shaking & crying :( please make me feel better

I'm not sure If I've just had a major setback or just a bad experience... So I just finished detangling my hair, after having not done so in two weeks (give or take). I usually detangle once a week when I deep condition. Well, I had known that I had a dread sort of thing in my head, but I thought it was no big deal. It would just come right out.

Well, it didn't. I sat in the shower, wanting to cry and I pulled at it, using my fingers and comb. I had already let it marinate in conditioner for over three hours. I didn't know what else to do. I used my best detangler (Paul Mitchell The Detangler) and even it could only do so much. So finally I began to pull it apart. Along the way, pulling out gobs of hair. There was so much hair and I could feel strands breaking as I pulled tthe 'dread' apart.

I feel so terrible!! I'm so scared that I'll look in the mirror tomorrow and one side of my hair will be much shorter than another. I'm trying to grow out my hair from my BC and I can't believe this happened. I was so stupid to put off detangling because I was lazy. I will never do that again :'(

What if my hair never recovers?

Hi,
I am sorry that happened to you. I had a bad experience with matting during my 6 month of transitioning. I ended having to cut my matted hair and I was even advised to cut of 3-4 inches of my relaxed ends to sort of even out my hair and get rid of spilt ends from trying to release the matted hair. I was devastated; however I learned to always detangle before I wash in addition to detangling after washing. Remember, your hair will grow back if you take care of it. I ended up getting a mini chop that day but since then my hair has really grown and it’s much healthier.

Dont panic!!! You hair WILL recover. It's just a small setback. I'm sorry it happened to you. Hopefully someone else will learn from this.

try and keep you head up! Protective style and leave it for a week and detangle on weekends. Keep that regimen up and you'll be back on track in no time!

don't worry it will grow back. and just in case you have a section that is too hard to detangle again, i saw a video on youtube where a natural took out her locs after a year by using a thin, metal knitting needle.

we all have minor setbacks. its apart of our journey.

Hey. Do you have transitioning hair.


Reading your dread experience I will help you with my experiences.
Okay firstly anyone who i sjust doing a stretch and has dreads form after braids or anything can put relaxer on and theire dreads will come out.


Anyone transitioning I had 5 months new growth last summer and let my hair air dry then when it wouldn't untangle I wet it again, etc. Don't ever rewet your hair with tangles in it. if it is already dry and you wet it it will expand then when it dried it will matte/knot tighter. This happened to me so I ended up just relaxing it and my hair looked fine with no damage...

so now again when I was at 7 months post relaxer this summer I detangled and washed once and then I was drying my hair and had it all out, so it started drying while I was doing a little section combing out the roots. then it formed knots, etc. Now I learned that when you dry your hair you have to put it in little sections to keep the other sections wet. So when you go to blow it out, it is not already dry, tangled, and curly at roots. So always dry hair in braided sections.


Now to take out knots you have to not rewet it like I said. If this is the first time it was wet and now it's dry, then you have to work your strands through the knot little by little. If one strand won't budge then move to another strand in the knot. If the hair is a biggg knot then start from the bottom and pick the hairs apart. It is a slow and tedious problem but it works. Last summer I had HUGE mattes and knots. Maybe like 50 small and big ones and like 15 major ones. I got them all out except one where I had to cut out. It has since grown back. It was a year ago. If your hair was rewet more than once you need to do thsi process while wet and not wait for it to dry. If it is bed time do not sleep with wet hair because it will dry and smush and matte more. Blow dry the knots until they dry if you are goign to sleep. Do NOT rewet it in morning. Just keep trying to take the knots out..

Also I just got the hang of things this summer. Before my wash day I comb out my hair then put cheapy conditioner then cocnut oil and comb it in. I sleep with it overnight and next day wash otu with shampoo while combing, then deep condition and comb it in. Then wash out and comb as you wash. Then braid like 5 or 6 sections then blowdry section one at a time. If you just want to airdry in braids make sure your roots are combed through and the braid is tight at the root or when it dries it will be curly, clumpy, and tangled at roots

Hope I helped. And your hair will be fine

Im so sorry this happened to you. Try not to panic. Hair almost ALWAYS grows back.
Krys315-Your directions for detangling really confused me. LOL;-) I may have to read that a few times for it to make sense to me.

Muz wrote: Your hair started locking after not de-tangling for two weeks? Well. . . don't panic because your hair is said to shed 100 hairs a day on average, so if you didn't comb/de-tangle it for two weeks, that's a LOT of hairs that may have shed and are just laying up in your hair. In the future, stick with what you know works, detangling it once a week.

i agree

Chyna..lol sorry for the confusion..what dont you understand? i will try to clear it up