Q&A for How to Prevent Hair from Knotting

The best way to prevent knotting is to keep your hair healthy. Get regular trims and use a conditioner suitable for your hair type.

Curly hair is prone to knotting for two reasons: it is prone to dryness, and the strand's diameter is inconsistent. To address dryness, you should use products containing nourishing oils like argan and macadamia. To strengthen the inconsistent structure, treat your hair weekly with a protein-based deep conditioner.

For damp hair, leave-in conditioner is a great detangler, as is vinegar. On dry hair, a light-weight oil like Argan is a good choice. Use sparingly, starting at the ends of the hair.

Put your hair up into a bun or braid loosely before sleeping to avoid matting. Use silk pillowcases to prevent abrasive rubbing.

Hair damage can come from drying your hair roughly with your towel and brushing wet hair aggressively. Try gently squeezing your hair with a towel, applying a detangler spray, and using a wide tooth comb, starting at your ends then detangling from the bottom up.

Before you go to bed, apply a few pumps of a light oil and brush through. Sleep on a silk pillow case. If you still have morning tangles, mist with a leave-in conditioner before gently working through them with your fingers.

Try a dry conditioner. They're wonderfully lightweight and great at smoothing strands. After drying, mist lightly through mid-lengths and ends. You can also braid strands loosely to protect them while you're active or outside.

The major things you'll want to avoid are roughly towel drying your hair and brushing your hair too aggressively when it's wet. Instead, use a towel to gently squeeze excess water out of your hair. Then, apply a detangling product and gently brush your hair with a wide-tooth comb. Start at the ends of your hair and work your way up to your roots.

No, you have to be very gentle with your hair or you'll have split ends and other forms of hair damage if you rip the knots out.

Moisturize it as much as possible. Put in a massive amount of conditioner and masks every time you wash it. Also, try to use a shampoo that is not too drying to your hair. When you are out of the shower, don't use a regular towel. It's too rough. Use a cotton t-shirt instead. It will do the same job, but it won't cause your hair any damage. You also need to invest in a good hair oil or moisturizing leave in conditioner. Then, just braid it and let it air dry (that means avoid heat as much as possible).

Yes, essentially. Plaits tend to be thicker than an ordinary braid, and are usually braided underhand, however this is not always the case. Usually, Americans call them braids and Europeans call them plaits. They are basically the same thing.

Going to bed with wet hair is bad for your hair if you don't braid it. Either braid it or try to get it as dry as possible before sleeping unless you will wake up to an impossible-to-brush mess. Also, don't sleep with soaking wet hair -- it's bad for your pillow and if you get too cold, you might get sick.

You can braid, ponytail, or bun it at night.

Try brushing your hair and plaiting it before you sleep. When you wake up, your hair will be nice and tamed, with nice, natural waves.

If the knots bother you, spray them with oil and water. Let this sit for a while on your hair, then finger-comb when the hair is supple and flexible; this is recommended if you wash your hair once or twice a week. On the days you do not wash, a little oil and water plus your fingers should remove larger knots with less breakage, resulting in a well-kept look throughout the week.

If your hair is extremely curly, it is best to skip all the combing steps, as this disturbs your curl pattern and you might end with a bigger, puffier "Afro"-like hair style. Finger-comb only when a detangling conditioned has been applied. The result is nice curls and no dreadlocks. Some small knots will remain, but in time, they travel to the ends of your hair. Then it is very easy to remove as they are close to ends.

You should try to moisten it with oil or hair butter, and possibly if those do not work, try using a hair mask. It wouldn't hurt to get advice from a professional at a salon as well.

Yes, but the type of hair that you have will determine how frequently you should use it to see results.

You should shower every day, but wash your hair every two to five days, depending on how oily or dry your hair is.