If your hair tangles easily-perhaps because it's thick and curly or you style it too often using heat tools-you may be overwhelmed trying to untangle it. Pulling tangled hair with all your might can only make you dizzy to find hair that has become damaged. With patience and with the help of good tools and techniques, you can untangle badly tangled hair.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Unravel Everyday Tangles
Step 1. Decide when to untangle the tangles
To protect your strands from breaking, you need to be careful with the time you choose to untangle the tangles. The thing to remember is that you shouldn't untangle your hair immediately after shampooing your hair. The ingredients in shampoo strip your hair of its natural oils, making it dry and at risk of breaking-especially if you pull it. You should wait for your hair to dry completely before brushing because water can weaken the hair follicles and put them at risk of breaking. Here's the recommended time to untangle frizzy hair:
- Before shampooing hair, when hair is really dirty, or
- After shampooing and moisturizing your hair, when the hair conditioner starts to moisturize your hair that was dry from shampoo.
Step 2. Use the right tools
A tool to avoid when detangling hair is a round brush. Long tangled hair can get wrapped around the round brush and get caught making the situation worse. Instead, use a flat brush that moves through your hair without getting caught. When using a comb, make sure your hair is wet and moisturized.
Step 3. Start at the ends of the hair
It may be tempting to start at the roots and work your way up to the tips, but this will only make your hair more frizzy. If you do it like this, you're pushing the tangle down instead of unraveling it. The tangles in the hair also become thicker and harder and harder to untangle. Therefore, try to untangle the tangles starting from the ends of your hair.
Step 4. Unravel the creases from the bottom up
Using a comb or flat brush, undo the tangles from the bottom up. Do not push or force the brush to untangle, as this can break hair. Try to do it gently, using your fingers to untangle the tangled hair.
Step 5. Apply a hair conditioner to help with tangles that are difficult to untangle
If you've reached a point where you can no longer untangle your hair without damaging your hair, you may need to resort to hair products. You can use a normal hair moisturizer. Apply this moisturizer to frizzy hair and let it sit on your hair while you try to untangle it. You can also use a moisturizing hair mask or a cream or spray to detangle your hair-you can usually buy these products at stores that sell shampoos and conditioners.
Step 6. Make sure all the tangled hair is untangled
For daily care, make sure that there are no tangles left in the hair as they can build up which makes the hair very frizzy and difficult to untangle. This takes time so when doing it in the shower, turn off the water if necessary. This ensures you don't waste water and you don't get cold in the shower.
Method 2 of 2: Untangle Very Tangle or Dreads
Step 1. Use a variety of combs
Very tangled hair can be very difficult to untangle. Instead of forcing it to unravel with a brush, it's best to use a softer, more focused approach. Ideally you use different types of combs with different tooth spacing, but you can also use a wide-toothed comb at one end and a denser tooth at the other.
Step 2. Apply the product to untangle the creases
If your hair is very frizzy, it's a good idea to part it section by section, so that the applied product doesn't dry out and lose its effectiveness. It's a good idea to apply a moisturizer or a moisturizing mask to damp hair first, or you can spray a detangling product or a leave-in moisturizer onto dry hair. Make sure new product is applied to the section of hair when you start trying to untangle that section of hair.
Massage the product into tangled hair with your fingers. Use pressing motions instead of rubbing, as this can make frizz worse
Step 3. Begin to untangle your hair with the rarest toothed comb you have
At first you use the rarest-toothed comb and then gradually replace it with a fine-toothed comb as you untangle the tangles, from the least severe to the most severe. Just like the normal everyday process of untangling your hair, you have to untangle your hair from the tips of your hair to the roots. If you don't, you'll end up clumping up your tangled hair even more by pushing it from root to tip.
Step 4. Hold the hair at the roots if this process is painful
When untangling your tangled hair, you may feel pain. You may be able to hold the hair above the point where it's being undone, or you can prevent the hair from pulling out of the head, causing pain.
Hairstyles that pull the hair on the scalp can cause hair to fall out over time
Step 5. Transition to a comb with tighter teeth
Once you've untangled the tangles of hair with a wide-toothed comb, replace the comb with a finer-toothed comb. Remember to untangle the tangles from the tips to the roots, moving from the less tangled areas to the very dense areas. When you reach the tangle point of this tangled hair, you switch the comb to a very fine toothed comb.
Step 6. If needed, section heavily tangle hair or dreadlocks
That doesn't mean you have to cut all of your hair. If you've tried repeatedly to untangle a very tangled section of hair or dreadlocks but to no avail, use small scissors to trim only this section of the dreads. You don't need to cut the entire section of dreadlocks hair-sometimes just trimming it a little can help you to detangle it afterwards with your fingers and a comb.
Step 7. Brush the part of the hair that has been parted
When you've managed to untangle the dreadlocks, use a flat comb or brush to run the length of the section of hair, from the roots to the tips. Make sure that there are no slightly tangled sections of hair before you start untangling the rest of your hair.
Step 8. Untangle the tangled hair in the rest of the hair
If there are other sections of dread that need to be untied, repeat this process. Make sure you always part hair section by section. Trying to untangle your hair without proper planning can leave you feeling dizzy and frustrated. Apply the detangling product as many times as needed to make this process easier.
