Does your hair naturally dred up or form knots that hang on the end of your hair?

[betteron2day]

I just lost about 2-3 inches of hair because of these knots and matting when i tried to detangle. Now i have to start all over again and i had great progress.

 

[Nonie]

I haven't experienced this but it could be because I rarely wear my hair out. I'm also anal about separating my strands when I finger comb. You have all seen my hair pics showing unmanipulated hair forming clumping spirals:

But you will rarely see my hair like that because I make it an obsessive mission to separate my strands (my hair is wet here; it easiest to separate strands when my hair is wet):

I usually braid it after separating strands so that it dries in a stretched state with the strands more or less parallel to each other:

When I wear my hair out, it's usually coming from braids where the strands are that separated. I never wear WNG; I comb my hair which further encourages the separation of strands. I usually have S Curl in my hair when I comb. I never go to bed w/o braiding my hair and baggying.

 

[AfroKink]

i was getting knots of shed hair when i was just finger detangling but not getting all the shed hairs out. now that i detangle with my fingers and a comb, i don't have them anymore.​

Thanks. Maybe I need to go back to combing. I know im not getting enough sheds out and they always find their way into a knot!

I hair forms dreads and knots that hang at the ends of my twists. I'm not sure why it happenserplexed

 

[almond eyes]

I used to get them quite alot, but not really anymore. Here are the things that helped me: However, as a 4a/3c with fine strands it's normal that the hairs tend to wrap around each other.

1. I always shampoo and condition my hair in four-six big braids.

2. Comb my hair with a wide tooth comb every other day, and use my bone comb with the finer tip to get shed hairs out only on wash day. And I am gentle with the bone comb with the finer tip and hairs rarely appear on the comb.

3. When twisting my hair up at night in four to six bunches, I always feel around for any knots and remove those with a bobby pin and I also do this before preparing my hair with a pre-poo treatment before shampoo and conditioner.

4. Meticulous about the moisturising the ends and sealing them

5. The biggest change was that I was using all these products that were a bit goopy for my hair, now I mist my hair with my spray bottle (aloe vera juice, water) and seal only with qhemet olive oil and honey balm. When I was just using Qhemet Heavy Cream and sealing with the Qhemet olive oil and honey balm I had this above-mentionned problem badly. I think finer strands need to be careful with using too many products to weigh it down and for me moisture has to come in the form of aloe vera juice and or water, moisture to my hair is not a heavy product.

Best,
Almond Eyes

 

[anon123]

^^almond, are you combing your hair every other day dry?

 

[AfroKink]

How does one strike that balance between low manipulation (staying in twists for say 2 weeks) and removing shed hairs regularly enough?

 

[Celestial]

I usually will get naps on the end. My hair naturally nap if it is kept loose, so I make sure I twist my strands to the very end without leaving a strand loose. Sometimes I will even brush the ends before twisting to smooth out the kink.

 

[melodies815]

I can't recall if I posted to this just after I BC, but whatever I did then is different now.

It's funny. I didn't have to comb then. Now, I do. After each wash. I two-strand twist to keep the knots at bay. Combing after each wash helps a lot as well...something I didn't have to do back in March either.

I spent last weekend doing a search and destroy of them all, and thankfully, I only had to do that...not an all-out trim. I just cut off the SSKs, shea buttered the ends, and twisted. I think I missed a few that I felt in last night's wash. I'll get them this weekend...

cj

 

[anon123]

How does one strike that balance between low manipulation (staying in twists for say 2 weeks) and removing shed hairs regularly enough?

I wish I knew. It's like a lose-lose situation. If you don't detangle often, your hair starts to mat and shed hairs get tangled up, so that when you finally do comb, you get a lot of breakage undoing knots and tangles. If you do detangle often, your hair cannot handle the constant manipulation, your cuticle layers get stripped away, and your hair becomes fragile and breaks.

 

[Nonie]

How does one strike that balance between low manipulation (staying in twists for say 2 weeks) and removing shed hairs regularly enough?

I wish I knew. It's like a lose-lose situation. If you don't detangle often, your hair starts to mat and shed hairs get tangled up, so that when you finally do comb, you get a lot of breakage undoing knots and tangles. If you do detangle often, your hair cannot handle the constant manipulation, your cuticle layers get stripped away, and your hair becomes fragile and breaks.

I think redoing the twists one at a time helps. If you undo all of them, you'd be overwhelmed and would probably end up with tangles. After a few weeks in twists, I just start redoing them one at a time as time allows. Since I only work on one section at a time, I am able to give it all the time and TLC necessary to finger comb fully without ripping the hair out or causing tangles. I do really tiny twists so I usually have a very small section to work on.

 

[anon123]

^^But if one does them one at a time, you'll need weeks to make it through a full head. And twists (at least mine) will be knotting up long before then, especially if you need to wash. Even with the coil then twist method. My hair in twists wants to lock.

alyssa, have you tried this method? maybe it could work for you?

 

[MrJohnsonsRib]

What do you say for those folks who can't do those "six-eight" bunches of twists? I dread the thought of twisting my short hair into fifty some odd twists-every night. I gotta go to bed. I barely have time for basic personal care, all these extra intricacies is jus tooo much. Lol! I wouldn't mind wearing the little twists so that I only do them every so often but...at the same time I'm not even sure if it will be cute. I need to buy another wig. That way I can do my twists as needed without committing to the style they form when done or at least til I can perfect the speed and neatness of them so I can actually wear it out. It's friday so maybe just maybe I can actually get a full head of twists done. I never get more than a 4th done before my arms and my son are crying. I am in the service and the branch where black women wearing their natural hair is like a ancient technique that no one knew about and thus making it more of a complication with professional appearance in the eyes of those who don't really know what your natural hair looks like- an advantage and disadvantage... for those of us who like to change our styles a lot. Lord knows I'll wear a wig one day out the week then be short for a couple days then wig it again. lol!!! I even will wear a wig just for the work day then take it off and go out on the town with my natural coif. Sue me! I don't care. It's hard out hair! )

 

[Nonie]

^^But if one does them one at a time, you'll need weeks to make it through a full head. And twists (at least mine) will be knotting up long before then, especially if you need to wash. Even with the coil then twist method. My hair in twists wants to lock.

alyssa, have you tried this method? maybe it could work for you?

I guess I don't have as much hair as you so I can't get the "weeks to make it through a full head". If I'm only doing it in the evenings after work, then it can take me about 4-5 days to go through the whole head. If I do it over the weekend, I can do the complete head then.

I keep trying to figure out why hair would lock up when it's in the coil then twists and so far the only other thing we do different as far as I can see is I don't use products but everyone else does. :scratchch I wonder if products cause more locking? Also, do you all stretch your hair as you twist? If you watch how I do it I stretch and smooth my hair as I coil then twist. So the strands stay parallel not wrapped around each other and all I have to do to undo is uncoil and separate strands. Any hairs that shed are also held in that stretched parallel state so they just slide out as I finger comb. Sometimes it feels like you're losing hair coz it slides out easily but I know it's just shed hair.

 

[Nonie]

What do you say for those folks who can't do those "six-eight" bunches of twists? I dread the thought of twisting my short hair into fifty some odd twists-every night. I gotta go to bed. I barely have time for basic personal care, all these extra intricacies is jus tooo much. Lol! I wouldn't mind wearing the little twists so that I only do them every so often but...at the same time I'm not even sure if it will be cute. I need to buy another wig. That way I can do my twists as needed without committing to the style they form when done or at least til I can perfect the speed and neatness of them so I can actually wear it out. It's friday so maybe just maybe I can actually get a full head of twists done. I never get more than a 4th done before my arms and my son are crying. I am in the service and the branch where black women wearing their natural hair is like a ancient technique that no one knew about and thus making it more of a complication with professional appearance in the eyes of those who don't really know what your natural hair looks like- an advantage and disadvantage... for those of us who like to change our styles a lot. Lord knows I'll wear a wig one day out the week then be short for a couple days then wig it again. lol!!! I even will wear a wig just for the work day then take it off and go out on the town with my natural coif. Sue me! I don't care. It's hard out hair! )

Why would you be twisting nightly? Are you just talking about doing it for the night? I have never done that. If it's just an overnight thing, then it's got to be braids as big as I can get them. They stretch the hair making easy to comb in the AM and also keep it from tangling. Braiding your hair can make it stick up all pointy if you are 4B (you saw my pic) but S Curl applied to it before you braid and baggy for the night, will make your hair curl down into a perfect afro when you comb it out. It is how I got this puff.

 

[Sunshine_One]

I used to get a lot of knots when I airdried all the time. Now, I try to rollerset at least half of the time. I really got horrible tangles and knots when I tried that not combing thing. That didn't work out for me.
But since I've started washing my hair with baking soda and doing rollersets half the time, I only see one (single strand knot) once in a blue moon.

Yes the bolded is me all the way! I can NOT do the no manipulation thing not even when my hair is straight. My strands will find a way to curl onto each other. I recently had to trim my hair back from BLS. So it's past APL but above BLS. This is the 2nd year in a row I've had to that due to thin ends with knots on them!

So I've decided no more wash n go and shingled styles. At least not until I reach my length goals. I decided to consistently rollerset and lightly flat iron the roots with the OCASSIONAL braid & curl style. Hopefully, this new regime will help combat those blasted knots!

 

[PhonyBaloney500]

I get knots sometimes but my bigger problem is I WILL get a dread lock somewhere if I'm not careful about detangling weekly. Lawd help me if I go longer...

 

[chebaby]

my hair does not dread but i have noticed that strands will stick together almost like i used glue if i dont shampoo often. im a natural 3c with a little 4a. now i shampoo 2-3 times a week to avoid this.

 

[TaraDyan]

I don't experience any dreds or big knots. However, I do get single-strand knots if I don't detangle often enough.

 

[MrJohnsonsRib]

Okay so looks like I found my problem- airdrying; not wearing my hair wrapped; not using a good detangler; not combing my hair daily; and I maybe could use a trim here and there. Cool. I'll get started.

 

[gn1g]

Okay so looks like I found my problem- airdrying; not wearing my hair wrapped; not using a good detangler; not combing my hair daily; and I maybe could use a trim here and there. Cool. I'll get started.

thanks for the summary.

 

[Kimdionneca]

. The knots stopped when I started adding yogurt to my conditioner weekly in October and the dredding stopped when I started using aloe vera in my hair in early January. I use aloe vera daily (the food grade version of it with purified water as it first ingredient, the 100% gel does not work for me) and my hair never tangles, mats or knots anymore. It is quite miraculous, plus the aloe vera give me lots of slip and makes my hair silky and keeps it moisturized and silky through the next day. I do rinse or co-wash nightly, airdry and wear a satin scarf to bed.

Thanks for this info. I am natural 4a/4b and my hair gets lots of knots and I cut them off, but I think that I cut so often that, I am not keeping my length. I am gonna try the aloe vera thing, I use the gel now, but I am gonna switch to the food grade one. Could you tell me what type (brand ) you use, also what type of yogurt.
Thanks

 

[HauteHippie]

I'm a 4b/4a mix and this happens to me when I air dry completely or air dry more than 70% dry. I cut out heat, but then I lose hair... and while I believe in health before length, I'm totally eyeing the FHI Heat Pro Blow dryer 'cause this has got to stop.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

does my hair dred up? sure does.......often... like every minute

 

[PeaceFlow]

This is weird, I used to get strand knots all the time. Seen as I was natural before LHCF I know I developed knots after joining. However I don't have them now.

 

[pringe]

i noticed for myself that doing braid outs and twist outs give me massive knots. Especially if I kept it out for like a week. But I do bantu knots all the time and don't get the same knots.

Recently after stalking Kimmaytube on youtube lol, I realize what I was doing wrong. Kimmaytube everynight would rewet her hair. I tried that recently and kept doing a braid out for 2 weeks! I think I got some knots but honestly I've only found 2 since.

So for me I've realized keeping my hair out in puffs, braid and twist outs don't really go for me for too long. I don't really do twist outs at ALL anymore cause it was too tangled. The more I keep my hair in a style its better for my ends. hth

 

[HairSupremacy]

I co wash 3 times per week, and finger comb to keep those dreaded balls at bay. I do a thorough detangling when I co wash and finger comb throughout the week. I have lessened the finger combing a little because these balls are not as bad, but if it gets severe like it was at one point, I would finger comb more often.

 

[it_comes_naturally]

I'm a 4b/4a mix and this happens to me when I air dry completely or air dry more than 70% dry. I cut out heat, but then I lose hair... and while I believe in health before length, I'm totally eyeing the FHI Heat Pro Blow dryer 'cause this has got to stop.

I'm losing too much hair (and time) to knots. I've been anti-heat for 2yrs, but I give up. I'm gonna start lightly blow drying my hair after I let it air dry a little first.

 

[Determined22]

Now that my TWA is growing out & I'm close to SL, I can't wear it shrunken anymore, my coils lead to tons of knots at the end, either single strand or multi-strand. I have to keep it stretched now, which is what I'm working on.

 

[Lola Laughs]

My hair doesn't dred up, but seems like everytime I snip a SSK, two more pop up. I have been natural for 8+ years now, did WNGs seldom PS's and never had the problem until about a year ago.
So I thought long and hard about what I started doing differently. I have narrowed it down to my Denman brush. I love the way it gets the sheds out, defines curls<=I think this is encourgaing my hair to curl onto itself to make SSKs. Before the Denman, I just finger detangled mostly along with a wide tooth. I'm going back to that to see if it makes a difference.