How to Detangle Matted Hair, According to Experts

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Severely matted or damaged hair is fragile and prone to significant breakage; please consult a professional for severe cases.

So you neglected your hair for a while, or maybe you wore a protective style like extension braids for too long and now you have to deal with matted hair.

It’s easy to grab a pair of scissors, but you don’t want to do that, right? Instead, let’s follow a process to get rid of that severe tangling. The good news is that following a careful process can save your hair from needing to be cut off.

What Home Remedy Can I Use to Detangle My Hair?

We’ll use home remedies as an accessible, natural option to help give your hair slip and get it back on the right track.

Also, you might need more products than you think. Before we start, wear a hat and run out for an eight oz. Jar of extra virgin coconut oil, three or four ounces of flax seeds, and some apple cider vinegar.

If you cannot go to the store right now, a large, inexpensive bottle of any slippery drugstore conditioner will also work as your base.

Expert’s Tip: You’ll need coconut oil, flax seeds and apple cider vinegar. 

Should I Detangle My Hair Wet or Dry?

You should never detangle severely matted hair while it is entirely dry. Always dampen the hair and saturate it with a high-slip detangler, conditioner, or oil to provide lubrication and prevent severe breakage.

We’ll use coconut oil first for slip and to help loosen lighter tangles. Then we’ll go in with the homemade flaxseed gel made with water, which has a huge amount of slip.

Do Tangles Make Your Hair Weak?

The matting might look tangled enough to break someone, but the hair in it is very fragile. For it to get like that, the shingles on the hair cuticle surface of the hair upturned and attached to each other.

So the hair lost its natural moisture and kind of got stuck like that. So remember to move gently and use your fingers first, when possible, before a wide-toothed comb.

Expert’s Tip: Remember that the hair inside the matted area is very fragile. 

How to Detangle Severely Matted Hair

If your matting is caused by extensions or braids, you must carefully remove all synthetic or human extension hair, tape, beads, or thread before beginning the detangling process.

This method is highly effective for most types of hair and general matting, though some extremely severe, long-standing mats may still require professional removal or cutting. Let’s get into the process:

1) Make Your Flaxseed Gel First

You need to boil your flaxseed in water first to make the gel, but you don’t want it to be hot when you apply it. It will need to cool properly, so let’s start here first. You’re just going to eye the measurements. 

• Add ¼ cup of whole flaxseeds and 2.5 cups of water to a pot.
• Bring the mixture to a gentle boil on medium heat, stirring frequently.
• Boil for 7 to 10 minutes until the liquid thickens and gets a slippery consistency. Turn off the heat.
• Immediately pour the hot mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a glass jar to remove the seeds.
• Let the gel cool completely before using.

2) Use Coconut Oil to Strengthen Your Hair and Prime for Detangling

Use a coconut oil treatment to strengthen your hair and get rid of the lighter tangles. Coconut oil seeps into the hair shaft and nourishes your strands. It prevents excessive water from entering your hair and causing it to swell.

While coconut oil provides excellent initial slip and protects the hair shaft, highly textured hair needs moisture for elasticity. When you follow up with the water-based flaxseed gel, it hydrates the hair so the strands can stretch safely without snapping.

• Go all over your head, making sections with your fingers and dousing each with coconut oil.
• Massage it into your scalp and smooth it down from the roots to the tips. Remove light tangles.
• Section off the hair you’re able to detangle thoroughly by braiding it.
• When you get to the matted area(s), squeeze the coconut oil through it and leave it for now.
• Then cover your head with a plastic shower cap and leave it on for 1 to 2 hours before washing.

3) Use Flaxseed Gel to Provide Slip and Loosen the Matted Area

Flaxseed gel is very slippery and also inexpensive. There’s no need to use a bottle of a costly detangling product in the area. Like coconut oil, flaxseed strengthens the hair.

It coats your hair and gives it supreme slip so you can work through tangled areas. It also takes longer to dry than conditioner, so you’ll have more time to work before reapplying it, if necessary.

• After taking off the plastic cap from your coconut oil treatment, give your hair a half hour to breathe.
• Attempt to loosen the outer tangles with your fingers first.
• Then squeeze the cooled flaxseed gel into the mat. Once the mat is loosened, use a wide-tooth comb or detangling brush, starting from the very ends and slowly working your way up to the root.
• Don’t pull the knots out, or you’ll damage your hair.
• Try to get the matted area as small as possible. If you absolutely can’t get out what remains, use the tip of a pair of sharp scissors to gently point-cut into the knot to loosen it, rather than cutting bluntly across the hair. The knot should be a very small area, maybe less than a fingernail clipping. So we’re not trying to clip any chunks here.

4) Cleanse Your Hair

Note: Don’t wash your hair until the matted areas are thoroughly removed.

1. When you’re finished, wash your hair with a sulfate-free shampoo.
2. Then use an apple cider vinegar rinse. It’s acidic and will close your hair cuticles and make it easier to comb through. Try a solution of one part vinegar to five parts water. Let it remain in the hair for a few minutes and rinse it thoroughly.
3. Then condition your hair as usual.

You’ll find your hair to be very soft and manageable due to the double pre-shampoo treatments you’ve done. Now all that remains is to make a better haircare plan so you don’t have any more matting. Good luck!

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