Hair Fluff

[Nat242]

My hair gets fluff in it. Dust, lint, and other "fluff" particles. As we know, fluff is a primary cause of knots, as well as odd looking hair.

General information:

1. I generally wear my hair bound in some way to bed - usually a high bun, sometimes a braid. I sleep on a satin pillow case and cotton sheets with no pilling (no peas, either ) . I won't wear a sleep cap because I imagine it would interfere with, um...I choose to remain silent, so as not to breach guidelines...

2. Out of the house, I wear my hair braided or bunned 99.9% of the time.

3. When at home I may wear my hair out. When studying or relaxing at home, I'm seated on a leather couch. No fluff here.

4. Although I don't vacuum as often as I should, my carpet is exceedingly old (it's worn and trampled, and is essentially flat; before I acquired a vacuum, I used to sweep it with a broom, which worked fine), and I rarely roll around on it with my hair unbound.

5. I am rarely in a car, so my hair rarely comes into contact with a head rest. The bus is my main mode of travel, and as you know, there are no such comforts on the bus (probably a good thing, hygiene-wise ).

6. I wash my hair every second day. My hair hates conditioner, so when it's wet, I usually apply a small amount of oil and shea...then my hair is bunned until dry.

So...why does my hair get so much fluff in it? More importantly, how on Earth do I get it out? The only thing I can think of is combing with a very fine-toothed comb, but I'm trying to minimise combing and brushing.

Any tips for de-fluffing and lint removal without resorting to a clothing brush?

Many thanks!!

-- Natalie

[frizzinator]

Lint may be air-borne, and your carpet may not be the only thing that contributes lint. Do you use a clothes dryer? Clothing probably contributes lint. Even though I used one of those thin fast-absorbtion towels (back when I used water), I still think the towel was responsible for some of the lint in my hair.


I don't know how to eliminate lint, but ever since I started sleeping with a silk scarf tied up front at the forehead (as well as sleeping on the silk pillowcase), there has been less lint in my hair. I use a bbb about once every 3 weeks to get lint out of my hair. I use a fine tooth horn comb everyday but I don't think it removed all of the tiny lint fibers.


The quantity of hairs and the oil in hair probably helps trap lint in the hair.

[KnightsLady]

I find I get less lint when I don't use coconut oil. The oil helps it adhere to the strands. Trouble is, hair looks better with a little coconut oil.

Lint is everywhere. It glints in sunbeams. Don't know where it all comes from. Clothing perhaps.

[FrannyG]

Although I only wrap my hair in a towel for a few minutes, without squeezing or any other manipulation, such as "towel drying", I do, on occasion find lint from my towel in my hair. I'm pretty sure that's the source, due to the colour of the lint.

[AprilElf]

I always get the dreaded 'blue' fluff coating my comb when detangling after washing my hair. It's obviously from the towel.
After wash-day combing, lint isn't too much of a problem for me (except on my socks! -ha ha). I have no bright ideas for how else to remove it from hair, sorry.

[ilovelonghair]

I have the problem too, but there is nothing that helps. Certainly oils make it worse, or any other products that make hair slightly oily or sticky.

[iris]

Dust is largely made up of shed skin cells I'm afraid. I know, ew. And yeah, it floats around in the air.

I find that shea butter is especially bad for attracting dust to my hair, worse than oils. Other than that, it sort of comes with the oiling territory. Maybe misting will help? I do think that static electricity has something to do with it, and getting enough moisture in should help with that.

Iris

[Nat242]

Thanks everyone!

Frizzinator - I know that lint can be airborne, but so much of it winds up in my hair, I thought there might be other contributing factors. I don't use a clothes dryer, ever. So a BBB might help? I'll look into it, thanks. I've been following your SO routine with great interest

Knightslady & Ilovelonghair - you're right, it's probably the oils. I can't give them up, though, so I need to find ways to remove the dust from my hair as best I can

Franny & April Elf - I don't think it's my towel, actually, as my towels are red or blue, and the lint in my hair is usually white-ish. That said, do microfiber towels get as lint-y as regular towels?

Iris - EW! I remember when I first heard that dust = skin....it made me want to dust. Well, almost Thanks for the misting tip, I'll give that a go.

Thanks, everyone! If anyone thinks of more lint-removal tips, I'd be thrilled to hear about them.


-- Natalie

[KnightsLady]

I changed back from microfibre to regular towel because of the fluff they left started to annoy me. That plus I don't like the feel of them.

Trolleypup mentioned a while ago that he found that old threadbare towels are better than the really fluffy ones, because there was less lint. You could also try something like t-shirt material instead of a towel, or even just drip dry as Jason does.

[julya]

I have no solutions for you, but I have this lint problem too!