However, all is not lost! After much trial and error, here are my best tricks for avoiding knots and tangles:

Brush your hair before you shower. Dry hair is stronger than wet hair, so de-tangling before you shower will preserve more strands.

Use good quality shampoo and conditioner. I swear by Peter Lamas’ Chinese Herbs Stimulating Shampoo and Conditioner, but I only use them every other wash because they’re kind of pricey. I really do think they’ve made my hair much fuller and thicker, and the conditioner is great for lightweight detangling.

Condition your hair, but don’t go overboard. Only apply conditioner to the bottom 2/3rds of your hair, and be sure to rinse thoroughly.

Spot-treat tough tangles with leave-in conditioner. There’s no need to weigh down your entire mane if there’s only a couple trouble spots.

Never brush wet hair!! It’s age-old advice for a good reason. If you have to detangle wet hair, a wide-tooth comb is much gentler than a brush, and you’ll have much less breakage.

Sleep with your hair in a loose braid or ponytail. I’m no stranger to those awful, dreadlock-like knots that develop behind the nape of your neck. Give your hair a quick brush before bed, and tie it back to avoid some trouble.

Invest in a satin pillowcase. If you always wake up to tangles, consider swapping your cotton pillowcase for a satin version. While cotton can rough up your hair as you toss and turn, satin reduces friction, meaning less breakage, fewer tangles AND better hair in the morning. Some even claim that satin pillowcases give you better skin!

2. Make your haircut work for you.

In my experience, it’s a myth that thin-haired girls can’t pull off certain haircuts. From long manes to chin-length bobs, I think you can pull off any style with a little bit of research.

When I had a bob haircut, I found that layering my hair worked best. Layers gave my hair a fuller appearance, and worked well with the styling I did with a large round brush and blow dryer. When my hair was short and cut more bluntly, it kind of gave me a weird, triangle-shaped news anchor kind of look. Not cute.