How to avoid single strand knots
Ugh… I hate single strand knots
We all get them at some point. They show up without us expecting them. We are talking about the knots that we find on single strands of our hair. They are usually found towards the bottom of the hair shaft. Some are tightly knotted and at the point of no return. While others are still loose, in a loop and can still be saved. Avoiding them is very important for length retention, which will ultimately affect your hair growth.
Here is a guide avoiding single strand knots.
Avoiding them can seem impossible. But the least we can do is try. Here are a few things you can do to reduce your chances of getting them.
Properly detangle, often!
Detangle from your ends to your roots. So that would be working your way bottom and up!
Detangle hair prior to washing and before/ during styling.
Look for those knots as you detangle that could potentially tighten and release them using a rat-tail comb or your fingers.
Protect your hair while you sleep
Using a satin bonnet or satin pillowcase can protect your ends. It will reduce any friction that would cause damage to your ends.
Re-twist hair in chunks, band your hair, or do chunky braids to keep hair in place with less freedom to move around and intertwine as you sleep.
Stretch your hair
When your hair is stretched it has a lesser opportunity to form a knot on your strand as the hair is in a looser curl form.
Some methods you can use are rods sets, wave former’s, or even a low heat blowout for an example.
Choose twist outs over a wash n’ go
This applies to some. Those with kinkier textures will need to give extra love to wash n’ go’s if they choose to do so. Learn your hair and what method of doing a wash n’ go will be less likely to cause knots.
With a wash n’ go your hair is free moving and able to create these knots as it dries and shrinks. A twist out will give it less freedom therefore giving you a lesser chance of knots.
Moisturize
Dry hair, especially dry ends will encourage split ends and permanent knots.
Using hot oil treatments, weekly deep conditioners, leave-in conditioners and oils can help maintain the health of your hair but also to reduce friction that may cause those single strand knots.
TRIM
This is the best way to get rid of them. If you see one, cut it! We don’t want a part of single strand knots. However if you don’t mind rougher hair, you can keep them. Just know that they may encourage tangled hair.
It’s your turn!
Have you found a trick to avoiding these pesky knots? We would love to hear it. Comment below!