1953Diygal
December 17th, 2010, 11:00 AM
I was in the hospital this fall for the first time in my life. I was in a coma with machines doing my breathing, had double pneumonia which turned septic, and had something known as Systemic Inflamatory Response Syndrome. Fortunately, I was in an amazing hospital with fantastic doctors and nurses and I owe them my life.
When I was in the coma, a wonderful nurse put my hair up in a bun. It was still pretty tangled when I was awake and able to shower. I had a torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder, which limited my mobility but the nurses helped me to comb it out.
When I returned home, due to being run down and having a taxed immune system, I immediately got the flu (partnered with oral thrush and pink eye). I was basically bedridden, couldn't eat for two weeks aside from Ensure nutrition drinks because my mouth was like a big open sore, and couldn't see well because of the sulfa antibiotic drops I was prescribed.
I didn't have the foresight to put my hair into braids or put it in a sleep bonnet so, within days, my hair matted into one huge dreadlock. When I say "huge," I mean that my entire head of hair, aside from my bangs, was matted together. In addition to being sick, whenever I looked in the mirror, I was devastated. I prayed and prayed for the sores in my mouth to be gone so I could eat and for the flu to go away.
Finally, by the grace of my Higher Power, I was able to play through the pain and two days before Thanksgiving, I forced myself to start eating solid food. Within days of being able to eat, my body was able to fight off the flu and the infections.
Okay...on to the hair stuff.
We were having intermittent Internet issues here at the house which prevented me from logging on to TLHC so I had to kind of "wing it." Based on the knowledge I've gathered from the site, I thought I could do mermaid soaks and use really cone-intensive conditioners and maybe the mats would just kind of melt away. I stocked up on tons and tons of Pantene products and gave it a shot.
Unfortunately, the mats were waaaaay beyond melting away. In fact, according to my Hair Guru Roger Micheletty, he said I actually made the matting worse by getting my hair wet. He said getting it wet made the dreads lock up more than if I had left it dry. Plus, the conditioner built up and turned the dreads into miniature "hair candles."
What it took to get the mats out was to just have friends and family break them down with the tail end of a rat tail comb and then comb out the ends with a pick comb. My friend Rose went online and looked up sites that gave instructions for breaking down/unlocking dreadlocks.
I won't lie. It wasn't pretty. It's a good thing I'm not a tenderhead. The intensity that it took to get rid of those mats would probably make most members here cringe. It took 7 people (including myself) spending hours of detangling and 1 month to get rid of the mats. I spent 8 hours yesterday getting rid of the last of the dreads and wound up carefully snipping to free me from the last big mat. The mat I cut out of my hair is huge and it looks like a Tribble or a bad toupee. I saved it as a little souveneir. What's interesting is you can't even tell that I cut it out. There are no bald spots since that was all hair that was supposed to fall out of my head naturally during the last month!
What's funny is that I had three hair stylists working on it. One thought my hair was extensions. Two of them just told me to cut off all my hair and that getting rid of the mats just couldn't be done. Roger was the only one that rallied for me and helped me to keep my hair.
What I learned:
1. When you're sick, have the foresight to put your hair into braids or a satin sleep bonnet and have someone help you to occasionally brush or comb your hair.
2. Do not get your hair wet if it's matted. Mats are much easier to get out when they're dry.
3. Start detangling from the ends and work your way up the length.
4. You will only be able to free up small sections at a time, even just a few strands at a time.
5. Ask for help!!!! It's incredibly hard to detangle the back of your head (even without a torn rotator cuff).
6. You may need to do some judicious snipping. Some tangles just can't be broken down.
7. My friend Astrid used L'oreal kid's detangling spray (in the orange bottle) and that actually worked REALLY well---way better than the Pantene.
Wow. That was pretty long. If anybody has any good info to add regarding getting out mats, feel free to share them!
When I was in the coma, a wonderful nurse put my hair up in a bun. It was still pretty tangled when I was awake and able to shower. I had a torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder, which limited my mobility but the nurses helped me to comb it out.
When I returned home, due to being run down and having a taxed immune system, I immediately got the flu (partnered with oral thrush and pink eye). I was basically bedridden, couldn't eat for two weeks aside from Ensure nutrition drinks because my mouth was like a big open sore, and couldn't see well because of the sulfa antibiotic drops I was prescribed.
I didn't have the foresight to put my hair into braids or put it in a sleep bonnet so, within days, my hair matted into one huge dreadlock. When I say "huge," I mean that my entire head of hair, aside from my bangs, was matted together. In addition to being sick, whenever I looked in the mirror, I was devastated. I prayed and prayed for the sores in my mouth to be gone so I could eat and for the flu to go away.
Finally, by the grace of my Higher Power, I was able to play through the pain and two days before Thanksgiving, I forced myself to start eating solid food. Within days of being able to eat, my body was able to fight off the flu and the infections.
Okay...on to the hair stuff.
We were having intermittent Internet issues here at the house which prevented me from logging on to TLHC so I had to kind of "wing it." Based on the knowledge I've gathered from the site, I thought I could do mermaid soaks and use really cone-intensive conditioners and maybe the mats would just kind of melt away. I stocked up on tons and tons of Pantene products and gave it a shot.
Unfortunately, the mats were waaaaay beyond melting away. In fact, according to my Hair Guru Roger Micheletty, he said I actually made the matting worse by getting my hair wet. He said getting it wet made the dreads lock up more than if I had left it dry. Plus, the conditioner built up and turned the dreads into miniature "hair candles."
What it took to get the mats out was to just have friends and family break them down with the tail end of a rat tail comb and then comb out the ends with a pick comb. My friend Rose went online and looked up sites that gave instructions for breaking down/unlocking dreadlocks.
I won't lie. It wasn't pretty. It's a good thing I'm not a tenderhead. The intensity that it took to get rid of those mats would probably make most members here cringe. It took 7 people (including myself) spending hours of detangling and 1 month to get rid of the mats. I spent 8 hours yesterday getting rid of the last of the dreads and wound up carefully snipping to free me from the last big mat. The mat I cut out of my hair is huge and it looks like a Tribble or a bad toupee. I saved it as a little souveneir. What's interesting is you can't even tell that I cut it out. There are no bald spots since that was all hair that was supposed to fall out of my head naturally during the last month!
What's funny is that I had three hair stylists working on it. One thought my hair was extensions. Two of them just told me to cut off all my hair and that getting rid of the mats just couldn't be done. Roger was the only one that rallied for me and helped me to keep my hair.
What I learned:
1. When you're sick, have the foresight to put your hair into braids or a satin sleep bonnet and have someone help you to occasionally brush or comb your hair.
2. Do not get your hair wet if it's matted. Mats are much easier to get out when they're dry.
3. Start detangling from the ends and work your way up the length.
4. You will only be able to free up small sections at a time, even just a few strands at a time.
5. Ask for help!!!! It's incredibly hard to detangle the back of your head (even without a torn rotator cuff).
6. You may need to do some judicious snipping. Some tangles just can't be broken down.
7. My friend Astrid used L'oreal kid's detangling spray (in the orange bottle) and that actually worked REALLY well---way better than the Pantene.
Wow. That was pretty long. If anybody has any good info to add regarding getting out mats, feel free to share them!