In the curly hair girl world, there are many terms, methods and products to keep in mind in order to achieve and maintain those envious locks. ‘Fairy Knots’ is one of these such terms. While this name might sound cute and whimsical, every curly-haired person knows that there’s nothing adorable about it. If you are just beginning your curly hair journey and still trying to figure your way through all of it, you need to keep this term in mind. Lucky for you, we’ve noted down everything you need to know about fairy knots a.k.a. trichonodosis and what you can do to avoid it.
What Are Fairy Knots?
While those with straight hair might not necessarily face this issue, for those with curly or coily hair, on the other hand, this problem is all too real. Fairy knots refer to the tiny knots that randomly appear on your hair strands. Since they are hella-small, there’s an ongoing joke that only “fairies” could’ve created them — ergo, the term ‘Fairy Knots’. While you can’t avoid them completely *problems of maintaining this luscious hair type*, you can, however, reduce them.
What Causes Fairy Knots?
The main culprit for this curly hair issue is split-ends. While dry ends are common with every hair type, for those with curly hair, since the hair turns and coils, these split-ends tangle up to create knots. In simple word, the weak coily strands curl and bind with other weak strands to create a major hair disaster.
Preventive Measures
It’s hard to show off your bouncy curls when you’re dealing with fairy knots. Luckily, there are a few solutions that can help you get rid of them or at least reduce these tangles from happening.
Cut It Off
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The quickest and easiest solution is to trim your hair. Split ends are the main cause of fairy knots so it’s important to trim your hair after every 3 months. In most cases, the stylist chops off the strand of hair right above the knot to prevent the tangles from reoccurring. If your ends are extremely dry and brittle, we suggest booking an appointment with the parlour asap.
Detangle With A Conditioner
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Since fairy knots bind within themselves and later add other neighbouring dry strands into the mix creating even bigger knots, it’s better to chop it off. If you don’t want to go near the scissors, you can adopt this technique to reduce the knots. But remember this is just a quick-fix solution, not a permanent one. You can try and detangle the knots by adding a blob of conditioner on the knot and gently rub it until the knot opens up. A little heads up though, this will take a lot of conditioner along with continuous picking, and detangling, depending on the amount of fairly knots in your hair.
Again, this is just a temporary fix. Since the strands will still be dry, they can knot up again.
Avoid Heat
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Using direct heat on your curly or kinky hair can make it dry and brittle which eventually leads to fairy knots. If you’re not a fan of air drying, invest in a diffuser as this diffuses the air evenly, preventing the hot dryer air from roughening or damaging up the hair cuticles.
Keep Your Strands Moisturise
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Just like your skin, curly hair needs a lot of moisturising ingredients to keep it healthy and bouncy. Giving your hair weekly pre-poo oil treatment, using leave-ins, and hair creams help keep your curls soft, moisturised and less prone to fairy knots.
Sleep With A Silk Bonnet
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Silk is every curly-haired girl’s BFF. Using a silk bonnet or silk pillowcases while you sleep helps maintain moisture within the hair cuticles, and reduce friction which in turn prevents your hair from tangling.
Search & Destroy Method
This method is for those who have a lot of patience and are willing to take a little hair risk. If you want to get rid of fairy knots while also maintaining your hair length, you can try the ‘search and destroy’ method. For this, you’ll need a pair of scissors, your fingers and a lot of spare time.
Simply part your hair in small sections and run your fingers through it until you feel one of these pesky fair knots. Once you’re positively sure you found the strand with a knotted twist, take your scissors and cut above the knot to permanently remove it.
Say goodbye to fairly knots and flaunt those curls.
Featured Image: Pexels
