HELP!! Hospital Bed Hair: DRY, TANGLED, A MESS!

[AsianAfricanPrincess]

I've been hospitalized and on bedrest for three months now and in that three months, my hair has truly suffered.

It is INCREDIBLY DRY and hasn't been moisturized in months (I'm not kidding). It has been sitting in medium-sized loose twists and braids all over my head and has had no grooming or moisture for months...just a bonnet that remained after my failed attempt to wash my hair (I completely forgot to remove the shed hair before trying to wash it...BIG MISTAKE.).

Now I'm more mobile and can at least walk around the house and I'd like to recommence my haircare regimen. I have nearly five months of new growth now. My hair is SUPER DRY. I'm STILL trying to detangle it. (The back, where I was laying on my back for months is literally matted about two inches from the roots.) I have no idea how to restore moisture to my hair.

I don't dare put my texlax in, because my hair is simply too dry. I need to detangle my hair and restore its moisture, first. WHAT DO I DO?

Sisters, please help...I'm desperate and I can't believe this happened. I was so diligent in my haircare practices before.

HELP!!!

 

[likewtr4chklit]

I say start with two or three bottles of a cheapie condish like V0-5 for detangling puposes. Sit in the shower wet your hair with a spray bottle and detangle little by little with a wide tooth comb. I mean seriously small sections, it will take a while but you must be patient. After you get a few sections detangled twist and move on to the next few sections.

Next, under running shower water untwist one section at a time and run the comb through the section until the conditioner is out. Put in a stronger creamier conditoner (you can even add some olive or coconut oil to it), after each section. It's important to do this section by section.

After the creamy conditioner has been distributed to each section put on your condish cap and let that bad boy sit for a while (one hour).

Next, fill up a huge container with water and a bit of your favorite shampoo. pour over your head and reapeat until your scalp is clean.

ETA: you will be pouring the diluted shampoo on your hair WITH THE TWISTS STILL IN TO PREVENT ANYMORE TANGLING. I see that you are relaxed so you will need to secure your ends with an ouchless band if your twist wont stay put

 

[likewtr4chklit]

continued:

After you have cleaned your scalp and hair with the diluted shampoo mix, SECTION BY SECTION apply more of your creamy condish, let sit under condish cap for an hour.

Take out one section at a time and rinse while running your wide tooth comb through it. Style as desired.

HTH

 

[southerncitygirl]

i wouldn't add water for fear of more matting i would do a mix of conditoner/oil and work with tiny sections from the ends up, expect this to take several days if you don't have any help. i wish you well with this as i know its frustrating. things happen and sometimes we can't keep up with our reggies, i hope that you are better now.

 

[darlingdiva]

I say slather some creamy conditioner on your dry hair and sit under a heating cap.

 

[melissa-bee]

I would put some olive oil on it to let it soak in and then try and detangle before washing.

 

[Qurlyqt]

I've been there! I was on hospital bedrest for 8 weeks before having my twins. I would do a deep conditioning on dry hair (AO Honeysuckle Rose or Tigi Moisture Maniac mixed with olive oil and honey), put on a plastic cap, cover with a scarf, sleep in it and THEN commence to tackle the detangling. I would definitely detangle in sections with LOADS of conditioner & oil. To restore moisture, I would deep condition as often as possible.

 

[andromeda]

I had a horrible mishap with tangling in The Great Knot Debacle of 2009. That thread has tips on various products and techniques for extreme detangling. IME, technique and patience is of utmost importance and drenching the hair with a product that provides slip is also important. I found that oil (coconut, olive oil) helped but my situation was a bit different from yours.

HTH!

 

[runwaydream]

put some olive oil all over your hair, sleep w. it on w. a plastic cap, add some deep conditioner the next day, sleep w. that on under a plastic cap, and the next day slowly detangle. twist or braid the detangled portions as you go. i wouldnt recommend adding water to it tho. reserve that for when you have the whole thing detangled.

 

[AsianAfricanPrincess]

Thanks so much ladies...is it a good idea for me wet the matted portion with conditioner, though, to detangle it?

I'm also worried about the effect wetting my hair will have on the line of demarcation. My hair hasn't been "breaking" per se (Incredibly). Just major, major shedding, but I'm handling it with kid gloves and not detangling it with a comb, so maybe that's the reason it's not breaking?

If I wet it with conditioner, won't this weaken the line of demarcation?

 

[likewtr4chklit]

Thanks so much ladies...is it a good idea for me wet the matted portion with conditioner, though, to detangle it?

I'm also worried about the effect wetting my hair will have on the line of demarcation. My hair hasn't been "breaking" per se (Incredibly). Just major, major shedding, but I'm handling it with kid gloves and not detangling it with a comb, so maybe that's the reason it's not breaking?

If I wet it with conditioner, won't this weaken the line of demarcation?

I don't really have any experience on detangling matted hair without condish. The one time this happen to a friend of mine I took very little sections soaked them in v05 and then started detangling, for the ends I added condish and then sprayed water. She was about 3 months post.

ETA: I had her sit in the shower b/c there was condish and shed hair and oil all over the place.

 

[likewtr4chklit]

Also for the second dc we did, I used ORS Mayo, I think that has protein in it by itself, maybe that will help with strenthening the line or demarc.

 

[southerncitygirl]

i think the condish is ok especially if you mix with a little oil.....please be patient and take your time, though. i think you'll be fine and dc will be a must for weeks to come. i would hold off on texlaxing after the detangling for 3-4 wks at least. maybe do one harcore protein treatment too in the next 1-2 wks.

 

[sharifeh]

I personally use a detangling spray like mane n tail detangler but conditioner and oil should be fine too. I would also recommend deep conditioning on dry hair before washing it.
Good luck!

 

[lucea]

I would soak the hair in wheatgerm oil and/or condish and sit under steam. You can do it every day for 5 days or so, then try to undo the twists on the last day.

Wheatgerm oil is super moisturizing - it has ceramides, essential fatty acids, and seems to moisturize hair from the inside out. It has saved me when my henna treatments were too drying. If you don't have a steamer, you can try one at the gym or the Y. There's also the homegrown method with towels and a microwave. HTH.

 

[AsianAfricanPrincess]

Thanks so much ladies! I'll be giving all of these methods a gander and will hopefully get this mess detangled and back to normal again. My hair was looking so darn beautiful before this. It's kind of traumatizing.

 

[likewtr4chklit]

OP I hope everything works out.

I'm going to go do some research on wheat germ oil!

 

[lilsparkle825]

how did it turn out? my hair became matted when i was hospitalized after a car accident last month, and when i realized it (and was coherent enough to care) i asked my mom to tackle it with a bottle of VO5 and combs of various sizes. it took two days and i do think i lost some hair, but not as much as i thought it would be. after it was detangled, i wore two-strand twists for a week, then resumed cowashing. i am currently in box braids trying to overcome whatever setback i may have endured.

 

[BC2/4/06]

Soak overnight in olive oil then detangle with your fingers first before moving to a comb.

I would only do a section per day, so you do not become overwhelmed and damage your hair. God Bless

 

[Tafa01]

I have seen around here that cowboy magic does miracles on detangling hair, but I haven't tried it myself. Good luck and I hope you feel better.

 

[tmhuggiebear]

First of all, I wish you luck with what ever you are in the hospital for. I went through the same exact thing last year and I know it is not fun. What I did was let some ovoo sit in my hair over night and then rinsed it out the next morning. I then shampooed and deep conditioned and detangled in sections with a wide-tooth comb.