Tangles ... and more tangles

[tinti]

Hi girls (and guys:))

I have a tangly problem. Now that my impulse layers are starting to grow painfully slowly back I've gotten my old tangle problem back. I don't know that the tanngles si caused by my thick hair, but anyways. I have lots of tangles in my hair, especially the ... underlayer(s) or what I should call it. In my neck. The other hair are mostly fine, some knots, but it is not nearly as bad as it is in my neck/under layerswhatever area. Usually (pre LHC) I just brushed them out, but now I'm afraid of my hair tearing and splitting and all that bad stuff, so I just take hair by hair out of the knot until there is no mor knot and then I go to the next knot :p Now that my layers are getting longer they are probably just gonna get worse and worse. So do you have any tips to ... manage them? :p As I said, pre-LHC-method was just to get the biggest brush I had and brush them out, but I'd like to be a bit more careful. So what do you do to keep as tangle free as possible?

[Capybara]

For me, I find that using cones helps give my hair more slip and fewer tangles, but of course this would only work if you use cones. Do you wear your hair up or in a braid/braids? Putting it up can also remedy tangles :)

[Themyst]

I also have a terrible tangle problem - especially at the nape of my neck. I use cones to wash and condition with - it helps to an extent. I mostly wear my hair up so it doesn't have a chance to fly around and tangle. :(

[tinti]

That'll probably help with keeping a braid in my hair at all times. I can finally do french/dutch braid, and I quit my goto style, messy bun that I found tore my hair and kept it even more tangly), so a new goto style is needed :)

Cones doesn't make a difference on me. I have been using them my whole life without knowing, and my neckhair has allways been tangly. I quit them some weeks ago because I found my hair kinda didn't like them (aka it became wavy and more shiny when I tried a cone ffree condish) Thanks for the tips!

[christine1989]

Using as little shampoo as I can as well as oiling helps me a lot in preventing tangles. Also keeping it off of your neck will eliminate the tangles that happen in that area and protect your hair from tangles caused by the wind. I have also found that doing a deep conditioning treatment once or twice a week really helps smooth my hair out and ward off tangles.

[tinti]

Thank you! I've been stretching washes to once a week, do you think that's too little? A bit more shampoo may be a good idea, and a deep conditioner too. THanks a lot!

[Unipeg]

I have the same problem. my hair gets so tangly and mostly the back of my neck too. Turtle necks make it bad in the winter. I am watching this thread patiently for any good ideas. Hope someone comes by with a solution.

[luxepiggy]

That'll probably help with keeping a braid in my hair at all times. I can finally do french/dutch braid, and I quit my goto style, messy bun that I found tore my hair and kept it even more tangly), so a new goto style is needed :)

Cones doesn't make a difference on me. I have been using them my whole life without knowing, and my neckhair has allways been tangly. I quit them some weeks ago because I found my hair kinda didn't like them (aka it became wavy and more shiny when I tried a cone ffree condish) Thanks for the tips!

Be careful with braids when you're undoing them by the way - I found that taking out braids often gives me tangles if I'm not careful about unwinding the sections in reverse order. If I try to pull the whole thing apart too high up, then I get tangles (>(oo)<)`

[anthonyswife]

I get a lot of tangles in the underlayer, too. What helps me the most is just detangling with my fingers in the shower while I have a coney conditioner (and lots of it!) in. I've found that cone-free is harder to detangle with unless I use even more than I normally would. I don't know how often you wash, I do about every 3 days, roughly, so that usually helps a lot with the tangles.

I get tangles whether I wear my hair up, down, braided, whatever, so unfortunately I don't have much advice for prevention.

[lynnspin]

Have you tried a leave-in conditioner? I don't personally have much problem with tangles, but I had a cousin that did and her mother would always spray a leave in conditioner in her hair before combing it out...

[PoysinIvy]

I have the same problem. After dealing with my nape knot this afternoon, I have decided to try putting a bit of oil underneath where it knots up. Maybe it'll keep the knots from happening.

[ddiana1979]

Uh, I'm a newbie, and this might be blasphemy, so please don't hate me if this is the most ridiculous suggestion ever.

When I was a teenager, I had WL hair which tangled up in the exact same place you described. I also showed Arabian horses (who have very long manes). Their manes were always getting tangled up, which was extremely frustrating & took HOURS to undo. Then I heard a trick at a horse show that silicone spray (from the hardware store or Walmart) makes the hair quite slick & easy to pull the tangles out. It worked so well on the horses, that I tried it on myself. I'd flip my hair over, spray a small amount of silicone on the underside of my hair up near the roots, and then carefully start pulling a couple strands at a time out of the knot gently with my fingers. Very little breakage with this method. After throughly detangled, I'd wash with a clarifying shampoo on the scalp and a lot of conditioner at the nape of the neck on down (because I wasn't sure how safe it was to leave pure silicone on your hair).

[ddiana1979]

ETA: I've never looked, but they might have silicone spray specifically meant for hair at Sally's or some other beauty supply store, if getting hair care products from the hardware store freaks you out. ;)

[Pierre]

I detangle in the shower too, using both a comb and fingers. If a tangle is within 10 mm of the ends of all hairs, I snip it, rather than trying to untangle it. I also keep my hair oiled all the time, wear a Buff at night, and wear it up all the time except when I'm showering or have just showered.

[Phalaenopsis]

ETA: I've never looked, but they might have silicone spray specifically meant for hair at Sally's or some other beauty supply store, if getting hair care products from the hardware store freaks you out. ;)

FX Silk drops, you can get it at Wallmart. My hair also doesn't like cones but doesn't seem to have a problem with those. It is almost like pure silicone, but also has some silk protein and vitamines for the hair.


If you want to stay coneless, I sincerely recommend Karpati Detangler spray to you. Use it everytime you've just washed your hair. It made my life a lot easier :)

Coconut oil can also do wonders for those big impossible knots, but then you have to wash your hair after the detangling since your underlayer will be very oily.

[hmmm]

Coconut oil and silicones work well for me. I use them indiscriminately whenever my hair feels less soft than I like. Sometimes I braid my hair and dip the ends into a tub of coconut oil, squeeze it so it doesn't drip, and go to sleep. It makes them soooft.

[enfys]

Apart from what everyone else said about cones and oils, I found my Tangle Teezer helped save my sanity more than once.

I start off bouncing mine over konts and tangles, which loosens it and moves it down enough to brush out. Best lump of hollow plastic ever.

[torrilin]

What I'm doing is using two braids instead of one for sleeping. The big tangle I'd get at the base of my neck tended to feel like a proto-dreadlock... and as a fiber geek I know dreadlocks are what happens when human hair felts. Friction, temperature changes and moisture all help fibers felt. Two braids cut down on how many hairs can be rubbing against each other. They also cut down on moisture from sweating.

[Dolly]

If you used cones previously, and have not clarified recently, I'd try that....sometimes buildup can lead to tangling.....

[Astarte_1980]

I hat tangles.
I use the product Gliss Kur Anti Tangles spray

[Chamomile betty]

My hair gets knots at the neck. I use cones and the best detangler I have found is Mane & Tail. Second best would be Infusium 23. Tangles where the reason I could not give up cones all together. Loreal Pro Vive Haydra Gloss conditioner (yellow) is an awesome conditer to provide slip.

I also think wearing hair up in a bun at night has helped me. When I wore my hair in a long braid I noticed a few more knots than when I wore my hair in a bun at night.

Good luck with the tangles.