{ July 27th, 2011 }

How Do I Lessen Single-Strand (Fairy) Knots?

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What do you suggest to lessen single-strand knots for natural hair?

‘Fairy’ knots, or single-strand knots, are caused by curly hair curling into itself and creating nice little tiny knots that are hard to un-knot. When they occur, the most practical way to remove them is to cut them off, unfortunately. So how do you prevent them?

It’ll take a willingness to style your hair less, thereby protecting it more, if you’re really up for the challenge of significantly lessening these knots. Aside from using various methods to relax the curl on the ends of your strands, there are some less permanent options you have to combat the fairy fight.

The most helpful suggestion is to not leave your hair out, but rather to put hair up/back into a protective hairstyle, where your ends won’t be exposed to potential ‘snag’ situations: your shirt collar, car head rest, etc. The simple movement of any of your strands toward each other is enough to cause them to lift up and perform knot acrobatics. If you’re a wash-and-go type of person, during the natural drying process, your strands will be moving until they get settled, which, of course, often results in knots.

You can put your hair into other curl-reducing hair styles, such as twists, which can ultimately increase the size of your curls, thereby lessening the chance that tinier curls have of more easily wrapping up into themselves – but getting to your ends is the hardest, yet most important part to reach in order to prevent knots! Sometimes putting a heavier weight cream/butter on your ends can help significantly, because that can provide greater emollience (so that the shingles of your strands don’t find it as easy to ‘catch’ on to one another), and the weight can weigh down your curls, making them a bit straighter. But this also has its risks, as putting too much weight consistently on your strands can potentially break them off (especially if your hair isn’t moisture balanced and the rest of your hair care maintenance isn’t as healthy as it needs to be). Make sure to focus on the ends more so, so that too much weight isn’t added by going as high up on the hair shaft.

With all that said, fairy knots come with the territory. Along with having some of the most gorgeous hair in the world, you may just have to accept the bad with the good. After all, it wouldn’t be fair to have perfect hair, now would it?

A few last helpful tips:

  • Smooth down your ends and seal them each night with an emollient oil (castor seed, macadamia nut, pistachio nut, shea butter, etc.) Also keep them sealed during the daytime.
  • Wrap hair at night with a silk/satin scarf to prevent ends from rubbing and tangling on your pillow
  • Comb hair only when wet with conditioner on it

Keep your ends moisturized, emollient, and restricted from movement throughout the day and as you sleep. And if you see them, you can certainly trying using a detangling conditioner to comb out and remove them, but when you find that doesn’t work, you’ll want to cut them off!


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