How to Detangle Matted Hair Without Cutting It | The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast Ep. 18

Matted hair is a patience job, not a scissors job. In this episode Delena, a licensed cosmetologist, walks through the rescue she uses in the salon: holding the hair above the mat so there is no tension on the scalp, unlocking it an inch at a time from the ends, and reaching first for the Bamboo Comb, which does not build static and carries the scalp's own oils down the strand as you work. Long hair moves to the Smooth and Polish Hair Brush; curly hair to the Curl-Define Brush.

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Episode Summary

Severely matted hair almost never needs to be cut off. Licensed cosmetologist Delena Markland walks through the section-by-section rescue she uses in the salon, why the grip above the mat matters more than the tool, why the common advice about wet hair is backwards, and when to stop for the day rather than push someone to tears.

The written companion to this episode: How to Detangle Matted Hair Without Cutting It. Related episode: How to Define Curls Without Frizz (Ep. 17).

Full Episode Transcript

Jess: Welcome back to The Pixie Garden Hair Podcast. I'm Jess with Delena Markland. Delena, this one comes with some real panic attached. Someone has hair that is genuinely matted, a child, or after being sick, or hair that got neglected for a while, and they're standing in the bathroom wondering if they have to cut it off.

Delena Markland: Almost never. I want to lead with that because people make an irreversible decision in about ten minutes of frustration. In my chair, matted hair is a patience job, not a scissors job. And the tool I reach for first is the Bamboo Comb we carry, because it does two things a plastic comb cannot.

Jess: What are those two things?

Delena Markland: First, it does not generate static. A plastic comb builds a charge as it moves through hair, and static is strands repelling each other and standing apart, which in a mat means more snagging and more breakage with every pass. Bamboo does not do that. Second, it moves the natural oils through the hair while you work. Your scalp produces oil to protect the hair, and a bamboo comb carries that oil down the strand as you go. So the further into the job you get, the more slip you have. It is safe and it is actually healthy for the hair, which matters when you are about to spend forty-five minutes on one head.

Jess: Okay, so someone has the comb. Where do they start?

Delena Markland: Not at the roots, and this is the single most important thing in the episode. You hold the hair above the mat. Get your hand between the scalp and the tangle and grip it firmly, then work below your hand. That grip is doing two jobs: it takes all the tension off the scalp so you are not pulling at the follicle, and it stops the mat from tightening further up as you work. If you comb from the roots down into a mat, you are just pushing the tangle into a denser knot and hurting somebody at the same time.

Jess: And then you work up from the ends?

Delena Markland: Ends first, always. Small section, and I mean genuinely small, one section at a time, clipped or held away from the rest. Start at the very bottom of that section, get an inch clear, then move up an inch. Then another inch. You are unlocking it from the bottom, not attacking it from the top. It feels slow and it is dramatically faster than the alternative, which is fighting the whole head at once and getting nowhere.

Jess: Should the hair be wet or dry for this?

Delena Markland: Either can work, and I want to clear up something you hear constantly, that hair is weakest when it is wet. That is not right. Wet hair is full of water and has more elasticity than dry hair. It is one of the more debated topics in my field and I will say it plainly: the danger was never the water. The danger is the pulling. So whichever you choose, the thing that actually matters is slip. Get a leave-in or a conditioning product in there so the comb glides instead of drags. Less pulling means less breakage and a better result. If a mat is really dense, saturating it with a conditioning product and letting it sit for a few minutes before you start will do more for you than any tool.

Jess: Does the tool change depending on the hair?

Delena Markland: It does. The Bamboo Comb is my primary and it is the right call for shorter hair and for the dense work down in the mat itself. Once you get into long hair, switch to the boar bristle brush, ours is the Smooth and Polish. Boar bristle contains the static instead of creating it, it smooths the cuticle, and it carries that natural oil down a long strand better than anything else. And if the hair is curly, the Curl-Define Brush is the one, because it works with the curl pattern instead of tearing it open the way a standard brush would.

Jess: How do you know when to stop for the day?

Delena Markland: When the person you're working on is done, you're done. Especially with kids. A mat will still be there tomorrow and it will not get meaningfully worse overnight if you put a conditioning product on it and cover it. What does damage is pushing somebody to tears and then having them fight you every time a comb comes out for the next five years. I have rescued hair over two sessions plenty of times. Nobody has ever regretted the second session.

Jess: And once it's out, how do you keep it from happening again?

Delena Markland: Comb before you wash, not just after. Keep long hair contained when someone is sleeping a lot or unwell, because that is where most of the severe mats I see come from. And use a comb or brush that is not building static every time it goes through. That is most of it.

Jess: Where do people get the tools?

Delena Markland: thepixiegarden.com. The Bamboo Comb, the Smooth and Polish brush, and the Curl-Define Brush are all there, and all three are what I actually reach for on the salon floor.

Jess: All linked on this episode's page along with the full written guide. See you Monday.

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Hosted by Delena Markland, Licensed Cosmetologist and Owner of The Pixie Garden. New episodes weekly. Browse all episodes.