Terrible Tangles

[MotherConfessor]

Well, I finally found a routine that sees to work for me - every three to five days I wash with Dr Bronners peppermint soap, use a diluted clarifying conditioner and add a vinegar rinse. As a result my hair is soft, shiny and forms an excellent curl pattern (at least relative to what it was). It also tangles horribly - I mean matts on the back of my head horribly. I have also noticed an increase in the amount of split ends, probably because of the rutting tangles, but I dont know what to do about it. Silk wrap perhaps? A hair trim? Gypsy magic? I just dont know :confused::confused::confused: What do you thingk?

[Madora]

Although I can't say for sure, your tangle problem might be due to how you wash your hair.

Some of us shampoo standing erect and do not wash our hair "unside down" because of the tangles it causes.

Also, shampooing should be done gently, with the fingerpads massaging the shampoo into the scalp. Don't scrub your hair or pile it up on your head. Treat it gently.

I don't know how long your hair is but to cut down on tangles, which I loathe, I part my hair from forehead to nape, and bring each section in front of me, where they stay, throughout the shampooing and conditioning processes. I do not flip my hair.

Before beginning the shampooing process, thoroughly detangle your hair with a widetooth comb.

You might try gently detangling your hair when it is full of conditioner and see if that helps. Be sure to start at the bottom of the strands and work up them, until you reach the scalp. Do a little at a time, don't rush. If you come across a mat/snarl/tangle, use your fingers, not a comb, to detangle.

[little_cherry]

Does your conditioner contain lemon in it by any chance? I've been reading up on clarifying conditioners and lots of them do have lemon in it which can be drying if used too often.

You may even have some buildup...do you oil or use butters on your hair? Clarify then do a deep moisturising treatment. Clarifying conditioners IMO are crap..they are just conditioners with extra acid in them...they won't remove buildup from styling aides but they will help with soap scum. Find a clarifying shampoo and then DT.

[Kome]

So it's softer and shinier, but it tangles easier? Sounds to me like you need a deep conditioning treatment. At least, that's what it usually means in my case. Either I need a trim or a long deep conditioning treatment.

[Sinisiew]

It does sound like your hair needs some "slip", do you oil your ends after showering? Are you sure you manage to get all the vinegar out of it when you rinse it?

[christine1989]

I get tangly ends too so I load them up with coconut or jojoba oil and keep my ends tucked in to an updo as much as I can. As for the splits you may want to give your ends a small trim to get them off. They are probobly just past damage or a result of not enough moisture.

[Cupofmilk]

My hair loves to tangle - it's very fine, wavey and I have lots of it. I wash my scalp only with T-gel as I have a problem wiht my scalp, condition all but my scalp. Then an ACV.
When my hair gets really bad - it means it needs a trim.
I accidently found last week that if I use a leave in cone product my hair is much better - shame as you are not supposed to use cones

[MotherConfessor]

Well, as far as how I wash my hair, I am very careful about combing it beforehand, then again once it has conditioner. Since becoming a member I dont pile my hair up on my head (Thanks Guys!!!). I used to use a coconut and rosemary oil on my hair after showering, but since starting the doctor bronners the oiling was a bit much- my hair was starting to look straggly.

Okay, so far I am thinking: Give my hair a good trim, make sure I am rinsing out all the vinegar, check condish for lemon, clarify, then deep treatment and go back to oiling, if only the ends.

Thanks very much to those who posted! I will do this tonight and then post back

[jojo]

Personally id say get a coney conditioner, they are excellent for tangly hair. My hair is fine and wavy and tangles bad without cones. People seem to think (especially newbies it appears) that cones are the worst thing to put on the hair. For some better results are gotten from going cone-less and for others like my own hair cones help prevent tangles and add protection from weather etc and allow hair to retain length.

Cones are not bad for the hair or else they wouldn't be added to hair products, they can however cause build up but a good clarifying shampoo fixes that!

[Anje]

Dr. Bronner's has given me horrific tangles before. (Mind, that was before I knew about acidic rinses and was on a camping trip where I didn't have conditioner because I couldn't find one that was biodegradable, which certainly contributed to the tangles!) You might have better luck with a different shampoo, honestly.

You might want a heavier conditioner, instead of a diluted clarifying conditioner (which tend to be pretty light even undiluted). That should help a bit with slip. Keep your eyes open for behentrimonium methylsulfonate or behentrimonium chloride, as they seem to give a lot slip, and I don't think they tend to build up. Also, if your conditioner is high on protein, it might contribute to the tangling problem (some hair gets tangly easily with protein, and most hair will if you seriously overdose on it; it strengthens hair, but can potentially make it rough and brittle).

Wearing your hair up will decrease tangles, though I'm sure you're not interested in making drastic changes to your style....

Finally, get yourself a satin or silk pillowcase or sleep bonnet. They drastically cut the tangles you wake up with in the morning. I prefer the bonnet because otherwise I end up sleeping on my hair instead of putting it on the pillow, and because I hate the feel of the polyester satin pillow against my face. But it looks dorky.

[spidermom]

I'd blame the Dr. Bronners. My guess is that it raises the cuticle because it's alkaline, and the vinegar rinse isn't enough to close the cuticle again, and it's the roughened surface of the hairs that is causing the tangling.

[MotherConfessor]

Poop, I hope its not the bronners, I was really liking its other attributes. Do you think that if I just let my vinegar rinse sit for longer that would work? Oh, well, if it cant be saved I can at least use it for body wash.

[spidermom]

I was reading yesterday that DB's is good for an oil shampoo because it helps the oil to penetrate to the cortex. Have you tried that? (There's a very long thread about oil shampoos.) I tried an oil shampoo with my usual Nature's Gate, and it made my hair much less tangly.

[McFearless]

You need cones. Cones, cones and more cones! If you use a sulphate shampoo every couple of weeks you should have no problem with using a lot of cones.
For me the only conditioner that makes detangling easier is Garnier Fructis Damage Repair conditioner. I soak my hair in it for 10 minutes in the shower and then slowly detangle from the ends up.

[Kathie]

Oils stop my hair from tangling. Some types can act the same as cones, coating the hair so it has more slip. I use olive and almond, even though they soak into the hair, so don’t theoretically coat the hair, they prevent tangles for me.