fairy knots

[lastnite]

I know fairy knots were discussed, but I didn't read any solutions to stop them. Is there anyway to stop them? I can go through my hair and find some everyday.

I was thinking of just leaving them, but someone said that would be damaging...

I feel bad cutting them, especially when it's a few inches up and the hair otherwise looks split free, plus if I cut them everyday I'm worried it'll start slowing down my growth. Any ideas?

[Dragon]

I always cut them off. Hate cutting them also.

[little_cherry]

I'd cut them off, too...the hair could break if you brushed or combed where the knot is and be exposed to more damage and splits.

[girlcat36]

I used to get loads of them before I knew silicones were bad for my hair type.
Since going cone-free I rarely get them anymore.

[lastnite]

hmm..I've been going cone free for a couple of months now, not really sure if I'm getting them more or less.

Does anyone else get them everyday?

[paperwhite]

I get them every once in a while (whilst going -cone free), and cut them off, no matter how high up the hair shaft they are. There's no way to untie them and I know they'll only cause more damage if I try to brush/comb over them, so I cut them perpendicularly to the hair shaft. Problem solved :) Oh, and I don't get them every day, just here and there. When I find one, I cut it off.

[Aleria]

Anyone mind telling me what a fairy knot is? It makes me think of those fancy loopies in Elrond's hair in LOTR, but somehow I doubt that's what you mean :lol:

[lastnite]

Anyone mind telling me what a fairy knot is? It makes me think of those fancy loopies in Elrond's hair in LOTR, but somehow I doubt that's what you mean :lol:


it's when a single strand of hair manages to get in a knot. it feels and looks like a tiny ball when I run my fingers through my hair. someone else can probably explain it better... here's a pic.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JOZ46qMpvPM/SzfmeGDLV5I/AAAAAAAABQU/4elx2Y8U5tU/s1600-h/hair+daze+066.JPG

[Aleria]

it's when a single strand of hair manages to get in a knot. it feels and looks like a tiny ball when I run my fingers through my hair. someone else can probably explain it better... here's a pic.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_JOZ46qMpvPM/SzfmeGDLV5I/AAAAAAAABQU/4elx2Y8U5tU/s1600-h/hair+daze+066.JPG
Oh, I see. Never had one of those. I guess there isn't really too much you can do about untangling them.

[Phexlyn]

How do you wear your hair on a daily basis? Maybe that's what's causing them. I only get those if I wear my hair loose or let a braid get messy.

I cut them off if I find them, no matter how high up they are, but only because I know they'd cause much more trouble if I didn't cut them...

[pepperminttea]

I get these quite a lot in my nape hairs - they try to wave/curl and end up knotting. (I had them on cones, too, but I'm currently cone-free.) I cut them off; nothing else for it, really.

[Absalom]

I get these in my beard. Single strands can get a knot maybe 2 inches from the end. The hair on my head does not get them. Does hair texture play a role in fairy knots? (My beard is nappy and curly, maybe 3b or 3c and coarse.)

[Othala]

Used to get a load. Then I discovered combing my wet hair in the shower after slathering it with conditioner (Biolage in my case) and voila! no more knots and significantly fewer tangles.

[dfotw]

Got them, still get them, but much less since a) I went cone-free, and b) I made myself a satin pillowcase...

I hate cutting them off, particularly since I can lose three or four inches of a hair at times, but there's nothing else for it. If you catch them early, in the knotting stage, you can undo them with a needle and care, but once they've tightened, nothing will get them to come off, and they can tangle other hairs along and cause all kinds of mischief... :disgust:

[growingmyhair]

Since going cone-free I rarely get them anymore.

Got them, still get them, but much less since a) I went cone-free, and b) I made myself a satin pillowcase..
oh, so this really could be cones for me too! because I never had fairy knots, and then I suddenly started having them, and now that I'm cone-free (thanks to LHC, never knew cones could be bad and actually always read about how they help managing curly hair and how they are perfect for your hair and bring down the frizz-blah-blah-please-buy-our-expensive-fashionable-bullsh_t) I think I don't have them, didn't notice much lately

when I did have them I would just let them be, I didn't have the guts to cut them.

[SpinDance]

I get these sometimes, not too often. Not sure if 'cones affect it or not. I'm still in the early stages of my specifically 'cone free experimenting, but I have found these a few times in the last week or so. I always cut them off, no matter where they are. I've definitely seen a hair that is breaking right at the knot, and they seem to tangle a lot in their neighbor hairs, so off they go!

Oh, and I have managed to untie them before, but it was definitely too damaged by the knot to recover, so I know not to bother. :/

[Intransigentia]

<nerd>
The math on this is way out of my league, but here's an interesting research paper about the spontaneous formation of knots in strings. The bottom line: "Finite agitation time and jamming of the string due to its stiffness result in lower probability, but P (the probability of knotting) approaches 100% with long, flexible strings. "

Raymer, D. & Smith, D. Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string (http://www.pnas.org/content/104/42/16432.abstract). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. vol 104 no. 42 pp16432 - 16437. Oct 16, 2007.

It would make sense then, that if cones make your hair slipperier and more flexible, that it would be more likely to knot spontaneously. And that if you keep it bunned, braided, or otherwise confined, it's less likely.
</nerd>

[swivelhop]

YAY Intransigentia makes sense! Cones keep my hair stiffer (coated) and less knotty. Not all cones have the same action.

[Chamomile betty]

That's why I need to use some cones. I really like Mane & Tail detangler for fairy knots.

[ktani]

Other than my shampoo which has 1 cone, I am cone free. Catnip steeped longer than 5 hours used to give me fairy knots. Steeped just under 5 hours, no fairy knots. There was something released at the longer steeping time that made my hair curl more and be too moisturized. When my hair is balanced, I do not get them.

Cones, the poor undeserved, vilified ingredient is not the cause of all hair problems. The same problems cones are accused of causing, can be caused by other ingredients and by many natual products too.

It is just easier to single out one thing and marketers, the real villains to me, make it seem as if you just buy their products, most hair problems disappear. That and staying away from sulfates. Bogus, simply bogus!

[ZoeSophia8]

Whoa! I read this thread earlier today and thought "I really don't get those" -- and then, was just doing some S&D just now and... guess what? :p

Well, I knew what to do with it. :scissors: Thanks, LHC!

[bigred199]

Wow, I didn't know there was a name for those things! (How did I live before long hair community?) I do get these occasionally as well. Kind of annoying. I usually just give them a quick snip. Fortunately it happens pretty rarely, but I feel your pain. I know that feeling of dismay looking down at my hair and thinking, "Hey, how did THAT happen?!"

[Leabhar]

I actually get them when I *don't* use cones. I'm cone-free most of the time due to my skin, but I have to be vigilant about braiding at night and being careful when de-bunning so hair doesn't just "fall" into knots, if that makes sense.

[Sundial]

I used to get alot of these pre-LHC!! And I did not even know what they were called. Now I do not see fairy knots around anymore, but I really do not know which of the changes in my hair routine has/have made them disappear.

Post-LHC, I have gone cone-free + sulfate-free + used a silk pillowcase. It could have been any one of these factors. In any case, I used to cut them off because I realized that if I leave them there the fairy knots usually end up snapping right above the knot thereby causing more damage along the hair shaft.

[Masara]

I don't usually get these much, but I came back from holiday with loads or them! A lot of them wer quite high up and Iit was really annoying to cut them.
I dug through the old threads and found quite a few comments from people who had developed fairy knots afer switching from brushing to combing or vise versa. I remembered that I had been combing my hair (MP seemless comb) a lot during the holidays. I stopped and went back to my standard paddle brush and they seem to have gone.
I also wore my hair in braids down on my back as opposed to inmy usual buns, so I think that may not have helped either

[swivelhop]

Masara signature reminded me ropebraids give me fairy knots.

[Anje]

I get them occasionally. I found that I got a lot more of them (or at least found a lot more) when I would apply a silicone serum. I'm not sure if that's because the silicone encouraged knotting, that the dryness that followed a few days later kinked the ends to encourage knotting, or if I had my hair loose more because I liked the extra silkiness.

[Elenna]

There may be two kinds of fairy knots, an actual knot on a single strand of hair, or the hair cuticle was stressed causing a small weakened section of hair to deform into a round shape.

For my hair, I am wondering if damp bunning has caused this. While excellent for moisturizing hair, it may be that moisture steeps into stressed, abraded hair cuticles and causes the hair to expand out. I am basing this on rock weathering; how water gets into cracks in rocks and slowly breaks them up.

I'm not heat styling at all with blow dryer, heat curler nor straightener.

[luxepiggy]

I found one today - took a very, very macro picture after I cut it off, in case anyone else was wondering what they look like (^(oo)^)

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff33/shoppingpiglet/fairyknot.jpg

[julliams]

I have had some success untangling them with a pin but you have to have patience, good eyes and be bothered to give it a go. For the sake of one strand....hmmmm. I seem to get them often too.

[Little_Bird]

Are those the literal knots on a single hair strand? If so, I get them sometimes, not a lot though.

I also think that it's best to cut them off. Sometimes I can take the knot out with a needle, if it's not too tight, but that's very rare. So I would cut most of them off.

If you get tons of them, you might want to start being more carefull with combing/brushing, or even check your routine and products I guess...

I wouldn't be sad about cutting them, because if you leave them, they will most likely tangle up with other hair strands and eventually break off, leaving a split, which is far worse than cutting it right away...

Good luck! :)

[SpinDance]

I found one today - took a very, very macro picture after I cut it off, in case anyone else was wondering what they look like (^(oo)^)
Wow! luxepiggy, you have the best toys!

[TrudieCat]

Thanks for that picture, luxepiggy! :)

[anna francesca]

Because of my hairtype, some fine and thin others just curly and thick i get them a lot. Theres nothing you can do about them other than cutting them off :(

[Unnamed]

I wouldn't leave them. At least not in my hair! If I don't cut them off they start tangling with other hairs...sometimes making knots involving other hairs... And also making more fairy knots! And at least in my (super fine) hair they are unknotable.

They started becoming a problem for me between BSL and waist length. At that point (this was a good 10 years ago now) the thing that helped the most was containing my hair at night. I put my hair in a French braid: No more fairy knots the next day! If I didn't...sometimes I could end up with half a dozen of the things just from one night loose. I've since switched to either a bunned braid or just a bun, which almost works better as with an unbunned braid I can still get fairy knots in the braid tassel.

I, too, seem to find them up from the end of the hair. Actually, I just had to cut 2" off one of my longest hairs a few days ago because of a fairy knot. :(

[kitschy]

I get them everyday. I don't notice them if I don't run my fingers through my hair. I go by the mantra "What you don't know won't kill you."

Since I can't prevent them - I figure why worry.

[Elenna]

.... They started becoming a problem for me between BSL and waist length. At that point (this was a good 10 years ago now) the thing that helped the most was containing my hair at night. I put my hair in a French braid: No more fairy knots the next day! If I didn't...sometimes I could end up with half a dozen of the things just from one night loose. I've since switched to either a bunned braid or just a bun, which almost works better as with an unbunned braid I can still get fairy knots in the braid tassel....

Well this is good advice. My hair is a bit below BSL, so maybe the nighttime tossing-and-turning could be a factor. What I find are unknotable fairy knots on individual hairs. I'd say that these started showing up about a year ago. My ends are fairly dry so I am wondering if that contributes to the problem too.

[Quezie]

I've found a few of those, didn't know they had a name!

I just wonder how it even happens, how one strand of hair gets a knot in it . . .

[Sooze]

Am I pleased I found this thread?! Until I had the damaged lengths of my hair cut, I used to get these all of the time, and didn't know they had a specific name.

I used to call them my "demon hair" as I could virtually see one knot up when I'd just washed or dried my hair. I used to cut them too, otherwise it seemed to spawn a proliferation of adjacent knots too - hence "demon hair" :eek:

Thankfully, I rarely get them now. odd little things though, aren't they?