Please help me understand what is so bad about fine-toothed NO SEAM combs?

[Chioniso]

I asked this in another discussion but it was a bit of a tangent to the main discussion and I did not get a reply so I thought I would ask again.

- excuse my ignorance but can someone explain it to me like I'm a 2 year old.... I understand that combs with seams are bad because the 'sharp' edge damages the seams but - If you have a small section of hair what's wrong with a rat tailed comb. I have always understood that your hair is 'tidy' if you can get the fine tooth comb through. I' mean if you are taking tiny sections of hair to comb what's so bad about that.

For the record I am a 4c/z and I shaved my head several weeks ago after having a 'hot mess' on my head for years and am trying to learn how to care for it properly. Right now I have about half a centimeter of hair on my head and it feels nice running a fine tooth comb through it to tickle my scalp.

 

[Nonie]

Seams are rugged and knife-like and will tear your strands. There's no simpler way to put it. Doesn't matter if it's a wide-tooth comb or a fine-tooth one, although the latter may cause more damage because strands are up close and personal and firmly pressed together to provide a good surface for the rugged edges of that comb to rip through your strands with the precision of a surgeon.

Fine-tooth combs are not bad if working with a small section of hair but they have to be seamless. I use them myself and don't get breakage when I do.

Here I'm using a fine-tooth seamless comb on my natural 4B hair:

This is the comb on my keyboard so you can get an idea of how close its teeth are:

And it is the comb that the head of hair you see below had just been combed with during a wash in prep for a flat-iron job:

 

[Charla]

I don't think it's "bad." You just have to careful how it's used. Some use it with flat ironing. I use it with the 3-comb method to detangle. But my comb is heavy duty. I wouldn't use the fine side of this comb if it were a cheap, flimsy comb. (did that long time ago when I was relaxed -- disaster!)

This is my "no seam" fine-toothed comb.

 

[Nonie]

If you need a visual of what seams do to hair strands, check out this image courtesy of Hercules Sägemann seamless combs: http://www.hotcombs.net/pages/Proof-of-Quality.html

 

[Nonie]

I don't think it's "bad." You just have to careful how it's used. Some use it with flat ironing. I use it with the 3-comb method to detangle. But my comb is heavy duty. I wouldn't use the fine side of this comb if it were a cheap, flimsy comb. (did that long time ago when I was relaxed -- disaster!)

This is my "no seam" fine-toothed comb.

Charla, when you say "I don't think it's bad" methinks you're focusing only on the "fine-tooth comb" part of OP's question. The full question was about "combs with seam that also happen to be fine". There's EVERYTHING bad about that.

 

[Charla]

Charla, when you say "I don't think it's bad" methinks you're focusing only on the "fine-tooth comb" part of OP's question. The full question was about "combs with seam that also happen to be fine". There's EVERYTHING bad about that.

I'm referring to her title where she emphasizes "no seam". No seam=good. Seam= bad!

 

[kittenz]

Charla I know you've posted it before but were so you buy you combs. I need to invest after that pic Nonie posted.

 

[Nonie]

I'm referring to her title where she emphasizes "no seam". No seam=good. Seam= bad!

Oh OK. I'm the one who needs to learn to read. sorry @Charla.

 

[Charla]

Charla I know you've posted it before but were so you buy you combs. I need to invest after that pic Nonie posted.

kittenz From hotcombs.net (that's the same site I mentioned for the 3-comb method, and where Nonie posted the link from.)

If you sign up for their website, they'll send you a discount code towards the end of this month for a discount! (That's what their cust. svc told me.)

 

[Chioniso]

Nonie - thanks for such a full answer - but just to clarify - I do get why the seams are bad - I just don't understand why fine tooth combs/ rat tail combs seem to be the 'debbil' around here

 

[Je Ne Sais Quoi]

It's because generally folks don't know how to properly use a fine tooth comb and so they end up ripping out tons of hair unnecessarily.

 

[kittenz]

Charla thank you! I can be slow at times

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie - thanks for such a full answer - but just to clarify - I do get why the seams are bad - I just don't understand why fine tooth combs/ rat tail combs seem to be the 'debbil' around here

Gotcha. Sorry for my redundant post. I'd not finished my cup of coffee so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

It's because generally folks don't know how to properly use a fine tooth comb and so they end up ripping out tons of hair unnecessarily.

Je Ne Sais Quoi is right. Impatience is an epidemic people have and they'd not be as meticulous as one needs to be to get through narrow sections, and so would rip through tangles and break their hair.

I remember asking someone about the Tangle Teezer and how it is that it can get tangles out. Seems to me that it just rips through them. The conversation turned to using a pin and to my surprise, some people do not use a pin to loosen knots. They do not try to insert the pin in the spaces of the knot and jiggle it to loosen it so that it opens up. They basically just stick the pin in and rip it through the knot. So for those people, a brush or Tangle Teezer as a detangler made sense. *clutchin' m' pearls!*

I don't know if you've ever been sewing with a needle and thread and as you try to pull the thread through the material you find a loop formed and there's a knot and the thread cannot pass through the material. Cutting the thread would be silly because you'd not have a secure seam and would have to start afresh. What you need to do is use the needle or a pin to painstakingly try to loosen the knot. You basically create large spaces in the knot so the thread can slide out of the "tangle" easily. I always thought that is how people used pins to undo knots. But apparently knot! Pun intended.

So if people are that impatient and would rather just rake a brush or TT through knots, then you can't trust them with fine-tooth combs. Hence the reason they're treated as the debil.

 

[Chioniso]

I bought the tangle teaser for my little girl - I thought it was going to be a magic bullet but I am realising there is no such thing...

 

[Tiye]

@Nonie - thanks for such a full answer - but just to clarify - I do get why the seams are bad - I just don't understand why fine tooth combs/ rat tail combs seem to be the 'debbil' around here

It simply goes back to people not understanding that everyone's hair is different and tools and methods that work great one hair type might not work the same way for a different hair type. For example, people with big curls (aka type 3) can get the tangles out of their hair with a wide toothed comb because the spacing of the comb teeth matches the size of their curls. For people who can fit ten of their coils into one curl, a wide toothed comb is not going to be as effective or might not work at all.

 

[naturalmanenyc]

It's about the user, not the fine teeth of the comb.

I personally can get a rat tail comb through my own natural, 4a hair, but I am careful and patient.

When a shampoo girl tried to rake a fine toothed comb through my hair last week I was about to hurt her.

This is me roller setting my hair at like 6 months post relaxer (I was transitioning to natural) with a rattail comb with no problems, and minimal hair loss.

Root close up of dry hair.

I asked this in another discussion but it was a bit of a tangent to the main discussion and I did not get a reply so I thought I would ask again.

- excuse my ignorance but can someone explain it to me like I'm a 2 year old.... I understand that combs with seams are bad because the 'sharp' edge damages the seams but - If you have a small section of hair what's wrong with a rat tailed comb. I have always understood that your hair is 'tidy' if you can get the fine tooth comb through. I' mean if you are taking tiny sections of hair to comb what's so bad about that.

For the record I am a 4c/z and I shaved my head several weeks ago after having a 'hot mess' on my head for years and am trying to learn how to care for it properly. Right now I have about half a centimeter of hair on my head and it feels nice running a fine tooth comb through it to tickle my scalp.