Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tangle Teezer Causing Breakage

I was going to put a question mark at the end of this title, but honestly, there's no doubt in my mind anymore...

Remember when I posted how much I loved the Tangle Teezer? Well, I may have spoken too soon.

A couple of weeks ago I was detangling A's wet (full of conditioner) hair with the Tangle Teezer, I was finished within 10 minutes. Afterwards, instead of removing the little bit of hair that was in the brush, I began detangling Lil Man's wet (with conditioner) hair with the Tangle Teezer. Again, I was done in minutes. Yay! Right?

Well, I starting removing the hair from the brush but there was still hair on the bottom that was hard to get off so I ran some hot water and put the Tangle Teezer in the water (bristles facing down). Once the water had drained I picked up the Tangle Teezer and saw short pieces of hair everywhere! O_O I picked up the little hairs and examined them. There's no way these short hairs could be A's, or so I thought. After examining both A and Lil Man's hair I came to the conclusion that they did, indeed, belong to A. Lil Man's individual strands are much thinner than A's. These short hairs were thick.

I didn't want to blame the Tangle Teezer just yet. I thought maybe I was detangling too quickly and I was to blame. I mean, I had just posted in a thread over on Naturallycurly.com saying we have had no issues with the Tangle Teezer. I told myself I would try it again before I made a post.

When I posted about banding I mentioned I was preparing her hair for something. Well, I was actually preparing her hair for a trim. I was trying to blame her neverbeentrimmed hair on the breakage. The trim hasn't happened yet, her father let her hair get wet the day before the trim but it will happen within the next couple of weeks. I have never seen her ends in this condition though. I always pay close attention to her ends but lately they look and feel terrible. Nothing has changed other than using the Tangle Teezer.

I still wanted to give this brush another chance. I used it last time I washed her hair (about a week ago) with the same results. After detangling I sat the brush face down in hot water, waited for the water to drain and saw yet AGAIN little pieces of hair in the sink. They are very short. I wish I had taken a picture. I feel bad. I know hair is hair but I have been hearing some talk about breakage and split ends from the Tangle Teezer but didn't pay it any mind because it detangled so well and so quickly. Even though very little hair is left in the brush, it's the small pieces that count. Those tiny broken ends at the bottom of the brush. Her hair is going to grow regardless, but if her hair is going to keep breaking off after each detangling session then she is not going to retain length, now is she?

I will be retiring the Tangle Teezer for now. We will be having another Protective Styling Challenge some time in May so hopefully I can get her in for a trim by then and I can start to give those ends some extra TLC. What's that old saying? Ah, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I think I'll go back to regular ol' combs for a while.

If you have experienced breakage with the Tangle Teezer then I sincerely apologize if you bought it after my review.

Please share your experiences with the Tangle Teezer below.

Edited to add: Please do not freak out when you read this post! Obviously everyone's hair is different and the Tangle Teezer may or may not work for you. Just pay closer attention to the hair next time you use it. Check those ends and look for very short, broken pieces of hair in the brush or in the sink. I have gotten some feedback on our Facebook page already and some people have not had this experience. Check out our Facebook pages for more feedback.

27 comments :

  1. It broke my hair from the first use so in a sense I am lucky because I only used it twice!

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  2. You know, that's interesting....I just posted a question to you on FB about whether you ever cut her ends....and several ladies joined the discussion and gave some helpful feedback. I too used the Tangle Tweezer, maybe twice, on my daughter's hair and quickly realized that it wasn't working out for us....it's a shame really. Looking forward to the challenge in May!

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  3. Thank You for your honesty. I was going to buy one after other reviews I saw. With five daughters, anything will help. But I am glad I read your post. I will continue with my good old fashion combs for now. Your site is great. Keep up the great work.

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  4. I have been noticing horrible breakage in my daughter's hair with the tangle teazer. Going back to the comb.

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  5. This is really sad! I did not go out and buy the tangle teezer when I heard so many people raving about it, but this post has made me to think about my hair. I am using a comb and I am seeing little broken pieces as well. Either I am being too rough or its back to the denman for me. I'm going to pay close attention from now on. Thanks for posting!
    Shari

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  6. A light bulb just went on over my head. I have been noticing breakage in my daughter's hair, and couldn't figure it out. We will be going back to the comb.

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  7. I don't know if you read the Natural Haven, but she posted the exact same thing yesterday about it causing breakage.

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  8. Nikki, as always, I am so very thankful for the time you take to try all of these products. My girls and I frequently check in to see new styles posted or find out if there are other products out there that we can try. I say girls but that includes my son, Xave who is currently rocking cornrows as he grows his hair out. Our tangle teezers arrived last week and we were excited (one pink, one blue) but now due to your post, it might be better to get my $33 back.

    It's already dry where we live and adding undue stress to the kids' hair is just not something I'm willing to 'try.' Thank you for all your time and efforts and I'm sorry to read of A's breakage. We're anxiously looking forward to reading of A's trip to the salon for a trim. Right now, we go in once every 6 months just to even things out.

    ;)

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  9. i noticed the same thing with my daughters hair too but it was only if i tried to detangle big chunks of hair at a time. i'm thinking it's about time for my A to get a trim too. it saddens me to think of. lol

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  10. Thats why i stopped using it on my daughter. It scared me from the jump but i wanted to try it anyways. Im back to using my modified denman.

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  11. I have kinky hair and it happened to me exactly the same thing . Except that I used because I couldn't find the comb that I usually used . I really don't like the tangle teezer since the first time I noticed that it breaked my hair. I don't understand how this brush can be so successfull, it's just communication for me . In fact I just keep it to smooth my edges.
    Marie from Paris.

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  12. Great post!! I never got a tangle teezer and I'm glad I didn't!! Thanks for letting everyone know about this.

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  13. When you did the review I was not in agreement as for my daughter's hair. I saw breakage immediately, and it's been packed up every since. It worked great on my hair but I have more of a 3a texture to her 4b. Two thumbs down
    :((

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  14. Good post! I just updated my review of the Tangle Teezer for the same reasons. It worked fine for a few weeks and then I got tons of knots!

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  15. I didn't care for it. I felt from the get go that Mea's hair just detangled easier with a regular detangling comb.

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  16. I've had to retire the tangle teaser as well. it's was eating up my ends. but not to worry pantene pro-v beautiful lengths restorative mask is AAMMAAZZZIIINGG for detangling. i use it as my detangling shampoo and (only based on pictures and your descriptions) me and a have near identical curls. she probably has about 6 inches more of hair than i do so i hope it works for you as well. i'd try it if detangling is taking longer than you'd like.

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  17. I mostly use the TT on my hair. I usually go 4 months before I get a trim and 2 weeks after my trim I noticed an unusual amount of damage to my ends. O goodness, BYE BYE TT!

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  18. Same here.. tried it once... tried it twice and retired it...

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  19. I really wanted to tangle teezer to work on me and my daughter's hair,but I had to stop using it when I saw breakage,split ends and shredded hair.My daughter's ends were healthy,so i had to give her a trim.I experimented first on my hair and ended up cutting a few inches off my hair *sigh*.I couldnt get rid of that "shredder" fast enough !

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  20. I've been in denial....I didn't want to believe that my beloved tangle teezer was causing breakage to my hair. I also noticed some broken areas in my daughter's hair. Like you, the Tangle Teezer is the only new step in our hair regimen. Then I read this post. Sigh :(

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  21. I love the tangle teezer. I bought it after your review and used it on my daughters type 4a hair and it was amazing! I had the least amount of hair in a brush or come ever, and she was not crying and squirming. I would recommend it to anyone. For anyone using it experiencing breakage, they should use a comb out and smaller sections of hair.

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  22. I used it on my hair once and that was it. The sound alone while I detangled gave me chills. I too saw small hairs and never used it on my hair or my lil girls hair.

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  23. my question is how often do you detangle A's hair? On average we are all suppose to lose about 100 strands now if you are detangling once a week thats 700 strands. I have never noticed any thing above norm with the Tangle Teezer. Also since A's hair is very curly and thick and the bristles of the Tangle Teezer are more closer than lets say a Denam brush which has similar spaces as a wide tooth comb. It could be that the Tangle Teezer is removing shed hairs that can be caught in her curly hair. I use the Tangle Teezer myself and love it.

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  24. @cutie, I am glad it is working for you! :) I do indeed know about shed hair, this is not shed hair. This is very small, short pieces of hair (her ends) breaking off. -Nik

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  25. It's funny I came across this blog and this entry. Just today I detangled my own hair with the tangle teezer, and had an a numerous amount of shedding(at least I thought). This is my second time using this, but both times I have had more breakage using "TT," than a regular wide tooth comb.

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  26. I experience the breakage on my hair and my daughter's hair, but we do not have the tears that we had before using it. So, I am torn between losing length and being happy or retaining length and suffering through tears. Any suggestions?

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