Curly Hair Tangles Less?

Cookie Monster · 09-13-2007, 09:05 AM

I don't see how this can possibly be true!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...airtanglesless

heavengirl410 · 09-13-2007, 09:09 AM

I don't belive it!

curlyjenn · 09-13-2007, 09:31 AM

I don't know. My hair gets tangled, but it doesn't get tangled a million times a day like it does when I try to straighten it. I wash it, it curls around itself, it looks good and I don't mess with it all day. I straighten it, it looks like it needs to be brushed several times a day. Maybe....

2happy · 09-13-2007, 09:31 AM

I was about to call 'bull' also, but I'm not sure. Speaking only of my head, curly definately snarls more. But, I wonder if it's because when it's straight, I'm constantly touching it and running my fingers through it - thus taking out the potentially started snarls? Hmmmmm.

CurliLocks · 09-13-2007, 09:58 AM

I don't believe it either. I get way more knots than that each day.

TaintedPaint · 09-13-2007, 11:15 AM

i think part of the problem with this study is they didnt ahev a very even amount of curly heads only 89 and like 120 something straight. So maybe by sheer numbers they won and Ive noticed straighties will call a person a curly head even if they just have one bend in their hair.
Thats just my two cents though.

Amandacurls · 09-13-2007, 11:18 AM

I don't think so, mine tangles so much more easily than other people's hair because it's got so much more going on!

Suburbanbushbabe · 09-13-2007, 01:02 PM

Just saw this article and my first thought was "where are they getting their grant money? Give me some

"

asleep to audio · 09-13-2007, 01:09 PM

Hah! I don't believe that, at all.

Amandacurls · 09-13-2007, 01:19 PM

They need to come talk to us, there's a whole bunch of us right here on this board!

xheatherbee · 09-13-2007, 01:27 PM

Maybe I'm the odd one out, but my hair hardly ever tangles, even on third or fourth day hair. If I do get a tangle, its usually one or two hairs within a curl, if that makes sense. Immediately after my hair gets wet in the shower, I have no trouble completely running my fingers through it - no snarls!

Amandacurls · 09-13-2007, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xheatherbee

Maybe I'm the odd one out, but my hair hardly ever tangles, even on third or fourth day hair. If I do get a tangle, its usually one or two hairs within a curl, if that makes sense. Immediately after my hair gets wet in the shower, I have no trouble completely running my fingers through it - no snarls!

You're lucky, if I go into a second day or so it's horrendous getting them out, even with tons of conditioner, but my hair has always tangled, there's just a lot of it!

2happy · 09-13-2007, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xheatherbee

Maybe I'm the odd one out, but my hair hardly ever tangles, even on third or fourth day hair. If I do get a tangle, its usually one or two hairs within a curl, if that makes sense. Immediately after my hair gets wet in the shower, I have no trouble completely running my fingers through it - no snarls!

Show off!
THAT'S IT!!! You don't get to play in any more reindeer games! Or would that be curly games?

RozettaStone · 09-13-2007, 03:31 PM

I guess because I'm a wavy, and a pretty lazy wavy, I don't have any real problem with tangles. I only get bad tangles at the nape of my neck if I'm out in a bad wind, or if I'm wearing a scarf or a big bulky coat in the winter, or in airplanes. Also if I get to the point where my hair REALLY needs a trim, it'll get sort of snaggy on the ends.
I'd trade my lack of tangles for some nice bouncy ringlets any day!

Mariposie · 09-14-2007, 01:00 AM

There's something very fishy about this study. Every one I know with straight hair can run there fingers through their hair very easily. Not so with myself and other curlies I know. My hair has to be coated in conditioner before it can be easily combed. My sister-in-law with the straightest hair imaginable can run a comb through her thick hair in seconds, right after she gets out of bed, and encounter almost no tangles.
Something isn't right with their study.

keikok · 09-14-2007, 02:00 AM

Someone told me that chemically relaxed hair tends to get a lot of tangles, and thats a form of straight hair.
I have curly hair and I dont get tangles but its very very short right now

wildsheepchase · 09-14-2007, 06:35 AM

"snarliest"
Is this even a word? It seems like it should be "most snarled" or something. I know I purposefully use the incorrect form of verbs to be tongue-in-cheek, but this is "journalism!"

Yismet · 09-14-2007, 08:42 AM

When I read the article I echoed everyone's disbelief at the results, so I decided the best thing to do was to read the actual article that appear in the American Journal of Physics. A couple interesting points that the yahoo article neglected to mention:

"Defining resistance to tangles during combing was also left to the hairdressers' judgment, the purpose being the exclusion (my emphasis) of of clusters of hair (hair stuck together), which also resist combing" (pg. 701).

- I don't know about the rest of you, but I certainly can't run my fingers through my hair. However, I feel that most of the time that it is due to clusters of hair, which this experiment did not count, rather than traditional tangles. Most of the time the only "tangles" I get during the day are at the hairs by my neck.
- Also, the hairdressers were not told the purpose of the experiment, and while the article does not specify the criteria for choosing hairdressers, I'm sure none of them were "specialists" in curly hair, decreasing probability that they really understand how our hair works.
-Both men and women participated in this experiment. Assuming that they had short hair, this kind of makes them a wash for both sides. The curly-haired men I know definitely do not have tangles, but neither do the straight long-haired men I know.
- No distinction was made between long and short hair. While I realize I am making some assumptions here, I feel like that could definitely affect the results.
- Another interesting point is that they said that "The hairdressers...were provided with rulers to measure the lateral extension of curly hair; they measured what will be called in this paper the J amplitude...For all curly hair, the number of tangles was reported as a function of lateral extension" (pg 701). They then showed a chart where as the width of the curl became large, the number of tangles decreased.

Then the article got a little too math/physics based for me to really understand with one quick reading. However, at the end they do say that the experiment now needs to be refined to account for more variables, including the change in curliness along the length of the hair, and measure the flexibility, dryness, and other characteristics of hair.

Sorry for the long post, but I thought it was very interesting!

pinksugar · 09-14-2007, 01:43 PM

My hair doesn't tangle. I never comb it either. I think the last time my hair was tangled I was 11 or 12. Maybe it's because my hair is only shoulder length?