Everyone with
long hair occaisionally has
snarls. Very few
hairdressers will unsnarl hair for you, so here's how to do it yourself. First, have a
brush with medium-firm bristles, some
shampoo and
conditioner, and lots of
water (like a
shower) handy. Get the heaviest conditioner you can, preferably from the "
ethnic" section of your favorite store. Wash your hair. Most tangled hair is dirty. Put on lots of conditioner and don't wash it out, quite yet. Pull your hair apart, to separate relatively unsnarled hair from the real
mofos. Now take your brush and get working.
Work from the outside in. Since, topologically, most of the fibers you're working on have only one end, it's more likely that they're simply looped up into some other loop, and so on. As you brush, the snarl will fall apart into smaller snarls. You're making progress, gently separate these and work on them separately. If possible, examine the core of the snarl when you've taken it apart, what caused all this hair to lock up in the first place. Ten to one it's either a shed hair or a piece of lint. Dirt causes snarls. Take note of where your hair snarled, you'll probably get them again in the same places, so take special care of these when you brush out in the morning. Also, brush at night and put your hair in a loose braid if you want to be extra careful.
When you're done, shower to get the conditioner out and pat yourself on the back. You've just saved yourself untold amounts of money and grief.