Single strand knots only when I flatiron?????

[silenttullip]

Ya know this whole roller coaster with my hair is driving me a little sad.
First I had shedding then we fixed it
Then I had to get a workin reggie then I got it
Then I got into a style rut so I flat ironed it.
When it was twisted I only noticed maybe 10 single strand knots my last search and destroy was almost 2 months ago but still, can we not escape these things without cutting our hair and them reappearing???

Since the last time I checked my length and compared to now its longer but I have a bunch of ssk still. Is there anything besides cutting my hair I can do to keep them away? If I do cut it is there anyway to make it so they don't return? I thought about relaxing as an answer but guess what I had these things when I was relaxed too!

 

[natura87]

I get these too, that's why I don't flat iron. Hopefully someone can help us out.

 

[wild curls raquelle]

Stretched moisturized ends keeps them to a calm. Having 10 is a stellar accomplishment. When I do wash-n-gos in the summer I kept them under control as long as I was doing daily co-washes (I don't seal my ends in the summer since I co-wash daily). But in the winters I've learned that stretching the ends with rollers i.e. twist and curls or keeping protective styles has helped me a lot. I find one or two here and there mainly in the back where its the driest but I try to keep it as moisturized as possible.

 

[FroFab]

I think depending on how you flat iron and/or detangle you may be making more. As I was detangling my own hair today I came to realize that when raking through my hair trying to remove shed hair (with fingers only) if I wasn't careful I was causing ssks at the ends because the shed hair became wrapped around other strands then broke off leaving a knot on a single strand. While I know this isn't the only answer and/or reasoning it may be beneficial to be really careful when trying to comb/detangle your kinky hair because the strands tend to wind about each other near the ends.

 

[Chaosbutterfly]

I'm not natural, but I have heard lots of natural ladies say that by wearing their hair in stretched styles, instead of in pony puffs and wasn n gos, they've managed to cut really far back on the amount of SSK's they have.

And this is just my personal opinion, but if you don't wear your hair straight often, then I don't think you should worry too too much about SSK's. They aren't like splits where they can travel up and damage hair. They just sit there. If you worry about always cutting them all off, you may stunt your retention. I think if you just let them be and trim them periodically as needed, it'll be better. Just my two pennies.