Loose hairs, cause or consequence of tangles?

[Dientje]

Okay, this may be a silly question, but still, I was wondering about it the whole day, and maybe one of you could share your opinion :)

Sometimes I've got loads of tangles. When I comb, there are a lot of long hairs coming out. Are these hairs broken off due to combing? Or is it possible that the hairs have fallen out because they are at the end of their natural life span, and are actually causing the tangles? How can you tell the difference? I comb my hair very carefully, from bottom to top, a few inches at a time.

I'm curious what you think...

[Siava]

Check the ends of the hairs. If you see a little white bulb, it's a naturally shed hair. If there is no bulb on either end, you broke it off while detangling. I have curly hair so shed hairs are a definite culprit of my tangles.

[ChloeDharma]

My experience is that when i'm shedding loads my hair tangles alot. It would make sense though that trying to remove tangles could break hairs so i'm guessing a bit of both......to tell the difference i'd say if you don't hear much snapping while easing them out and the hairs coming out have little bulbs attached then you know it's shed hairs causing the tangles.

[Dientje]

Hmm, so I'll investigate the hairs tonight.. My hair is not curly, but it does tangle easily, especially now that it's getting longer and longer (and the weather is not very cooperative either)

[RavennaNight]

I had some moderate shedding in September from my nape and it caused annoying tangles that were taken care of by *sob* removing the shed. It was a bit disturbing, but happened only once.

[freznow]

My sheds definitely cause tangles. Thankfully, though, less splits mean less sheds getting stuck and less tangles!

[burns_erin]

I think this is one of those chicken egg things, and the answer is probably just "YES". To both LOL.

[Dientje]

Nice to read the responses!
And yeah, I agree, it's probably just one of those chicken-or-egg things. I still hope it'll be done soon, I sometimes am a bit worried when I seen all those hairs in the sink :)

[Sammybunny711]

I am so excited to know the whole bulb thing! I totally did not know that! That makes me feel SO much better about shedding!