:

[harley mama]

Wow Arctic, that photo is awesome. What kind of camera and lens do you use?

[joyfulmom4]

Never seen them. Of course I haven't looked either.

Thinking I should take up S&D. But then I'd need magnifying glasses.

[Ryanne]

I get those too, I cut them while I S&D.

[Heidi_234]

I have so much of those too. I just recently thought if I should start a tread and ask if it's common and what to to do. I never know how should I treat them, cut them off, or leave them to be.

[sahiba]

I too keep getting them.

[wintersun99]

I've never noticed that I've ever got those, but it's neat to see.

[Gypsy]

Uh.
I get those all the time.
I was told it has something to do with dying my hair, but I don't know if that's true.

[Aisha25]

I get those too. Sometimes I try to make them loose but never works I end up having to cut it off:(

[Mugili]

I get those too. I would love to see a slow-motion sequence of how they happen!

Me too! I got them predominantly in the neck hair. I don't know why?

[Eden Iris]

That is a great photo!

I believe the origin of the name is that fairies abducted humans while they were asleep and took them on wild rides and all-night dances, then brought them safely home before morning. When the humans woke up they had no memory of the night's activities, just a few knots in their hair.

[eyesofsummer]

I get tons of them, but my hair is very curly so it has plenty of opportunity to loop around itself while defying gravity.

I've never heard the term faery knot to describe them, though!

[Jean_Grey]

I get them, pretty infrequently though. Cool to know what causes them. ;)

[redtea]

I find at least one of those in my hair every week or two. They're usually too tight to undo, so I always end up cutting them off. My hair is curly and tangles easily, so I figure it's a result of that combination.

[banglaminerva]

Well, fairies doing this makes more sense than anything else! Now I can stop wondering 'how' every time I come across one.

[Bene]

whenever i S&D i find those instead of split ends. i end up snipping them off

[Teazel]

I get them sometimes, close to the ends of my hair. I cut them off when S&Ding.

Gotta play with my macro setting today. :D

[Isblå]

Me too! I got them predominantly in the neck hair. I don't know why?

I have much thinner strands in the neck hair than elsewhere. Could this be the cause?

I didn't use to get these, but I found some the other week just when I changed from silicone products to no silicon. I found a lot of split ends also so my theory is that the silicone where hiding the damage. Haven't found any faery knots after...

[Vitalai]

Wowee, your hair is thick!

I get these occasionally. I want to see the faeries. :cloud9:

[Elphie]

I've never gotten one! Maybe the fairies untie my knots?

Really neat picture!

[Odile]

You have no idea how long I've wondered about this. I get them all the time!

Fairies, eh? Looks like I'll need to get out the fairy traps and see if I can catch me one or two of 'em. ;)

[trolleypup]

Tangles, where the hair gets looped and then tightened. Voila! Fairy Knot! Ugh.

Some cameras have spectacularly good macro modes...my Nikon Coolpixes (a 3100 and a 5400) are very good. Essentially...it is something you have to look for when you are buying a camera...many cameras will only focus up to 6-12 inches...which is nowhere good enough to get images of hair strands (mine will focus to 0.4 inch).

[~GypsyCurls~]

Ah, faeries! That's how those knots get there! I always wondered how, lol...

When I see one, I'm not sure whether to snip 'em off (don't really trim my hair at all) or to try to undo the knot (it would probably damage the hair, anyway).

[joyfulmom4]

I tried S&D for the first time last night and found about a half dozen of these little knots! Who knew?

[ladyfairington]

that's so funny!

i usually find these when i'm s&d-ing and i find them annoying, but now that they have a name like "faerie knots", i suddenly find them cute.

i love faeries, thank you for naming them. <3!

[darkwaves]

I get a lot of these -- but now I need to buy a camera with a good enough macro setting to capture them. (Will the faeries be angry if I do?)

[AnneAdeline]

I've gotten these. I like the idea that faeries are doing it.

[Arctic]

Thanks for all the replies! I'm happy that this post help some of you!

I must say that I didn't invent the term faery knot, but learned it here :) It's just so fitting term! :D

About the photo itself: I have a good camera that has an exellent macro settings, like Trolleypup said. It's a simple point and shoot camera, Sony Cybershot DSC-T5. I love it! The knot was so small that I couln't see it with bare eyes, it only looked like a small ball. And the background is newspaper paper, with to plain eye looks much more sleek, in this photo you can see the fibres. The quality of the photo is not the best, it's not sharp of complitely focused, but served it's purpose. I have better hair macros in my blog (without the faery knots :) )

ETA: Here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/blog.php?b=20992) and here (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/blog.php?b=18771).


Oh, and I have tried to undo these but it never works for me. So :scissors: it is!

[sherigayle]

I just found one this morning. I smiled thinking about this thread. "I do believe in faeries."

[Raven69]

That is a great photo!

I believe the origin of the name is that fairies abducted humans while they were asleep and took them on wild rides and all-night dances, then brought them safely home before morning. When the humans woke up they had no memory of the night's activities, just a few knots in their hair.:eyebrows:

Haha! :D I love that explanation even better! I get those too all the time, also at the ends where they are all dyed, old hair, dying, brittle at times. If I have scissors handy - I'll cut them off if not I will try to undo it but is so small that I end up just pulling till the knotted bit of hair falls off (not the whole strand just the part that's knotted).

Till I saw this thread - I never knew the knot had its own name!

[30isthenewblack]

We were discussing these knots in the Curly and Wurly thread. A lot of us didn't seemingly get split ends but we did get these annoying little knots in our hair. I think it may be because our hair is obviously not straight and intertwines, that the hair is more likely to knot in that fashion.

[CaityBear]

I never knew there was such thing! lol I don't think I've ever had one before...

[KiwiLiz]

One of my close friends in high school was bullied terribly in primary school, the other kids used to hold her down and tie knots in individual strands of her hair :( and that wasn't even the worse thing they did to her hair, one kid tried to burn it.

[SaveTheTapirs]

I always thought those things were the work of leprechauns, but hey, you learn something new every day!

[Dreamernz]

oh dear something else for us to worry about, ummm i reckon maybe my hair isn't long enough to get them yet but i think i have noticed them in the past too...

[neon-dream]

Ohh I get these all the time!! lol
Nightmare hehe
xx

[joyfulmom4]

One of my close friends in high school was bullied terribly in primary school, the other kids used to hold her down and tie knots in individual strands of her hair :( and that wasn't even the worse thing they did to her hair, one kid tried to burn it.

OMG, that is horrible! Someone should have done something about that situation. I can't imagine.

[Boots]

I get tons of these- didn't realize my hair has been partying all night with faeries! No wonder it looks like that in the morning :/

[roismireag]

I have to say that I have never had a fairy knot in my hair. Could it be that my hair is baby fine, and poker straight.

[julya]

My parents always blamed fairies for the tangles in my hair when I was a kid. They said that the fairies came to braid my hair while I was sleeping.

And I get those type of tangles all the time!