if you have BSL or longer very fine hair

[christiner]

do you find you have issues with keeping it untangled while down?

Once i hit BSL, i had to resort to keeping it in a braid, because even a ponytail would knot up like crazy on the underside where the hair would rub on my back. it didn't matter what i wore. all of that ended up creating a lot of damage and split ends to the ends/underside.

1. is there a way to prevent this while keeping hair down?
2. do you have any special methods for detangling?

i don't want to feel like i'm limited to braids and buns in order to keep it healthy, but i'm not sure what the alternative is.

[Alva]

My hair is now nearing hip length again and is very fine. When I had it around between approx. 28-30 inches it would tangle like mad, but once I grew longer than that, tangles disappeared. For me it was purely the length that caused the troubles. My hair has had a lot of damage from this but now it has again the chance to catch up. So I think it is just permanent, but very annoying. I kept wearing it down too even if it tangled, else I don't have too much fun of my hair.. I tried to switch a bit with hairdo's, up and down. But wouldn't let me keep it from ever wearing it down. I was willing to take the damage that comes with it. I had exactly the same in the past, several times I cut back so I knew that for me it was just a harsh length ^^ Wish you the best and keep growing :)

[mzBANGBANG]

I have this problem too, I've not found a solution. I have to brush my hair several times a day to keep it looking nice. I do use a lot of leave in conditioner. I also use a coney serum which adds a lot of slip to my hair. I've always applied it to under my canopy because I didn't want the canopy looking too shiny. This minimizes tangles for me, but also makes hair somewhat limp.

[MeowScat]

I'm sorry to say it, but BSL seemed to be the most tangly for me. I would get so frustrated with it that I would chop it to APL or even shoulder. Once I finally decided to put up with it and let it keep growing, it tangled less.

At BSL, after detangling, I'd turn my head side to side a few times and I'd have a snarl underneath. I had to constantly finger detangle. I agree that oiling the hair underneath could help.

Keeping my hair up all day at that point was annoying so I would take it down for a bit then put it back up, then take it back down, etc...

Be patient, I wish I had been all those times I chopped and ripped through the knots. Maybe condition twice one day (if you don't deep condition) and see if that helps?

Good luck and know that this phase won't last forever!

:)

[Madora]

The only remedy of keeping your hair relatively tangle free while wearing it down is to check on it periodically and detangle it gently.

Don't make the mistake of wearing it down the entire day and then try and detangle. Tangles tend to get more tangled as time goes by. It's a good idea to keep ahead of matters and detangle every 3 hours at least. Better still, wearing the hair up is better for your hair health.

[wendylai]

I put A LITTLE BIT of oil in the ends. That usually does it... coconut makes my hair look a bit greasy, but jojoba works better. Also some eng-repair-detangle leave in could work..

I dont know, I have almost always had BSL hair, so I think I must have gotten used to the tangles as it doesnt really bug me I just deal with it :)

[lapushka]

My hair's never actually down unless on wash day. It's also never detangled unless right before a wash (with a wide tooth comb, then a Tangle Teezer). It doesn't tangle that easily, but I have had to pay special attention to it ever since going past BSL. It's long and gets in the way of things and that's actually more of an issue than tangles are.

[Deborah]

I wear my hair up mostly, but when down, I find that a pony tail causes me WAY more tangles than letting it hang free. I don't know why this is, but for my hair it is definitely true. Instead of pony tails you might want to try braids. They result in MUCH less tangling.

[CharleaMurphy]

My longest lengths are at bra strap length and it gets super tangled, as it used to at BSL before the chop (not that I wore a bra back then, I was like 10 or something)

[Taenarian]

While I'm not quite BSL, neither am I APL - somewhere in-between - and yes, it's tangle city if I leave it down or tie it off into a ponytail. Not sure which is worse for tangles, actually. So I either keep it braided or up.

My detangling routine (which I learned here) is finger detangling in the shower, and then careful, slow detangling with an extra-wide tooth comb when it's still damp. I finish with a modest amount of coconut oil when I braid, with extra attention to the ends.

The routine seems to work well enough for me. Fairy knots are still too common, though, but I can usually work those out without resorting to shears.

[barely.there]

I'm only at APL right now, but i had a problem with my hair being velcroy. I use a lot of natural moisturizing conditioner and brush my hair with my BBB a few times every day. At least once a day I try to flip my hair upside down to BBB my nape hairs as well - those babies have problems of their own :P It seems to have stimulated growth there!

I have also been microtrimming. not maintaining. just trying to grow out some layers. This has helped a lot with tangles.

[StPaulaGirl]

Before my LHC days, my fine, BSL-length hair got tangled and knotted a LOT. I would comb it out, and within five minutes it would get knotted again. Now, not so much, even if I wear it down all day. I've found that one or two drops of jojoba oil on wet/damp hair after washing and prior to detangling has worked wonders. I also S&D fairly regularly, which is supposed to help as well.

[Vintagecoilylocks]

My hair is light weight fine curly and thin. the closet thing to wearing it down is in multiple braids that create weight or a single braid. That is all I can hope for with TBL hair.;)