I haven't worn a weave yet personally but I've had long term hairstyles including braid extensions and multiple sets of locs. There are comments in this thread about hair matting and someone having to cut 12 inches .... That sounds excessive to me. If you want to save your hair you have to be patient during the take down if you want to preserve your length. That means if the matting is bad you probably won't be able to take it down and clear out the hair in one night. If you have to spend several days at it detangling small sections at a time then that's what you have to do. As for the extension hair tangling - again be patient with it. Use a good conditioner (this is worthwhile even if you use inexpensive hair), then work at tangles with your fingers first - pulling at them gently - then with a wide toothed comb - do this in small sections. Don't get frustrated and attack the tangles or yank on them that just makes it worse - this applies for any kind of hair, yours, extension, human, synthetic - or any other kind of fiber.