Tangle prevention

[confucious]

First of all, hello everyone. First post, and glad to be here :)

I have been researching all week to try and find a solution to tangles that occur after I play shows. I am a metal guitarist, have hair that is roughly two feet long, and headbang on a rather regular basis.

My hair, believe it or not, looks rather healthy as of this moment, but I know that can take a turn for the worse if I don't do something to try and stop the tangles before they start.

So first thing's first... putting my hair up is out of the question. Simply cannot do it. I know of only one product specifically for this purpose: http://www.inthewindinc.com (http://www.inthewindinc.com/) . However, they appear to have ceased production.

I am aware that there may not be a specific product to help me out, and I'm ok with that: if something else can be done. My best idea that I've come up with is to gel/wax the ends of my hair in some way to keep them in strands - this would retain the effect that I'm going for, without having to deal with tangles. At least that's how it works in theory. I'm not sure what product to use for this, nor would I have any clue as to how to apply it to achieve this.

[twilight]

hmm, just a thought but you might try lightly oiling your hair (with olive or coconut oil, preferably) before the shows, that way it will not be able to 'catch' itself to tangle, and after the show you can just comb and wash it...

if you put too much though, you might grease the crowd with your headbanging! i would test it out first :)

there are lots of threads about oiling on here, so check them out if you are interested in trying that!

[confucious]

this past show I tried deep treating it with an Olive Oil Conditioner just before the show, and trying a "barely rinse it out" method, but it didn't seem to do much good.

I did think about coating it in oil, but I also believe that it may take THAT much oil for it to work properly... I'll try it after I give my hair a bit of time to heal.

[HikerTrash]

When I ride my motorcycle and forget to tuck my hair in, I get horrible tangles. What I do is I do not brush or comb my hair until after I've washed and conditioned it. Wet and well-conditioned, it seems to be easier to get the tangles out.

[confucious]

Well, I can go both ways on that advice. The hair is much more likely to break when it's wet, and that led to a LARGE amount of fly-aways back when I did that often. However, it is significantly easier...

Either way, generally I try to do the whole bottom-to-top method to work out the tangles, but it is just so time consuming; And... I play a lot of shows. It would be advantageous to have a method to prevent the tangles from occurring in the first place.

[simplysnuggle]

Have you tried a leave in conditioner/detangler? I have used Johnson's No More Tangles Spray Detangler and the Target brand alternative.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/310iCRIigqL._AA260_.jpg
Where I live its less than $2 for a 10 oz bottle.

I have very thick coarse hair that can tangle easily and it worked wonders for me. ( I say this in past tense because I just use coconut oil now). To be honest the spray is way easier to apply and you don't even have to wash it out. Hope this helps!

[JenniferNoel]

I played shows when my hair was TBL and am no stranger. I actually put it in tiny braids once just for the lack of tangling. I wouldn't use oil, as it gets all over everything including the guitar. :mad: A coney, leave-in conditioner never fails, it makes it sooo much easier to detangle. Also, it doesn't leave greasy residue. Do it. :D

[RachelRain]

any time I'm on the dirtbike and forget to tuck my hair in, I slather a few handfuls of conditioner on it - after half an hour or so, I can get in the tub and try to use my fingers to pick out the snarls under the water. a comb tends to help somewhat with that too.

I don't headbang because of the tangles but awesome that you do in spite of them! :)

[berr]

That product you left the link to is full of cones. Try some cone-y sprays. Something like Hask illuminator perhaps? I had one that had coconut oil and cones that worked well too. I even use that revlon detangler. It's full of cones and I sometimes need to spray the hair around my nape and down under the canopy to get the tangles out.

[confucious]

new concept to me... what are cones exactly?

[BonnyJ]

I'm with JenniferNoel, a coney leave-in gives my over 50" long hair lots of slip then I usually just finger comb which is the easiest on my hair and the fastest way to detangle. Though I don't head bang I have very coarse hair and a breath of wind leaves me all a tangle.

[confucious]

I'm definitely gonna give 'em a try... that sounds like just the thing I need :P

[LouLaLa]

Childrens hair detangler I find works best. Its usually a mild formulation and always gets my knots out (I have very very fine hair).

[Sammich]

All about cones!

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=13

I agree with others, detangling sprays work wonders for me, I use Schwartzkopf's kids detangler spray sometimes or my own made one and it works wonders! :)
(I sometimes use Aussie's detangling spray too)

[Chamomile betty]

Have you tried a leave in conditioner/detangler? I have used Johnson's No More Tangles Spray Detangler and the Target brand alternative.

I have very thick coarse hair that can tangle easily and it worked wonders for me. ( I say this in past tense because I just use coconut oil now). To be honest the spray is way easier to apply and you don't even have to wash it out. Hope this helps!

I agree with the leave conditioner/detangler suggestion. I use Mane and Tail. Infusium 23 has also worked for me. Full of cones but they work well for my hair. You might want to lightly oil as suggested. I use Olive Oil before I braid at night.

hth

[OtiggerificO]

I headbang a lot and I've never thought to use something beforehand to reduce tangles or subsequent damage, I've just accepted it as the price of headbanging and try to finger comb the worst of them out before I collapse :doh:

I'll definitely give the leave-in conditioner a go, cheers for starting this thread OP :rockerdud