Mom's hair was matted so bad

[Glamiam]

So yesterday i pulled out my moms sew in that she had in only for 2 weeks. Her hair i would say is a little above apl. Anyway, i combed her hair out before she washed and she washed and condition like she always did. Well after she washed her conditioner out getting ready to dry, her hair was matted sooooooo badly!! Like i seriously never seen anything like it before! I felt so bad because she even said to me "Look at my hair, what am i gonna do!". So i took her into my room and put a whole lot of conditioner on her hair and took my time to try to detangle and comb it out, being careful not to pop any strands. She got frustrated at times saying to just cut it but I refused to! I wanted to save as much hair as possible. It took me about 2 hours to do this. Although her hair is thinner than before, she still has her length.
She is also 4 months post relaxer so at least she has some new growth to depend on when she relaxes again.

Anyway i just want to know what you ladies think caused this matting. Could it be the shampoo? I think its because her hair is fine and she had some highlights in..those parts broke off the most.

 

[darlingdiva]

I was just going to ask you if she has fine hair. I've had a sew-in two times in my life, and it was not a positive experience.

The first time, I had left the sew-in in for one month. When I took it out, my hair was noticeably thinner. In fact, my hair was in such bad condition that the stylist gave me a deep-condition and a trim, and she didn't charge me extra.

The second time, I left the sew-in in for only four days. I took it out after that time because the extension hair that was braided into my hair made me itch so badly. My husband washed my hair with tea tree shampoo, but that only help for approximately half an hour. I started taking it out an hour or so later because my hair started itching again. My hair started matting badly. It was so bad that I had to cut some hair in the front.

Your mom may have experienced matting because of the shampoo and because she have fine hair. IMO, sew-ins aren't always the best option for fine hair because they put a bit of pressure on the hair.

 

[Glamiam]

^^ Thanks that's exactly what i was thinking. I guess sew ins really aren't for everyone.

 

[faithVA]

After leaving any type of style in for multiple weeks there are a few things I have found that help
1. Prepoo with oil which helps keep the hair from clinging together
2. Comb through the hair with large tooth comb and then a smaller comb because there are usually more shed hairs than usual
3. If I decide to use shampoo, before rinsing out the shampoo, coat the hair with conditioner first then rinse it out. But I sometimes skip the shampoo if I can and use conditioner and then shampoo the following week.

The two things that I think cause the matting are not getting the shed hairs out well enough before letting water touching it and the hair already being dry and needing more oil to keep the hair from intertwining.

I had the matting happen once and I said never again. So far the above has helped me.

 

[glamazon386]

Did she detangle on dry hair before she washed? Shed hair that hadn't been removed probably caused the matting once the hair got wet.

 

[Glamiam]

Did she detangle on dry hair before she washed? Shed hair that hadn't been removed probably caused the matting once the hair got wet.

That makes soo much sense now that i think about it. Yes she did detangle, but maybe its because of her hair being fine and the shed hairs together that caused the problem. Thanks so much for your responses!