Tangles!

[atlantaz3]

T:(he last inch or so of my hair is a tangled mess. I had highlights done about two weeks ago and trimmed off about an inch. I've done a heavy condition, oil, and clarify but nothing seems to help. The other change is water aerobics in a saline pool. Help: what will bring my hair back to where it was?
Yes I'm online surfing for a swim cap - any links for extra large as I have a lot of hair to put under one and please no plastic flowers!

[lesbia]

Have you tried to use cones? When my hair are very tangled the best thing for me is a cone conditioner :)

[WaitingSoLong]

I agree with cones. And for me, a heavy condition was not enough. The last 4" of my hair was straw, tangly, crunchy, you name it. I almost cut it all off. I just wasn't givng it the moistur eit wanted. I DCT'd and SMT'd. My miracle products are aloe vera gel and coconut oil. Unfortunately, everyone has their recommended products and they never worked for my hair. Even coconut oil was not for me until I learned not to use it as a leave in, but s part of my shampoo or a pre-was soaking. Olive oil was a disaster on my hair. Like, I thought I ruined it! And since those 4" are the last from old dye 5 years ago, I really just thought they were doen for. But I did rehabilitate them. However, I do not expose my hair to chlorine or pools if I can help it (there is some chlorine in city water of course).
Try cones. Try a different moisture treatment. One may work wonders and another not at all.

[Maria_L]

Another good thing about cones is that the cover it leaves on the hair also helps protect it from the pool water.

[Chamomile betty]

I really need to use cone products. I love Mane & Tail leave in and Loreal conditioner yellow bottle. I tried going without cones but it just couldn't do it. My hair was hard to manage so back to cones I went. I shampoo once maybe twice a week.

[Belisarius]

I use a heavy coneless conditioner after wetting my hair under the shower to carefully detangle any knots. Would an SMT help? I would try one.

[WaitingSoLong]

Last I checked Main and Tail does not have cones.

[monsterna]

Also you should probably avoid products with any proteins in them. See how that works. Transformed my hair.

[WaitingSoLong]

I agree, cutting out proteins from products made a huge difference for me as well.

[Madora]

Perhaps an Evoo Treatment after you've come out of the water? Also, perhaps if you braided your hair before you entered the water, that would cut down on the tangles as well.

[Zesty]

Last I checked Main and Tail does not have cones.
Mane n Tail does have leave-in products which are very coney. For example, I think dimethicone is one of the first few ingredients in their leave-in spray. I think that's what she was talking about.

[WaitingSoLong]

Oh LOL I just had the stuff you buy at Tractor Supply.

[Anje]

I'm wondering if you have salt buildup from the pool and need to chelate your hair. Supposedly a club soda rinse works, so it's easy to try, but if that doesn't have an effect, you might want to buy a chelating shampoo.

I get the tangled mess thing when I have protein overload, so you might want to look at your products and perhaps try switching to protein-free stuff. Doing a moisture treatment, etc. But try chelating first, because if salt's the problem, that's the solution.

[missmagoo]

I would also suggest looking to see if any of your products contain mineral oil. I recently (finally) got the memo about how terrible mineral oil is for your hair and realized that almost all of the cone-free products I had contained mineral oil. It is so drying and made my hair a tangly mess because it was never getting moisturized.

[atlantaz3]

I am already using cones, my hair loves them (or so I thought!)
Off to buy club soda and check the ingredients to my products. I switched to L'Occitane in March and thought my hair felt great from it.
I do a french braid before I get in the pool but that doesn't help the last ends. I've never heard of chelating so also off to research.
Thank you for all the suggestions.