What is the best way to de-tangle hair?

[Fiona-Ann Moss]

My wig keeps getting tangled and knotted at the bottom, ive tried the usual de-tangling spray but to no effect, i was thinking now along the lines of a spray conditioner? any ideas what i could use to help to stop this happening, my wigs are long and synthetic type hair. It is getting impossible to brush the knots out!! please help!!

Fee xxx

Topic

[Sandy Craig]

The tangled hair does not seem to be stoppable but different fabrics from what you wear will make a huge difference. I have a wool Peacoat that is the worst and I don’t wear it often just because of this plus a great hooded fur lined winter jacket that’s in second place for messing up the hair-Frustrating! I try to pick dresses and tops with a smooth fabric to help with this issue.

I live with the issue as on my wigs it is the underside that gets bad and the outer layer of hair still looks OK. As far as fixing this I use the special Wig spray for de-tangling/brushing. A place I bought some wigs from showed me there technique and it seems to work fine.

I start by, wig held at front edge and the back lower inside sprayed with Wig spray, then starting at the very bottom insert fingers and slowly work downward,  keep working higher and higher-never forcing snags. Then I apply more spray and hold the hair against my leg and use a brush, again starting at the very end and working upwards. I am sure you know if your force the brush you will create the small tight curls. After I work the inside I switch to the outside and repeat, then set it on the form and work around and always using spray. About every 4 or 5 wears I wash and also do a check up with magnified reader glasses and my scissors to remove any of those pesky kinks and tight curls. I have wigs 8 or 9 years old that still look great. I believe you get what you pay for on wigs but most of my wigs are in the $150 to $200 USD range so I would say average costs. My regular wear wigs are synthetic.

Not sure my technique will read sensible, you would not want me writing instruction manuals for products.

Sandy

3 users thanked author for this post.

Emily, Gwenn Liefde, Fiona-Ann Moss

[Gwenn Liefde]

Yeah I agree, certain fabrics to cause more tangles and static. Especially in fall and winter when we wear more coats and highneck tops.

The right brush is important, and it doesn’t have to be expensive. The WetBrush makes a decent wig brush.

I love the WetBrush Epic Pro Quick Dry is my favorite brush for use of my hair. I use it in the shower to spread the conditioner in my hair and to help rinse it out of my hair, I use it after too, to detangle on wet or dry hair, and finally to do a quick 80% dry blow-dry, then finish my blowout with a round brush. I have a couple of them at work to use in my clients, makes detangling their hair soooo much easier.

[Gwenn Liefde]

Not all wig do well with regular hair products, sometimes you do need specific wigs products to keep the manageability, as they are designed for just that. Other than that, I don’t know why else I can say, as I don’t deal with wigs in general and do not have a tone of knowledge about them. Which is funny coming from a hairstylist. LOL

-Gwenn

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Fiona-Ann Moss

[Emily]

I actually did a Google search (you can find anything on Google) some time ago. There is a very specific procedure to fix this that involves a clothes steamer and a brush. I have had limited success with it, perhaps I didn’t follow the directions close enough.

On another note, I have one wig that is 50/50 human hair and synthetic. I have not had the issue with that one. Any tangles seem to brush out fairly easily. I also have a short, bob, style wig that is 100% human hair. Absolutely LOVE it! Definitely worthy the extra money.

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Fiona-Ann Moss

[Fiona-Ann Moss]

Hi Emily and thanks for the tip 🙂 . It seems to be an issue mainly with long haired wigs, its always baffled me the way women with long hair can go to bed and wake up in the morning with a headful of hair that is not tangled, i slept in one of my older wigs for one night and the darn thing was so tangled, it was useless!! how can that happen? maybe human hair is oily, so that stops it getting tangled, i dunno!!!

Fiona xxx

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Emily

[Fiona-Ann Moss]

never thought of that!!

Fee xxx

[eleanor holborn]

Try fabric conditioner Fee stops the static electricity

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Fiona-Ann Moss

[Camryn Occasionnel]

Eleanor is right about this. Dry air (due to winter’s cold or summer A/C) really creates a lot of flyaways in my synthetic wigs. When dressed at home, I keep a sheet of fabric softener at the ready. A few strokes along the length of the wig will tame those flyaways and last for hours.

For me, tangles just seem to be a part of the aging process for synthetic wigs. So far, I have only worn straight-hair wigs (synthetic) and I comb them after each wearing to keep the tangles at bay. This seems to eventually result in a loss of lustre and damage to the fibres. Thankfully, I only buy “less expensive” wigs, and my favorites seldom last more than two years. After that they’re repurposed as “sleep wigs” — then the tangles REALLY get out of control!

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Fiona-Ann Moss

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