People who don't brush/comb...

[CAPA7]

... how do you keep your hair from getting matted and all tangled?!

I understand that not brushing/combing leads to better curl pattern and clumps, which I would love to achieve. I am a wavy (2b) and my hair is fairly fine, gets tangles VERY quickly and is terribly frizzy. I normally comb my hair with a wid-tooth comb twice a day, in the morning and before bed, but more out of habit than anything else as that's what my mom always used to do when I was a kid. I'm now thinking surely this habit doesn't help my frizz problem!

So, what do YOU knowledgeable people do? Do you simply fingercomb when you condition and that's it? Do you never detangle except when you condition? How do you "revive" your hair in the morning? How tangled is your hair?

(In case it helps at the moment I don't wet my hair everyday in the shower, only when I wash, which is every 4th day. This is mostly because my hair literally takes AGES to dry.).

[Hollyfire3]

My hair isn't very fine and doesn't tangle much if I leave it alone. I have begun not combing and I really don't have many tips. I finger comb sometimes, and I comb in the shower (gosh after 3 days of not combing, the amount of hair I loose in the shower scares me even though its just because I hair hasn't been brushed out lol). I say mayeb try finger combing or a really wide tooth comb for tangles and only comb out the tangled area, resist the urge to comb all of the hair out.

[ratgirldjh]

I've been doing this more and more lately. It really surprises me how much better and wavier my hair looks when I resist the urge to comb. It clumps into waves and I would not be surprised if eventually I would have some curls!!!

It is so hard however to not brush at night because I used my BBB at night for YEARS.

However now every time I comb with my wooden comb or use my BBB I can hear the snapping of hairs and I never hear this when I finger comb... sigh

[DarkCurls]

Are you confusing brushing and detangling? It's totally possible to not have tangled hair without a brush or a comb. :p
Yes, I fingercomb only in the shower (every 3 to 7 days) with lots and lots of conditioner on my hair (I CO-wash) to give me some slip. Yes, that's the only time I detangle my hair. I get much less breakage than with a comb, let alone a brush.
Revive? I don't, not really. I get up, smooth the top down with my hands if it's gotten poofy, and that's it most of the time. Right now I'm wearing my hair up most of the time, so I don't have to worry about second-day hair (finger-detangling is perfect for braiding, by the way). If curls get smushed by the pillow, then I spritz my hair with a mix of water and conditioner and they bounce back up happily. That's my "revival" method.
How tangled is it? Um... Hair is not 'matted,' though it's probably tangled but then, it's curly. It likes to tangle. I don't run my fingers through my hair, so I couldn't tell you. :) It looks happy, anyway.
Combing isn't bad, you know, if you use a wide-tooth comb. You don't have to go for finger-combing. I prefer it because my hair doesn't like combs, that's it.
Though I'm not sure what the point of detangling before going to bed, and then when you wake up, is. :p

[CAPA7]

Though I'm not sure what the point of detangling before going to bed, and then when you wake up, is. :p


Lol, I have no idea! When I was a kid my mom always brushed my hair in the morning and in the evening so I still do it!
I'm going to try fingercombing only. I don't mind using the wide tooth comb but like I said, I only do it out of habit and it does destroy my curls.
It's silly, but it's going to be really hard breaking the habit!

[jeanniet]

I've been working on transitioning to CG method (more or less, anyway), and what I'm finding is that my hair is more tangly if I comb it every day, because the combing breaks the curl clumps up into individual hairs, and it's those hairs that tangle. So the secret, for me at least, is to get those curls clumped and then not fiddle with them until my next wash. I'm learning to comb in the shower, with conditioner. I CO wash, comb out carefully (you could finger detangle, but I have so much hair that just doesn't work for me), use a leave-in (quite a bit of it), then gel (flax seed gel). I don't care so much about hold, but I do want the gel to define the clumps. There is some tangling with the clumps, but not nearly as much as with individual hairs. If for some reason I want my hair to look wavy rather than curly, I can comb it out to achieve that, but it does tend to frizz a little more that way.

[DarkCurls]

I've been working on transitioning to CG method (more or less, anyway), and what I'm finding is that my hair is more tangly if I comb it every day, because the combing breaks the curl clumps up into individual hairs, and it's those hairs that tangle.

So true. Since starting CO and fingercombing only in the shower, my hair clumps together better and so it doesn't tangle. I mean, the hairs that form each individual curl are probably tangled, but the curls themselves are separate and don't go all velcro-y together.

[CAPA7]

jeanniet, how often do you CO?

[Madora]

Though I'm not sure what the point of detangling before going to bed, and then when you wake up, is. :p

Detangling before retiring is done so that if you have any tangles then, you get rid of them so they don't tangle more while you sleep (some people toss and turn a lot, and more tangles can ensue).

[Suze2012]

I used to comb my hair only when wet after washing it but I started co washing back at the beginning of May and haven't used a comb on my hair since I started co washing.

I now just use plenty of conditioner (at the point where you add it to the length and leave it on for a few minutes and comb the length through with my fingers.

I never wear my hair up but (so deal with wind, rain and humidity whilst walking at least 40 minutes a day) I don't really notice tangles..but as I have curls I would never pull my fingers or a comb through my hair when it's dry anyway.
There's not much to detangle in the shower either.

One other thing I do is always put my hair over the top of the pillow when sleeping so I roll about on it less.

I have found a couple of dollops of aloe vera gel on wet hair good for frizz and if I need to refresh I scrunch cold water in and use just a drop of the gel.

[helloimgia]

I'm in the process of trying to infuse more finger combing into my routine...but for now I'm in love with combing my hair and then using a BBB

Though being asian, my hair is curly ;p and gets tangled so easily. If it gets bad during the day I would drench my ends (where it would get tangled and frizzy the most) in water and add some oil into it. My hair loves oil because it clumps my curls and prevent frizz too :)

At night I would detangle with a comb, throw some castor oil at the ends and put in a high ponytail so that my hair stays away from my drool and thrashing haha

[spirals]

I'm a very restless sleeper; I even sleepwalk on occasion. I don't put my hair up at night. I have done nothing to my hair today and I have no tangles. I did when my hair wasn't getting enough moisture. I'll be posting a picture I literally just took on another thread so you can see what moisture does. I'm trying to get it to load to my computer at the moment. Anyway, I wash every other day or every third day. I used to finger-comb with conditioner in to detangle/get out fallen hair. I'm not using rinse-out conditioner at the moment--just a leave-in--so now I finger comb after ca rinse. On non-wash days I revive with a homemade curl spray. I sometimes very lightly oil before. I do occasionally brush with an oiled paddle brush because it feels soooo good on my scalp, or because it makes applying color easier. But generally I don't. I know a BBB works for many, but it would just rip my hair and separate curls into a mass of frizz.

[torrilin]

I'm coming at it from a straightie POV... sadly, my hair doesn't clump really, so I don't get the tangle protection and damage protection that a curly does.

But even so, sticking to just finger combing means I seem to end up with fewer splits. I don't wear my hair down a lot. It's not important to me, and I don't usually enjoy having my hair down... especially not in this heat! I took my hair out of braids today, did a gentle finger combing to get rid of shed strands, and stuffed it back up into a bun. When I shower later, I'll do some more finger combing with conditioner in my hair, restuff my hair in my bun, and it should stay like that til tomorrow.

[KittyBird]

I usually just run my fingers through my hair in the morning and smooth it a bit on the top, as it tends to get a bit frizzy. My hair is really thick and it tangles easily, but it's not a big problem. I braid my hair before going to bed and I keep it braided for most of the day as well. I find my hair is a lot easier to manage now that I don't comb it. I used a Tangle Teezer for a while, but then I stopped. Finger combing is just so much easier, and I have less tangles now than I had before.

I wash once a week by the way, and I usually finger comb a bit while conditioning.

[earthnut]

Frizzy and easily tangled hair is frequently dry and needs moisture. Sometimes it needs protein too. My hair has gotten much less tangled as I've used less shampoo, much more conditioner, and my hair's moisture level has improved. When I was shampoo only, I brushed frequently and my hair was always frizzy and tangled. Now I use 95% conditioner, never comb or brush, and my hair is almost never tangled. I'm still working on the frizz, but I have less than I used to and hopefully that will continue to improve. My hair doesn't need much protein, but the tangles on my 2 yo daughter's fine hair improved greatly after I switched her to a high protein conditioner. Before I figured out the right conditioner for her, she would get a good bird's nest on the back of her head during the night. Now she still gets some tangles, but they're a lot smaller.

The best time to detangle, comb, or brush is when your hair is covered in conditioner, because the conditioner provides lubrication.

As for brushing before bed and in the morning both, I do that with my daughter. She tosses and turns so much at night that she gets her worst tangles at night. By brushing (and oiling) her hair before bed, these tangles are much reduced. But she usually still has a little tangles in the morning, so I brush then too. If I just let it go, her tangles would be worse and harder to brush through.

[lapushka]

I'm only a "barely" wavy, and my hair's not even brushed or combed, because if so: frizz city. My hair gets combed and brushed right before a wash, when it comes out of the towel and then it's not touched with a comb or brush again until right before the next wash. I don't have that many tangles, really, not anything major that can't be combed or brushed out gently with each wash. It's just a matter of learning new habits, that's all.

[honeybunny_1996]

I like to finger comb it out when i have co washed it and it has dried. I feel that I'm less likely to have hairs snap and causes damage. Then putting it up and out of the way such as in a braid will help the hair from becoming tangled and when you take down your hair to redo the hairstyle simply run your fingers through to see if you have any tangles and untangle them.

[CAPA7]

Ok so I have gone without combing my hair today! Last night I fingercombed a little, then put my hair up in a high bun for the night. In the morning I sort of shook the curls loose, fingercombed a bit, applied a little NighBlooming Panacea, then didn't touch it anymore.

I found that except for the top, the frizz level was acceptable (and I had my hair down all day). However, I also found that I didn't have a lot of volume and that the individual waves weren't very large: there were more or them but they were thinner, if that makes sense.

I have been trying to add more moisture into my hair by having regular overnight DTs, but this frizz is stubborn!

[FrozenBritannia]

I sort of fingercomb in the shower, and then I don't touch it. I do comb it before bed to make sure there is no leaves or bugs in it lol. I have a wooden comb. For me, day two after the wash is usually a hair up day, and the rare days when I get a day three that is usually an updo day too.

[Amber_Maiden]

I could never just finger comb my hair- I'd have dread if I never combed my hair, or only finger combed it!

[CAPA7]

You see today I think part of the problem was that my hair wasn't all clumped together into curls/waves. The top "coat" seems to have mostly individual strands of hair rather than nicely defined waves, so it made it look frizzy and a bit dull.

[jeanniet]

jeanniet, how often do you CO?
Right now, since I'm still learning the ins and outs of CG, I'm washing every 3rd day. Eventually I'd like to be able to wash every 3rd or 4th day, which is my normal schedule. I'm not sure how often I'll be using shampoo, but the shampoo I do use is very gentle and moisturizing. I rarely clarify; not sure why, but it may have to do with the citric acid rinses I use. I can go months without needing to clarify.