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I am usually very careful after shampooing my hair... I condition it well (and I mean, with GOBS of the stuff - lol); I finger-comb, first, starting at the ends and them working my way up; I add even more conditioner before using a comb (employing the same procedure of starting with the ends, first, and then slowly working my way up...); and then I usually end with a cool water rinse, followed with applying a little bit of leave-in conditioner...
After wrapping my hair in a towel for about 5 minutes, I usually comb out my hair one more time before just leaving it alone to air-dry, --- and that's where I made the fatal mistake of trying to rush through this (which normally I don't)... BAM! I hit a major snag, BIG-time!!!
Fortunately, I didn't lose a lot of volume; but after struggling with it and trying my best to undo the snarl, I finally just had to rip it out. It's been a long, loooong time since this has happened to me, probably well over a year, maybe even 2 years ago....
Anybody else run into this problem occasionally?
- Ken in San Francisco
Hi Ken,
I'm sorry to hear this happened to you, I hope you didn't lose too much of your mane trying to get this snarl out. As my hair is not nearly as long as yours, I haven't run into similar situations with my hair, but I do get lots of tangles.
I must admit I was a little fooled by the title of your post, it goes to show my mind is not in the correct place these days, lol! I actually thought you had run into a TRAFFIC snarl in San Francisco while driving to work when I saw the title, perhaps my mind has been thinking about traffic too much lately! There has been an ENORMOUS amount of construction in Halifax these days, causing tarffic snarls everywhere.
Take care, Ken, hope the hair is OK,
David
Hi Ken, hopefully you did not lose too much hair from this incident. Knots can usually be undone one hair at a time. You may have to soften the knot my mashing it between the back of a thumbnail and the wall or other hard ob ject. This will spread the knot apart a bit, making it easier to slip the hairs out one at a time. A drop of conditioner applied to the knot may make it easier to get it apart.
Absalom
this is pretty much exactly what i was going to say. the only thing i have to add is that i pick mine apart one hair at a time with the tines of my comb. MUCH easier than trying to do it with fingers.
peace,
nic - your long-haired sister
I deal with snarls almost every day, including some in my goatee and sideburns. I guess it must be the dry, desert wind. Before I start working on a tough snarl, I separate the knot a bit by inserting one or more sharp tipped objects through the middle of the knot - such as knitting needles, tweezers, or even a pencil. This keeps the knots from getting tighter and tighter as I extract a few hairs at a time. I don't have much time for knot control, so the snarls usually accumulate until I have a few hours in the car or in front of TV. I could have a complete set of dreads in a few weeks if I'm not careful!
That is excellent advice, LongManeDude. Just brilliant. A large sewing needle with a slightly blunted tip would probably work well too.
I think I will make a fancy knot separating tool from a stainless steel bicycle spoke. I will put a blunted point on it and polish it.
BTW, how long is your goatee now?
Absalom
Actually, I do use large sewing needles. Just use the end containing the eye rather than the sharp tip, and you're ready to go! The goatee is almost to my waist when I'm sitting down - anything to stay ahead of Oren in the terminal length challenge. I'm still deciding whether or not to add the sideburns to the contest, but they're going to be really difficult to deal with. The goatee is easy to hide, but the 'burns are constantly getting tangled in my eyeglasses and earrings.
The goatee is easy to hide, but the 'burns are constantly getting tangled in my eyeglasses and earrings.
I have this problem too. It is very irritating for me when sideburn hairs get tangled in my earrings. It happens every time I wash my hair. I have 7 of them, 4 in the right and 3 in the left. They are 22 guage wire hoops. The closure part is what catches my sideburn hair.
Absalom
Earrings for me would be pointless. No one ever sees my ears.
Also, when I grew my beard out, most of my necklaces became useless for the same reason.
Bill
It sounds like I'll need to pack a marlinespike with me when I get long enough.
MarlinSpike
Don't even talk to me about snarls and tangles, Ken! My hair is nowhere near your length and I already experience tangles and snarls. I guess thats the price I've got to pay for having curly ends.I usually drown my hair in conditioner when this happens and I slowly separate the knot or tangle. Once I had the urge to rip it off as well but I didn't go through with it. The thought of breaking my hair just freaked me out.....YMMV! LOL Your Mileage May Vary
` The other Chris
Howdy Ken: This time around (growing it) I've had far fewer knots due to following all the advice here. I wash, condition, finger comb and then use a wide tooth comb; NO BRUSHING. My biggest problem has been when riding my MC. To prevent tangles I put it in a tail, then use a suede hair "wrap" and then put another hair tie about an inch from the very end. I've had no tangles as a result. If I let it fly loose or just in a tail on the bike it gets really tangled. Bruce'ster
Ah yes I've been there recently too and I did What Scott said and wet the knot and dabbed conditioner on it and messaged it a few seconds it came right out like magic. Years ago I would just cut it off if it wasn't too high up. I know! barbaric.
Kevin
sort of. I don't do anywhere near all the things you do however. After rinsing out the condx, I fingercomb it out then I comb it out with a wide comb and let it air dry and that's it. When it's dry I shake it out and comb it out. Like you, I start at the ends and work up. I have a real hard time for some reason, taking it easy and going slow. If everything is going well, I'll gradually speed up with impatience which is a big mistake. That's when, if I hit a knot, ...ouch!
In my case I have discovered that my chances of having knots is much greater if I skip a day of washing and conditioning. then, when I do wash, there are a lot more loose hairs, and they entangle themselves with each other and good hairs, form knots and a mess.
I try to loosen up the tangles and extract as many hairs as possible but if I am down to ripping hair out of the knot, I'll snip it out instead. I think ripping hair does more harm than good.
I bought a comb that is used to spread conditionar when in the shower. The extremely wide teeth prevent any snarls.
peace
clayton