Our hair is undoubtedly one of our most gorgeous features but it’s also quite difficult to manage. Long or short, curly or straight, hair doesn’t just need lots of effort to look extra beautiful, it also requires a lot of work to just be kept from turning into an entangled mess.
But why does fine hair tangle so easily? With curly or thick hair that seems more obvious but even fine, thin or short haircuts can also get easily tangled.
The main reason why hair gets tangled is damaged cuticles. Even thin and mediumly short hair is comprised of too many strands that can get interlocked with each other easily If the hair isn’t taken care of properly and its cuticles get damaged. That’s because healthy and closed cuticles make your hair’s surface smooth and even, however, when the cuticles get damaged they open up and snag on each other easily.
Here are the main mistakes people make that can lead to damaged cuticles and tangled hair:
- Sleeping with your hair down. This is not so much a reason for damaging your hair’s cuticles but it’s certainly something that will tangle your hair easily. If you’re wondering how to keep hair from tangling at night, the answer is to just separate and clip or braid your hair before going to bed.
- Heating tools are a big problem. Heated hair straighteners, blow dryers, curling irons, and curling rods, and other hair-styling heated tools are all very damaging for your hair’s cuticles and can cause them to open up. Even prolonged and unprotected sun exposure can be damaging.
- Strong chemicals. Beach, hair dye, and even just strong shampoos and other hair products with alcohol or strong chemicals in them can all be too damaging for your hair’s cuticles. This, in turn, can make your hair not only weak and unseemly but also easily entangled.
- Not enough moisture. Many types of hair such as curly or thick hair require extra moisturizing to remain in a good condition but even straight and healthy hair should be properly hydrated. Allowing your hair to dry up is the main cause of hair damage and leads to tangled hair.
- Physical damage. There are lots of ways to damage your hair – from sleeping on it without protecting it, through using the towel too harshly after each shower, to just accumulative physical damage throughout the day from your scarf, your office chair, or from just playing with your hair too much. Not playing with your hair is one of the main tips for how to keep hair from tangling throughout the day.
- Washing your hair too much or in the wrong manner. Many people wash and shampoo their hair every day, thinking that this is good for them. Using shampoo every day is not a good idea, however, neither for your hair nor for your scalp. Even a mild shampoo should be used just 2-3 times per week, let alone a stronger one.
So, how to keep fine hair from tangling?
Whether you’re looking into how to keep long hair from tangling, how to keep curly hair from tangling, or even just how to protect short hair, the first thing is to make sure that you avoid all the mistakes we mentioned above. Aside from that, here are a few more tips you’d also likely want to follow:
- Use a good conditioner. Both rinse-out and leave-in conditioners are meant to nourish and moisturize your hair after a shampoo wash. They are essential for all types of hair but especially for dry and damaged hair that’s prone to getting entangled.
- Do a hair mask every week. You can either use a commercial deep conditioner or you can prepare your own homemade hair mask from various oils. Either way, the mask should be nourishing and moisturizing and you should leave it on for at least 30- to 60 minutes but no more than 2 hours.
- Only use mild, nourishing, and moisturizing products. Avoid all shampoos, conditioners, and other hair-styling products with harsh alcohols and chemicals.
- Avoid heating tools. These tools are usually very practical for styling your hair but they are also very damaging even when used properly. If you’re having damaged hair, avoid these tools at all costs at least for the time being.
- Comb your hair regularly and with a wide-tooth comb but only do so on damp hair. Don’t comb or brush dry or wet hair and make sure your hair isn’t too tangled when you get in the shower. You can lightly detangle your hair with your fingers before you get in the shower but only comb your hair after you’ve towel-dried your hair and it’s still damp.
- Rinse your hair with cold or cool water. A lot of people love hot showers but hot water is not only damaging to our hair but it also opens up our cuticles and makes them more easily damaged from other external factors. So, even if you’re still sticking with hot showers, at least make sure that you’re rising the shampoo and the conditioner with not-so-hot water.
- Protect your hair from friction and entanglement while you sleep. Even if your hair is healthy it can still get entangled or just damaged from the friction while you sleep. All you need to do is just loosely braid or clip your hair before going to bed. Keeping your bedding clean and soft is also a good idea.
