Major Tangle in hair

I have a suggestion but you probably won't like it. The only thing that works for me when this happens is to spend a bunch of tinme with the not and unravel it one hair at a time very gently. Make sur it is clean fist. It is like doing a complex puzzle and you must be patient. I have actually spent 5 hours or more untangling a snarl before learning that prevention is the best medicine. But don't cut it. This will make the hair look horrible.

> Please help. What can I do for a major tangle in my> hair. It is like a fur ball in cat's fur. I have been> putting oil on it (spray) and pulling it apart. Went> to bed with damp hair a month ago and woke up with> this major tangle. I don't want to cut my hair. The> tangle is at the top side of my head. Hope you have> some suggestions. ThanksI think the answer depends upon the type of tangle. One of these days I may categorize tangle types which are very distinct. Here are a few:* windblown tangle -- especially if this is a result of having a car window open or riding on a motorcycle, many of the locks or locklets will be litterally twisted. Combing or brushing can be very damaging as tiny little tangles will form if you start too high up. These tiny tangles, due to the twisting nature of the tangles will sometimes form tangles similar to a fisherman's knot. The best course of action is to comb gently from the ends and work your way very slowly to the roots.* nape of the neck -- sometimes a sweater or collar of some sort will cause a sort of dreadlock at the site of the collar. My daughter gets these a lot. I have changed my technique for this sort of tangle over the years. Now what I do is this: 1) Don't rush. Rushing only makes things worse. 2) Divide the hair into small easy to manage pieces. Usually you will notice that the dreads tend to form in localized areas. There will be some crossover from one lock to another. These are usually the painful single hair type of crossovers. Pull one dread apart from the other, and it is these guywire-type hairs that cause instant pain in the tenderscalp you are working on. 3) Once you have isolated a workable secion, say 10,000 hairs or fewer, have the victim hold the remaining untangled hair conveniently away from the work area. 4) Spread the dread into a wide, thin sheet, like you would with Halloween spiderweb material. The thinner and wider the better. This process tends to loosen the tangle and widens the spaces between hairs so that when you comb or brush it, you will be doing more good. 5) Work your way from the end back to the root, using a brush with nobs to do the detangling. The type of nob is very important. If you look at a single nob closely, it should not be round or flat but teardrop shaped. If the dread is really tight, simly insert these nobs into the dread and pull them out the way you put them in. Don't try to do a normal brushing motion.* tiny or tight tangles -- pull individual hairs from the tangle one by one until there are none left.* simple knot in hair -- this happens frequently with curly hair. The hair literally ties itself into knots. Insert two other hairs into the knot. Grasp both ends of one hair with one hand and both ends of the other hair with the other hand making sure these two hairs to not cross over each other. Then gently pull the two hairs apart thus opening the knot. I suppose you could do the same thing quite easily with two needles, but you'd have to have the needles.I suspect your tangle would be best handled by my second technique.