If anyone else struggles with sleeping on long hair

[DebTX]

This is "way" off topic with cycling - but I think I just solved a longstanding problem and thought I'd share in case there are fellow sufferers.

I'm kinda new to having longish hair. And now that I'm 40+, and I color the grey, my longish hair is pretty dry and brittle. Each morning I wake up to a tangled mess, and typically have to condition it in the shower to detangle it and then restyle it with hot tools.

I just searched some "long hair" websites for solutions, and they recommended using a satin sleep cap (I even found one with a tie in the back, so its adjustable for fit, unlike the "shower cap" kind with elastic that would be uncomfortable.) They said I would wake up tangle-free and it would diminish nightime breakage.

Anyhoo - if anyone else is struggling with tangled, matted hair in the AM (and at my age it doesn't help to wash and restyle it daily), this may be the answer. I can't wait for it to arrive, the testimonials made me hopeful that maybe I can stop all this breakage that I've been attributing to perimenopuase. The problem, these women tell me, may actually be caused by the friction against cotton linens as I toss and turn all night.

[Biciclista]

my hair is so crummy that i can't get it very long anymore, but my great grandmother braided her hair every night of her life. It puts a nice wave in your hair and there's no knots.

Do you have a link for the satin cap? that sounds nice.

[DebTX]

Do you have a link for the satin cap? that sounds nice.

Here ya go:
http://www.maverickwear.com/

If you click on 'order form', you'll see it's $11.95 I think. Not the most sophisticated website, but the women on this "long hair" board were raving about it. And lots of them had photos with waist length hair (far longer than me).

[sfa]

I just braid mine at night--keeps it out of the way and tangle free. I only wash it every other day. If I tried washing daily I'd end up with a mildewy scalp--it takes my hair forever to dry!

My daughter might like something like that satin cap, though--she refuses to braid her hair but hates the tangled mess she wakes up with every morning.

Sarah

[Cataboo]

I have hair that can get a knot in it when I'm sitting stationary not leaning against anything. It's fine, is curly, and is long - it and I mostly have reached a happy compromise.

Alright - things that I've found that helps.

Braid your hair when you go to sleep, ride a bike, a convertible, kayak, or are around a lot of wind. A couple of years ago, I went kayaking in a salt marsh for about 14 hours with my hair in a bun... the repeated wet/dry salt water cycles combined with the sun, the wind, and me spraying bug spray made my bun fuse into a knot... I spent a week trying to get it out, with all the mothers at work telling me, oh yeah, we can help you get that out, we're mothers... Nope. finally my Mom drove up 'cause she couldn't believe I couldn't get a knot at, she fussed with it for a few seconds and cut off about a foot and a half of hair.

Make sure the air in your house is not too dry, it makes things worse.

There are spray in conditioners that you can spray your hair with before you sleep in the braid - shikai makes a nice one.

Use daily shampoos... they have much less harsh detergents... Any shampoo with sodium laureth sulfate in it will not be as harsh as shampoos with sodium lauryl sulfate in them. A good daily shampoo will have neither.

I alternate which shampoo & conditioner I'm using daily - so I don't get build up.

Deep condition your hair every so often - revlon makes one for color treated hair, I can look up the name of it when I get home (My mom gets free samples of it, and I use it even though I don't have color treated hair), also burts bees makes a really nice avocado one... Or you can make your own using olive oil, eggs, and avocado (recipes should be easily found online)

The best conditioners/and or shampoos I've found are - nexxus humectress, bedhead by tigi ... self absorbed... I also like the brunette goddess by bedhead /tigi. Every so often, I'll use some pantene pro v.

I don't use anything hot on my hair and I just let it air dry... I'm not sure what to tell you about using hot tools on your hair to style it other than to moisturize it more.

Do not brush your hair when wet... your hair is more fragile when wet and it's more prone to breakage. So you can comb it when wet, but do it very gently and support your roots. I brush my hair before I get into the shower, wash & dry it, and that's it. Combing it/brushing it when wet doesn't help, and brushing it after it is dry just makes it tangle. Don't bunch your hair up on your head and swish it around when you shampoo it or anything like that.

I'm not sure what kind of coloring you're doing to your hair - but consider using henna colors, they'll moisturize your hair while coloring it and are a lot gentler.

[wnyrider]

Satin sleep caps reminded me of two elderly aunts of mine. They have slept on satin pillow cases since they were young ladies. Might be another option.

[Zen]

Deep condition your hair every so often ...you can make your own using olive oil, eggs, and avocado (recipes should be easily found online)

And whatever is leftover makes a great salad dressing

If there's an avacado in my house i'm sure not putting it on my head

[Tuckervill]

Yeah, what I was thinking of was satin pillow cases. Those are from the days when women "set" their hair once a WEEK.



Karen

[Cataboo]

And whatever is leftover makes a great salad dressing

If there's an avacado in my house i'm sure not putting it on my head

I don't like avocado's, so I only use them for my hair

[Cataboo]

Yeah, what I was thinking of was satin pillow cases. Those are from the days when women "set" their hair once a WEEK.



Karen

There's still a bunch of those women... My Mom owns a beauty shop, she's got a ton of old ladies who come once or twice a week to get their hair set, then hairsprayed into a hard helmet...

Most of them roll up a towel into a pillow and put that under their neck to support it so that their hair doesn't actually touch the bed/pillow or get flattened.

[Eden]

Better than a less harsh shampoo is a less harsh shampoo and using it little as possible.... I resisted for years - I have dry curly hair, but I still thought my hair would be oily and unruly if I did not wash it every day. Turned out to be far from reality. Now that I only wash it a few times/week it stays in so much better shape - no more split ends! It used to split so bad one hair would have 5 or 6 splits up the hair shaft. I still shower every day, and I condition every day, but I only shampoo when it truly needs it and I try to keep the shampoo off the ends as much as possible. I can't use a super heavy conditioner... or it does look oily quickly, but without so much shampoo I don't need to. I also don't ever rub with a towel or use heat on my hair - turns into a big poof if I do.

[Dianyla]

My experience has been that once your hair gets long enough it just hangs off the bed and stays there by it's own weight.

For mid-lengths of hair (say between shoulder and buttlength) you can just make a loose comfortable braid to sleep in.

[Jolt]

Wow, I guess I should consider myself lucky that my hair (mid back length) doesn't seem to tangle that much. If it did I'd probably end up cutting it short again (and getting mistaken for a boy...). I wonder what it is that makes some people's hair more prone to getting into knots than others.

[singletrackmind]

I mostly just have problems with my husband sleeping on it.

[GLC1968]

When mine was long (mine is a heavy curly mess), I would just put the hair above my head hanging off the top of the pillow. If I didn't, it would be hot on my neck anyway. Plus, I used to wake up by pulling it when I rolled over or when my H would roll over on it! Putting it above the pillow really helped. I never brushed it (no brush would go through it), so I don't know if I had more tangles in the morning or not!

And even better than using shampoo with no SLS... no shampoo at all. I went two years with out shampoo. My hair was gorgeous. I don't do it now (I use a non-SLS shampoo once a week) because my hair is shorter, but as it gets longer, I'll reduce my shampoo routine.

I also agree that a satin pillow case helps with breakage.