De-tangling fine hair worn down?

[LutraLutra]

Now that I’ve actually got hair :D, and the weather has been warm and sunny and not too windy, I’ve been wearing my hair down a lot more.

Being an F my hair tangles really easily, so if I’m out somewhere every time I take a bathroom break I get out my comb and have a quick de-tangle.

But is my constant combing and de-tangling a bad idea? Is it worse to leave it alone and de-tangle at the end of the day, or would that just give me a head full of horrible knots? Any ideas?

[kdaniels8811]

It might be better to put it up in a protective style - bun, braid, whatever you can come up with. My fine hair broke off continually until I started wearing it up and protecting it. Just my two cents!

[Rentlle]

some leave-inn is made for detangeling hair, I thought..
you don't have to wash it out and you can still let the hair down :)

[GlassEyes]

It might be better to put it up in a protective style - bun, braid, whatever you can come up with. My fine hair broke off continually until I started wearing it up and protecting it. Just my two cents!
Yes, but she wants advice for WHEN it's down.

I second a leave-in of some sort, maybe kimberlily's defrizzing spray. That seems to help with a LOT of tangles. You can find it in the recipes forum.

[Fiferstone]

I consider myself to have fine hair as well, and I love wearing it down, I tend to detangle only when I feel it looks "bad" and I'm thinking of giving the defrizzing spray a try myself. Otherwise, I'm trying to be better about protecting it in updos

[plainjanegirl]

The John Frieda leave in is in a spray form and it is very helpful with detangling.

Just be sure you are using a wide tooth comb or tangle teezer and be very gentle.

[magicatt]

I second Kimberlilly's Defrizzing spray. It gives my hair enough slip not to make knots of itself just for existing.

[ericthegreat]

I agree with everyone above, a leave-in spray works magic for tangle prevention. Actually, what I do personally is I make my own leave-in conditioner sprays. I avoid any products with silicones as much as I can, and pretty much all the leave-ins I see being sold all use silicones. So I'll use my own conditioners(which are coneless) that I use for COing. I use both the entire line of Suave Naturals and White Rain.

What I do is take a small amount of conditioner(just a big teaspoon) and dilute that with 4/5th water in a a small spray bottle. I'll then shake it up like crazy and voila, I have my own leave-in!

[Debra83]

The Eqyss Detangler (made by the same people who do Megatek), works fast and amazing. A little bit (less than a dime's worth) rubbed between hands, and then raked through eliminates tangles IMMEDIATELY for me.

[Themyst]

I'm afraid the detangling sprays do not work for me. They either do not help with the knots (or preventing them), or they make my hair look stringy. I also have fine hair.

I like wearing my hair down, too. But, I realized that it will become damaged with the constant detangling. Since I want to grow my hair to terminal, I wear it up to protect it most of the time. But, I don't go out much so it is easier for me to wear it up at home.

If you don't have extremely long hair aspirations, or if your hair does not damage easily, then I would probably take a chance and keep detangling it as needed. Maybe a detangle spray would work for you like the others suggested. :shrug:

[Phalaenopsis]

I
What I do is take a small amount of conditioner(just a big teaspoon) and dilute that with 4/5th water in a a small spray bottle. I'll then shake it up like crazy and voila, I have my own leave-in!

I do the same now and it works wonders. The usual leave-ins made my hair dry and even more tangly after a while. So coneless self-made leave-in spray is for me the way to go :)

I'm also an F and I've been struggling with the tangles for a while now and this is one of the things that finally really worked.

[Finoriel]

It´s hard to say which option is more damaging on your hair :wink:. it depends on how bad and fast your hair gets tangled and you´re the only one who can judge about that.
What I know is that my fine-haired niece gets bad mats at the end of a not-detangling-day. Which are much worse to comb out than when she detangles more frequently and it did not get to the badly matted almost dread situation.
Knots accumulate during the day and only you can find out when it´s necessary to detangle to prevent further damage because it got too far with the matting process.

[cowgirltresses]

I totally agree with the leave ins. I have quite a collection of different leave ins, as some days my hair feels like it need different things than others. The MegaTek leave in is absolutely amazing! I started using it on my horses and after seeing the magic it worked, tried it on myself. It can run rather expensive, though. Many equine stores sell trial bottles that you can test the product with. Just a thought. Also I use a lot of gentle finger combing when I wear my hair down. I can't apply leave in to dry or almost dry hair, it has to be rather wet still, but everyone is different! Hope you find your answer!

[may1em]

I get some pretty impressive snarls myself (though less of them as I grow out older and weaker hair and the overall quality improves).

One thing I've found to help a lot with detangling when it seems all is lost is separating the hair into four or six sections and work on each section individually, dismantling knots with my fingers as I work.

I'm going to try the leave-in spray idea - Fox's shea butter cream also helps me a lot. I'm a wavy-bordering-on-wurly, so on wash days when my hair is still clumped into defined waves, it tangles less than it does on subsequent days after I've combed it out (unless I've used the Fox's).

[teela1978]

Cones help a lot for me with keeping my hair detangled. The best way for me to detangle once it's gotten bad though is in the shower with a palmful of conditioner on the length.

[MsBubbles]

I choose to use cones because I love to wear my hair down. Coneless vs cones for me means perpetual tangles vs no tangles. And I vote yes to detangling more often.

[florenonite]

What about just finger-combing throughout the day and doing a proper detangling session in the evening? I wear my hair down sometimes, and it's also fine and so can get tangled, but I find that finger-combing is sufficient to keep it looking nice throughout the day, then I carefully detangle it fully before bed.

[Babyfine]

I'm in the same boat. Plus, I color, so that may make it worse.
A day of my hair worn down means mega-tangles, especially once it approaches, passes BSL, even on non windy days. I like to wear my hair down at least some of the time-so I use my cone-y leave in sprays and detangle 2-3 times thoughout the day. That helps a lot -but I worry about splits,breakage,. Maybe I should invest in more silk blouses for "down" days?
My cone-y Pantene helps the best with knots.
I'd like to look into the Mega-tek detangler.
I'm beginning to think that for babyfine hair sometimes the only way to grow to very long lengths is keep it up all the time.

[LutraLutra]

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies :flower: I'm going to mix up a batch of the de-frizz spray and see how that goes, and also try and relax a bit more about getting every single little tangle out all the time. And certainly, when the weather's horrible my hair will be worn out of harms way. :)

[Amara]

When I do wear my hair down, I detangle often, veryvery gently. My fine hair tangles easily as well, so I wear it up unless I can do the detangling dance.

[Cherry_Sprinkle]

If I am wearing my hair down and/or its windy I will generally use cones to help protect and add slip to my hair and I always use a leave in of oil & aloe, lately I am experimenting with Nightshade's hair salve too. I try to detangle by hand first and then comb if needed. Just be gentle and I'll also agree with a leave in :)

[JamieLeigh]

I really don't know how much help I'll be - my hair is a lot longer, so I usually keep it up and out of the way. I try to just finger-comb when necessary. And I make sure any comb I buy from a store is wide-toothed and seamless. It wouldn't hurt to use a leave-in treatment if you haven't already got a good one.

[plainjanegirl]

I really don't know how much help I'll be - my hair is a lot longer, so I usually keep it up and out of the way. I try to just finger-comb when necessary. And I make sure any comb I buy from a store is wide-toothed and seamless. It wouldn't hurt to use a leave-in treatment if you haven't already got a good one.



Didn't you go cone free here awhile back? So what kind of leave in do you use when you are cone free? I still use cones and don't know if I can ever leave them ( they are sooo useful when I have old damagge in my hair).

[Pinstraight]

My waist length hair is fine and tangles very easily, especially in the wind or in the winter when I wear a coat. The dilemma is that I like to wear it down almost all of the time. I do wear a scrunchie on my wrist for those occasions that I do have to tie my hair. I will wear it over the shoulder.

When my hair starts to tangle it usually starts by making a rats nest at the nape of my neck. It is crucial that I pick most of this apart as soon as I can before it gets worse. I will sometimes stop what I am doing to do a little de-tangling for a minute or so. Then I will tie it up so it does not tangle any further.

If I do not get a tangle out in time it usually means an hour in front of the TV at night patiently untangling the knots. I will then put conditioner in. On a rare occasion I have had to cut a knot out. This is not pleasant and if I am careful this can be avoided.

J