Tangle & SSK theory

[PinkyCat]

I think I just had an anomaly. *Er. Something...*

My hair is curly, so when shed hairs fall, they get tangled in the rest of the curls and dont actually "fall" until the shower or if I tangle teeze. Most of the tangles I get seem to come from these fallen hairs tangling around the other ones. Then when I go to detangle, the looped-around fallen hairs actually slide down & cause the fairy knots in the other hair.

Tah-dah! Am I out of my gourd?

What are your theories? (Other than, duh, fairies!) :)

[Madora]

Yes, it is always a good idea to do a thorough combing (or brushing) each day. Getting rid of fallen out hairs keeps them from tangling with ones that haven't shed yet...meaning less tangling problems.

[spidermom]

I have the same problem. Suddenly I have a hair tickling my calf, but when I pull on it, it feels like it's attached to my scalp. But it's not; it's just knotted onto a non-shed hair. The longer I put off a good brushing to remove shed hairs, the more knotted up my hair becomes.

[Anje]

Yep. My hair's straighter, but I've got enough length that the shed hairs don't drop out on their own. However as a non-curly, I can reasonably detangle a couple times a day if needed, instead of only at wash-time.

[sugar&nutmeg]

This happens to me, too. And the longer my hair gets, the more likely it is for shed hairs to get 'caught up'.

Even post-washing, I still lose a number of hairs when finger-combing (that is, they didn't slide all the way out during the shower/washing process to end up in the drain).

Aside: I sometimes wonder whether those who panic over a sudden 'massive shed' have maybe overlooked the fact that since their previous wash 5 days ago all they've done is rebraid or re-updo, and they're really shedding 5 days worth of hair.

[PinkyCat]

Aside: I sometimes wonder whether those who panic over a sudden 'massive shed' have maybe overlooked the fact that since their previous wash 5 days ago all they've done is rebraid or re-updo, and they're really shedding 5 days worth of hair.

Hmmm very eenteresting indeed.....

[Madora]

This happens to me, too. And the longer my hair gets, the more likely it is for shed hairs to get 'caught up'.

Even post-washing, I still lose a number of hairs when finger-combing (that is, they didn't slide all the way out during the shower/washing process to end up in the drain).

Aside: I sometimes wonder whether those who panic over a sudden 'massive shed' have maybe overlooked the fact that since their previous wash 5 days ago all they've done is rebraid or re-updo, and they're really shedding 5 days worth of hair.

Yes, that is exactly it. Those loose hairs accumulate and hide among the hair, and when brushing/combing time comes around, presto! Much more fallen hair than anticipated...and you become concerned. Using a tool is much more thorough when trying to weed out fallen hair.

[Anje]

Aside: I sometimes wonder whether those who panic over a sudden 'massive shed' have maybe overlooked the fact that since their previous wash 5 days ago all they've done is rebraid or re-updo, and they're really shedding 5 days worth of hair.
Sure could be. I've worn my hair in little braids for 7-10 days before. The amount of shedding when I took them out was horrifying.

[EdG]

I have the same experience. My shed hairs don't fall out until I untangle. Then, I shed a small rodent. :bigeyes: There always seems to be enough lint holding shed hairs together with non-shed hairs until untangling removes the shed ones.

Recently, I have been testing a theory that single-strand knots are caused by untangling hair that is still wet enough that the strands stick together. I wait until my hair is dry so that the strands naturally separate before untangling. This seems to reduce the occurrence of single-strand knots.
Ed

[Vintagecoilylocks]

Well I discovered this a while ago and all of the above is correct. One thing that helps the shed not to tangel is to use a leave in that gives slip prior to detangleing. The shed hair will slide out without clinging or grabbing the other hair and knotting. With all my curls I had to learn the hard long way. I also do not comb or brush. With tightly curly hair it just helps to tie the knots.

Curly hair swirls as you comb or brush it creating a twisting action that helps make tangles where there was none. The brushing forces individual curls to mesh with others which spiral and coil in opposite directions. There is nothing left for them to do once the brush or comb glides by then to coil back but now they are coiling with another curl that spirals in a different direction. Sounds crazy but that is what is happening.

Now that I use Terri LaFlesh method of separating curls I have little to no tangles.:cheese: After years of fighting my curly hair I tell you this is revolutionary for me.

[heidi w.]

Yes, it is always a good idea to do a thorough combing (or brushing) each day. Getting rid of fallen out hairs keeps them from tangling with ones that haven't shed yet...meaning less tangling problems.

When you don't detangle and remove the shed or broken off hairs, eventually you get dreadlocks. I've seen images of what this looks like, a big matt of super long hair that was never detangled. Not talking about a person purposefully creating dreadlocks.

But I'm not a fan of the look for the most part.

Daily detangling is important for hygienic reasons. Not just so your hair looks nice.

heidi w.