hair help

this may seem crazy, but i need some help and i thought maybe someone here might have some advice. please don't laugh; this is serious to me.

because of multiple health problems, i often spend a great deal of time in bed. when i do, i sometimes am unable to brush my hair on a regular basis, and i do not have anyone to help me, as i live alone.

on top of the usual problems, i was hit two weeks ago with a debilitating case of the flu; i spent most of the two weeks abed. now, i have the worst case of bed-head i have ever had. i cannot begin to get a brush through it (btw, my hair is down to mid back). what's worse is that it is starting to break off, and i don't mean just the ends. i have strands of hair that are half what they were.

is there any hope for me besides getting it cut off? i really want and like it long, and i would hate to have it cut.

any help or suggestions appreciated.

Have you tried to condition your hair? My hair used to be impossible to brush through, also. The thing that worked is putting a lot of conditioner in it. It may help. Also, you can buy detanglers.

Good luck!

conditioners haven't helped. i haven't tried a detangler, though. didn't even know there was such a thing. thanks.

even my short hair gets hard to brush or comb sometimes. (I have a large tooth comb for after shower)

Sometimes I have to use a really lot of conditioner after a few days of not brushing. A detangler might work better, but maybe one application with a much larger amount of conditioner, and massage it in a lot so as to make sure it's getting in everywhere.

I don't think it is a silly question at all, I think it is very important to try to keep up with things like hair and shaving in order to help with our illness. (Speaking as someone who hasn't had a haircut in 5 months and hasn't shaved in 2 weeks )

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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Do you have anyone who could assist you with this? Having someone who could help brush you out from the back might do the trick. My wife has long, extremely thick hair, and from time to time I have to brush her out because of the tangles.

Just a thought. Good luck!

Greg

texasclown, I have very long hair, so I know what you are going through. I use a detangler, and it does help a lot. The other thing that might help is to put lots of conditioner in your hair, and then comb or brush out the tangles before rinsing the conditioner out.

Another thing I would recommend is a bit of prevention. I find just keeping my hair pulled back in a ponytail does a lot to keep it from getting tangled.

mj

Hey, Tex! I don't think I've welcomed you to the board yet, so a big Texas welcome to ya! I grew up in El Paso and can give a rebel yell as good as anyone. hehe

MJ is right. You might want to put your hair in a pony tail or a couple of braids when you go to bed. There is also a product called Frizz-eze. You might want to try that when you wash your hair. Almost any conditioner is also a detangler. There are some that you can leave in. The best conditioner I found, however, when my hair gets overprocessed from perms and coloring is... get this... mayoniase! Yep! It's got your oils and protein in it! It has stopped my hair from breaking after two or three treatments. What I do is wash my hair, use my usual conditioner to get the tangles out and then I glob on the mayoniase, comb it through, put a plastic cap on my head and go outside and sit in the sun for about half an hour. If not, I'll hit it with the blowdryer for heat so that the hair absorbs all the goodies, then I wash it again lightly to get the oil out and add some more conditioner.

You may need to get your hair trimmed for two reasons: one to get rid of all the uneven ends and two, to strengthen it. Don't ask me why, but trimming hair will do that.

Good luck from your friendly, neighborhood ex-beautician.

<font color=blue>"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt" --Shakespeare</font color=blue>

I have long hair too, and braiding it at night helps a lot to keep it manageable. That would be my suggestion - to braid your hair before going to bed.

<font color=orange>There is an easy answer to your problem that is neat, plausible, and wrong.

</font color=orange>

hello... have you tried the sprayon/dry shampoos? I need to wash my hair daily and sometimes it just doesn't happen. Also, try using a wide tooth comb with a spritz bottle of water instead of brushing your hair dry. Brushing can break your hair more easily.

I can't have my hair long because I can't take care of it... but even so I find having a perm helps it behave when I am in a pain flare and can't bother with it.

Do you have a local salon? Sometimes one of the hairdressers does work on their own, after hours. Maybe you could have someone come when you are really in need? Just thots....

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my thanks to all for the advice and suggestions. last night i was finally able to get my friend to come over. we "washed" my hair with waterless shampoo and then she drenched it with "leave in" conditioner. it took her an hour and a half, but she was finally able to detangle it. i was so afraid that i was going to have to get it cut off that i was crying. while she was working on it, she said at one point that she was going to have to clip it. i was so upset. then i realized what she meant was that she needed a hair clip to move the part she was finished with out of the way. what relief. after she finished, we did the waterless shampoo again. just before it was completely dried, i brushed it out again, and then i french braided it. thanks to all of you who answered my cry for help, i didn't have to get it all cut off and i now can take care of it. muchas gracias! merci beaucoup! danke schoen! mil grazie! arigato! takk!

<font color=purple>it is only with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.</font color=purple>

I was outside gardening the other day and thought I smelled cole slaw! Hmmmmmm.........must've been you, Tomi!

I have tried mayo in the past. Oh, one hint: Never, EVER try baby oil! C'mon, I know others have done this too. You'd like to never get it out! I was a teenager, that's my only excuse. My sister put egg yolk in her hair once (again, teenagers) and between the hot water before she put it in and the hot water she used to rinse it out, it started to "cook" in her hair and she was picking cooked egg yolk out of her hair for a while.

pebs

<font color=purple> The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated--Gandhi

Sometimes I lie awake at night in bed and I ask, "Is it all worth it?" And then a voice says, "Who are you talking to?" And another voice says, "You mean, ' To whom are you talking?'" And I say, "No wonder I lie awake at night."--Charlie Brown </font color=purple>

Very cool Texas!!! It sounded like things were getting very hairy there for awhile...

Fridays are bad joke days here, just in case you didn't know.

I'm glad you got this worked out! And please, don't ever think you have a problem to insignificant to talk about. If it's important to you, that's all that matters.

Greg

yes, this was a pretty hair raising situation, and as you know, these kinds of situations can't just be brushed off. it was just too knotty to let ride. but after combing through the responses i got from others here, i was able to detangle my problem.

hey, you started it. and no, i didn't know fridays were bad joke days. i'm going to have to start hanging around on fridays. i'm always good for a bad joke.

seriously, though, thanks for the kind words. you know when you hear most of your life that you and your problems are insignificant, it's difficult to think differently. i am pleasantly surprised at how seriously folks took my dilemma and am happy to be able to report good results.

i've kept it french-braided since then, so i'm not having any problems.

now that that one's out of the way, let me see which one i'll post on next. if the response is anything like this one . . .

we'll see,
tex

<font color=purple>it is only with the heart that one sees rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.</font color=purple>

Leave it to you, Pebs! Hey, I did the egg thing too... when I was a teenager. LOL Never tried the baby oil, though. Thank goodness!

Hey, I've missed your happy posts! Glad to see you back!





<font color=blue>"Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt" --Shakespeare</font color=blue>