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

[Casarela]

to avoid knots when I co wash i finger comb my hair than use a wide tooth comb...once im out of the shower I use this small plastic brush that clumps all mu curls together and untangle my hair easily and since the bristle are tight and short its takes off all the shedding w/o harming my hair that . I use it only when I feel that my ends are tangled or that I have knots.

 

[Esq.2B]

This happens to me only when I airdry. I've come to the conclusion that airdrying is not my friend.

 

[sunshinelady]

I get dreds to the point that I'm think about really letting it lock up. It got worse after I texlaxed, believe it or not.

 

[Harmony0221]

I am natural in the 4's and my hair dreds from twisting and mats from wearing it loose.. so I leave my hair in twist and do my best to keep my hair moisturized......
when I take my hair down from the twist I remove any knotting or dredding by hand completely before combing..

 

[Iansan]

Yup, If I don't thoroughly comb my hair every morning in the shower I get big dreds and knots. I am going to try covering my hair at night to see if that helps...

 

[AtlantaJJ]

I do not know what my hair type is, but as my hair got longer, I started getting lots of knots in 2007 and then toward the end of the year it started dredding and I had to cut three sections of hair at three different times to the scalp. The dreds were like seven or so pieces of hair that went beyond matting to dredding and would not "de-mat," so I had to cut. 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.

I follow her advice, and no knots!!!! She is right! Oh, and I also make sure I get rid of shed hairs with my Denman brush at least once per week.

 

[ImFree27]

i get it when I do all those wash and gos and i dont detangle, so now I just do braidouts and detangle with my fingers and denman brush, now I dont even have those little balls..

 

[Poohbear]

What do you do to cause this on your hair?

What do you to prevent it, whats your hairtype, and status?

TIA

Any level of humidity causes my hair to either tangle, knot, or get matted/dreaded. But it's worse whenever I wash my hair or wet my hair fully. So I avoid water and washing my hair as much as possible.

To prevent this, I go two to three weeks without washing my hair. And after washing, I blowdry my hair... no airdrying for me.

By the way, I have natural 4a/b hair.

 

[Michelle79]

When I was washing last night I noticed a couple of these. I used to get them real bad awhile ago then they just kind of went away. They usually come around the 8th week after my relaxer.

 

[missnurselady]

Mines dred up at or close to the root during stretches and always end up with knots on the end when airdrying

 

[SexyCap]

I don't get dreds but my hair starts to curl itself into a tangle and if I were to just comb it any kinda way then it would just form a knot. These happen about an inch from the end. If I detangle with a denman in the shower, then they go away. My hair is 4a and pretty short.


"D"

 

[RedVelvet310]

My hair is always twisted

 

[sound]

I get a few knots, nothing alarming. I NEVER have to cut them out. I never sleep on my hair unless braided or baggied in 3 or more sections. I also make sure my hair (especially ends) are WELL MOISTURIZED every night. I only do was n go's after I have detangled my hair WELL in the shower full of conditioner.

 

[Angelicus]

Yes, and I trim them off.

 

[mscocoface]

Cannot do wash-n-gos

They are more like wash-n-what da h e double hockey sticks!

Will not leave the house unless I have product on my hair or I am asking for a World War and everytime the beast (my hair) wins!!!!

If the beast ain't happy then nobodies happy.

As soon as I wash my hair I start slathering product on it and particularly the ends are treated like the Queen they are.

The beast loves water, leave ins and oils and it is fed properly errrday!

 

[Lynnerie]

I get these too but I think its due to my relaxed ends/shed hair.

I'm transitioning and I'm a 4a.

I dont have this problem when i straighten, never had the problem when I relaxed regularly.

I get lots of tangles and knots when I do a braid out for some reason.

I worry about having to trim a lot when I become natural and sometime I wonder if I should just relax to avoid all that. (

 

[tocktick]

* 4a, natural
* single strand knots on the end
* protective styling and not playing with my hair prevents them

 

[cocoberry10]

Yes. I think it's a combination of split ends and shedding. Dusting and detangling are the best

 

[lovinglength]

I get knots. I just detangle really well when my hair is wet and keep it from tangling when dry. The only thing to do to get rid of knots is to cut them off at the ends. I've never experienced dreading of my hair though. I wouldn't recommend wearing certain styles for TOO long without eventually washing and detangling.

 

[jamaraa]

Yep. I don't have to do anything for this to happen to my hair. It is naturally what my hair wants to do. I do have to do things for it not to happen. I don't think split ends make a difference. I have a lot of breakage from the comb, but my ends are not split. I've been paying attention for at least the last 1/2 year and in all that time I've seen exactly 1 hair that had about 1cm of split on it. I have no split ends, because I break my hair off before it even gets a chance to split. But I do have lots of knots and those "nappy balls". Okay, I need to quit playing. Um, since I stopped blowdrying my hair and combing less, they have definitely increased in number. I did these things because I got convinced that this was the healthier alternative for my hair. But with the knots and breakage those shed hair cause, I'm beginning to change my mind. I think I will go back to blow drying my hair from now on. Well, maybe I'll try rollersetting first.

Comb your hair every so often to separate the strands. Your hair dreads easier than most, so you must keep your strands separated. Comb wet or dry...the longer your hair gets, the more you'll have to be on the look out. Be very careful of product build up too. The wax used in so many products will help dreads along and they can come fast, so watch the product build up.

 

[jamaraa]

I get dreds to the point that I'm think about really letting it lock up. It got worse after I texlaxed, believe it or not.

I believe it because textulaxing...leaves just enough straight to need alot of product and just enough curly to get "trapped" in the product, therefore making a dread. Avoid waxy products.

 

[Rapunzel*]

my hair does this some times
but it never dreads its just shed hair, it either falls to the ground or i remove it from my ends

 

[jamaraa]

One thing I noticed and I don't know if anyone stated it was the condish I was using. When I started using White Rain Tropical coconut (cheapie for co-washing) to co-wash, my hair started to dread up and I found knots. When I was using Giovanni ( I am guessing any nice condish would work) I could go 2 weeks without combing and no knots, dreading or anything, just finger comb and go. Maybe that's the difference between and cheapie and a quality condish!

So, maybe and I don't know if it has been stated I didn't read the whole thread, you and I or all of us who have this problem need to toss the cheapie condishes or just change conditioners all together and see what occurs.

Hope this helps and that stops for me and you!

I'm glad this worked for you, but wax is a big ingredient in ALL "creamy" type conditioners. After all, water and oil don't mix, so you need something to bind them together for consistency and appearance in the product. From cheap to expensive, they use some form of wax and that doesn't wash out.

If you are conditioner washing, you need to either /or comb your hair every so often w. a comb (fingers aren't small enough) and do a regular shampoo every so. You have to remove some of the waxy build up.

 

[jamaraa]

Ok. I'm officially worried. There's been several posts in the past week or so talking about accidental dread locks, so there's definitely a problem. From what I'm reading, it's a combo of co washing, air drying, not separating the strands enough, and product build up. African textured hair needs nothing to dread ...not even water, but nothing helps create UNcultivated dreads better than lots of water, air drying, wax, and not combing.

I hate to tell y'all but as your hair gets longer, this tendency grows. Relaxed heads don't have to worry much, fully relaxed I mean, but everybody from natural-textulaxed have to be concerned about the hair curling around itself. The reliance on conditioners simply gives this tendency the "glue" to hold the lock in place. Relaxed heads who "stretch" need to be super careful tho. If your new growth starts to dread close to your scalps, you have real problems...so watch for this.

My suggestion is that you detangle GENTLY while you still have conditioner in w/ a very wide toothed comb. Be careful about how much "water" you put on your head via leave ins and things....a little oil added to one will help give slip. Invest in a "horn" or "bone" comb. Then you'll have to shampoo every so often to remove the product build up from the conditioners. Remember people use wax to START dread locks, so you'll need to remove the wax off your strands every so.

Last but not least, run your fingers thru your whole head to check for them. The earlier you catch them, the easier it is to remove. If you air dry, section the hair off in some sort of style. The longer your hair is, the greater the risks of unintended dreads sneaking up on you.

As for single or a few strand knots, sorry girls, I can't help on prevention. They just seem to happen to everyone. The way I mostly avoid them is when I'm finishing off my plaiting at the ends, I'm VERY careful w/ how I choose to finish it. Take your braids/twists/plaits out VERY carefully and slowly. I find those little tangles come from impatience.

 

[georgia80]

No more knots since I have added the hair steamer to my routine. I alternate protein and a moisturizing conditioner. The steams adds incredible moisture to the hair preventing the knots.

 

[morehairplease]

No more knots since I have added the hair steamer to my routine. I alternate protein and a moisturizing conditioner. The steams adds incredible moisture to the hair preventing the knots.

I have a steamer at home and will try this to see if it helps at all.

 

[hillytmj]

I agree with the previous ladies...air drying results in a head full of knots for me. I usually work them free with a lot of virgin olive oil, but it takes a ton of work. No more air dry styles for me.

 

[glam-]

I do not know what my hair type is, but as my hair got longer, I started getting lots of knots in 2007 and then toward the end of the year it started dredding and I had to cut three sections of hair at three different times to the scalp. The dreds were like seven or so pieces of hair that went beyond matting to dredding and would not "de-mat," so I had to cut. 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.

These are good tips, I am going to try the yogurt in condish- I get the knots in my hair, too. And I have been meaning try the aloe vera forever, I guess I need to get on that, too.

 

[Chameleonchick]

I didn't vote, but my son's hair does this. If his hair gets really dry from playing or after a long nap, his curls clump together to make dreads. They look pretty cool like dreads with curly hair on the ends. He has 3b/c hair if you can picture it. I've actually thought about letting his hair just do what it wants to do, but he likes his braids. Lately I have been cowashing his hair or spraying water on his hair and putting silken child moisturizer in his hair before combing to loosen it back up.

 

[AFashionSlave]

Yes I get the balls/knots at the ends. It just means that I need to detangle and remove shed hairs.

I agree with this. In general, tiny knots are just a characteristic of natural hair. Those are not dreads. The locing process takes longer than a few weeks. Nappy hair just doesn't behave the way relaxed hair does.

I trim my ends on a regular basis and I wear my hair in protected hairstyles 95% of the time. I still get tiny knots at the ends of some of my strands.