How to Detangle Hair

If your hair is so tangled that it seems hopeless, try using an intensive conditioner or hair conditioner before you have to cut your hair short. After leaving the products on for an hour or overnight, your hair will be easier to detangle. You may still find it boring to brush your hair, but it’s less painful and more effective than brushing without a conditioner.

Table of Contents

Products

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Choose a hair care product. Regular conditioners are also worth a try if you haven’t used them yet, but if your hair is messed up badly, you may have to resort to another option. Intensive conditioners are very effective at restoring moisture to the hair and making it easier to detangle, while the detangling oils work to add shine to the hair. Coconut oil, olive oil or Moroccan argan oil can also be used as an alternative, and is especially helpful for frizzy hair. If you don’t like the feeling of oil on your hair, you can try a detangling spray.

Some people use mayonnaise, but it can have an unpleasant smell and isn’t as effective as other options.

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Moisten hair. Spray your hair with water to moisten it, or catch it quickly under the shower or small faucet in the sink. Most hair care products must be applied to damp hair, but if you let the water soak it, it will break more easily. ^{[1] X Research Source}

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Apply product to hair. Use an appropriate amount in the palm of your hand, or double if you have shoulder-length hair. Apply product to all sections of hair, including ends. Rub each section of hair one at a time instead of all at once to avoid further tangles.

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Wait for the product to work on your hair. Conditioner will usually finish moisturizing your hair in a few minutes. For best results, coconut oil and similar oils should remain in the hair for at least 30 minutes, but not more than 2 hours. The wait time for an intensive conditioner will vary according to the instructions on the package, but usually this oil needs to be left on for at least an hour, and can be left overnight in cases of severe tangles.

To keep your hair neat and out of the way, you should put a shower cap or plastic bag over your head and put a headband on top. You can also snap a hat that fits snugly over the outside of the plastic bag for a quick look.

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Use your fingers to untangle tangles that are easiest to untangle. When the products have had enough time to work, try to gently separate each tangled hair. Sometimes small knots or slight tangles can be separated into smaller sections towards the hairline, near the scalp.

Don’t expect your hair to be frizzy at this step. If it feels tight, stop and try untangling in other areas.

Brush hair

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Use a wide comb to comb your hair. You need to use a wide-toothed, strong comb to comb through severely tangled hair. Tight-toothed combs and hairbrushes often get stuck, forcing you to pull out tangles or stop brushing.

Be sure to choose a comb that is not so thin that small tangles can get through.

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Comb the ends of your hair first. Always start brushing near the ends of your hair when dealing with tangles. Place the comb a few centimeters from the ends of the tangled hair and comb it down. Brush again until that section of hair is out of the way, then move the comb up a bit. Repeat the above action until the end of the hair length. If you have long, thick, or severely tangled hair, brushing can take up to an hour or more.

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Hold your hair up a bit to avoid pain. If you have a sensitive scalp, hold the hair up while you comb it. Grasp a marker-sized section of hair between your fingers and twist a bit so that the scalp doesn’t get stretched. Comb the hair under your hand, moving it up when the bottom hair is done.

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Apply more conditioner or oil if necessary. Rub a few more drops of conditioner or oil into stubborn knots. Conditioner will help lubricate your hair and reduce the chances of strands getting tangled together.

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Use scissors to thin out stubborn tangles. You may need to trim your hair if the tangles won’t come out despite your best efforts. One hand holds the scissors, the other holds the hair. Use the back of the scissors to cut along the underside of the tangled hair, then gently pull the hair out to remove loose strands.

If you haven’t combed your hair for a few weeks or months, cutting the tangled hair is probably your best bet, as it can take hours to untangle your hair without necessarily seeing results.

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Use a comb or hairbrush to finish removing the hair. Use a wide-tooth comb until the tangled and tangled sections of hair are straight again. Switch to a tight comb or hairbrush to remove any remaining knots.

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Head washing. Rinse off hair products when you’re done detangling. If you have frizzy hair and severe tangles that have been separated enough to part your hair, use tongs to separate the sections and rinse them one at a time.

Prevent

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Use dry conditioner. You can let the conditioner dry on your hair for several hours at a time. This conditioner helps to moisturize the hair, limiting the tangle that can occur when the hair is dry.

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Comb your hair while it’s damp but not soggy. Hair that is too dry will become brittle and difficult to comb. Hair that is too wet will easily fall out. Look for a neutral solution, which is to brush while your hair is damp but not dripping wet.

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Loose braids before sleeping. If you often wake up with tangled hair, braid your hair before bed to limit this situation. You can also opt for a bun instead of braiding.

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Separate easily detangled sections of hair before washing. If you have frizzy hair or another easy-to-detangle hairstyle, separate your hair into sections and clip to separate each section. Remove the clip on each section of hair in turn to wash, and clip back before removing the clip on the next section. This helps reduce the likelihood of larger tangles forming.

A mild, low-foaming shampoo that does not contain sodium lauryl sulfate is recommended for this hair type.

Advice

Try not to leave a hairstyle in place for weeks or months without comb or care, as this can cause further mess.
Oils or oil-based hair care products help lubricate hair and separate strands. If you want to use an anti-shine product on your hair, you need to wait until you’ve finished detangling your hair.
An effective way to untangle hair is simply to find large tangles, then gradually untangle each strand to make the hair smaller. However, this method requires patience and can be very time consuming.
Oil treatment twice a week can prevent tangled hair.

Steps

Products

Brush hair

Prevent

Advice

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