Sudden tangling...?

[Medievalmaniac]

Has anyone else ever experienced a bout of sudden tangling?

I've had snarls and knots in my hair in the past, obviously - but they've always been fairly loose and come out easily with BBB brushing.

For the past few days, I've had a number of tight knots - which I have never had before - and two of them ripped out, bringing about 10-15 hairs each. :(:(:( I am not doing anything differently, as far as I know. I'm using the same shampoo, wearing it up, oiling....same old routine. The only change in my world is the running, but that has been going on for a month or more now, so why would that cause knotting suddenly in the past week or so?

Is this a length-related issue, and therefore something I should expect and plan for from this point on? Has anyone else gone from having fairly manageable hair to hair that knots up?

Any anecdotes, insights, or condolences on the tearing, most appreciated. It was discouraging to see the breakage caused by those two awful knots, when I've worked so hard to prevent breaking. I did manage to de-knot the rest without incident, though, so that was some consolation. :shrug:

[Loreley]

Maybe your hair needs to be clarified and a DT. :confused:

[mira-chan]

Two possible things I can think of for sudden tangling, you say you didn't change your shampoo, but what about conditioner? Have you clarified recently? Maybe that's what is needed.

How does year hair react to proteins? Protein overload can lead to tangling.

[pepperminttea]

Were the knots in the ends? When my ends knot more it's usually a sign that I'm due for a micro-trim.

[chopandchange]

I've had this recently. I know what caused it, in my case, though. I normally plait my hair, but started playing around with more updos, which involved brushing to get the hair smoothed back

My hair hates being brushed, and it hates most updos as well.

I got loads of splits, tangles, and white dots. I tried clarifying, moisturising, and doing S&D, but nothing seemed to help.

Yesterday I gave in and decided to give myself a trim. It feels a great deal better now.

[Tiina]

Have you been sleeping more restlessly lately or changed how you regularly wear hair at night?

[Anje]

I'm with Mira-chan here. Sudden tangling either means you need to clarify, or you've hit protein overload. I'd clarify, just to get off whatever you can, then do a protein-free SMT. If it's still tangly, try a few more SMTs or other moisturizing treatments (not just oiling) for the next few days. That's the only thing I've ever been able to do to deal with excess protein.

[haibane]

I got some nasty knots when I accidentally used a little bit too much oil (olive oil.) It didn't seem to absorb completely before I tried to detangle and my ends just knotted up like crazy.

[VintageBrooklyn]

I have been struggling with a sudden bout of knotting too. I have read everyones replies so far and have come to the conclusion that it could be that I changed my shampoo and conditioner but most likely, I might need a good clarifying. I have been using alot of olive oil lately on my hair, I'll lay off that and see what happens too! Maybe sometimes our hair just decides to annoy us by knotting up and being a pain! :)

[lemonmelon]

My hair got very tangly after a few months of using a proteiny conditioner. Now that I've switched to a protein free CO wash, it's back to normal :)

[Medievalmaniac]

hmmm....might be clarifying time, I'll give that a go and see what happens. :)

[Sammich]

hmmm....might be clarifying time, I'll give that a go and see what happens. :)

I agree with the clarifying and maybe using too much oil. That oil can sure collect dust mites which make hair tangle like crazy! :p

[HintOfMint]

I agree that it could be a protein overload, although when I had too much protein, it also came with extremely rough ends along with the tangled hair. Just a heads up.

[Anje]

That oil can sure collect dust mites which make hair tangle like crazy! :p
I don't know about dust mites (I think they prefer to munch on dead skin cells), but it sure makes mine collect dust, lint, and cat fuzz. That tends to wash out, though, and I've found a BBB is great for de-linting hair, even if I can't seem to properly spread sebum with it.

[Sammich]

I don't know about dust mites (I think they prefer to munch on dead skin cells), but it sure makes mine collect dust, lint, and cat fuzz. That tends to wash out, though, and I've found a BBB is great for de-linting hair, even if I can't seem to properly spread sebum with it.

Woops, Guess I used the wrong wording. I've always called dust, dust mites for the fun of it. :o
*Thoroughly embarrassed... runs away!*

[Anje]

Woops, Guess I used the wrong wording. I've always called dust, dust mites for the fun of it. :o
*Thoroughly embarrassed... runs away!*
Aww, I didn't mean to embarrass you:(, just poking fun at the wording.

[HairColoredHair]

Sudden tangling means I have build-up (and thus need to clarify) or damage (and thus need to S&D).

The running could have something to do. Do you you wear your hair down when you run? Or wear it bound in a way that could damage the ends? If not, try a clarify and then deep moisture and see if that helps.