Trichonodosis is also known as One Strand Knots, Single Strand Knots, Fairy Knots, Pixie Knots and Peppercorn Knots. They are one of the most frequently occurring and annoying things about having naturally curly to kinky hair.

People tend to ignore them because they are so frequent with curly hair and difficult to get rid of if you have shorter hair. Over time, you begin to learn how to reduce them and get rid of them. So here are a couple of tricks I have picked up along the way...

1. SHAMPOO YOUR SCALP ONLY! By shampooing the hair, more tangles are created leading to more knots, thus unless you must shampoo the hair directly, stick to just the scalp! Try to keep your shampoos to 1-2 times a month TOPS. Depending on your build up, sometimes applying the shampoo to your scalp as if it was grease while it is dry will help work out any extra build up on your scalp. Shampoo can strip old fragile ends which can cause more peppercorn knots! Also using latex gloves to rub your scalp helps keep from having snags with your nails in your hair.
2. When detangling natural hair, gently start from the ends. Use wide tooth combs and finger combing together. Wide-tooth combs do not detangle natural hair fully and sometimes you have to put down the comb and use your trusty dusty fingers along with water and conditioner to dismantle a knot. Then, finally, go through small sections with a fine tooth comb, do this once a week at least with your deep conditioning treatment. The key to the attack is to try to attack the peppercorn knot when it’s loose rather than making it tighter with a comb. Detangling should take a LONG time to do, it is not done quickly and in a rush. Detangle as often as every other day or whenever you wet your hair, but keep in mind that a 100% detangle can only be done once or twice a week and takes loads of time.
3. Protective styles and up dos. When deciding what styles to choose for your hair remember that wearing your hair up means that the hair is in a fixed position and is not forming knots with all of the other spiral hair strands. When your hair is left out that means that it’s freely moving around tangling with other hair, so if you keep it really moisturized, you can finger comb out loose knots that might have formed into tighter ones.
4. Wrap up your hair at night and protect it while you sleeps. Hair that is free during the night will end up dry, tangled and knotted by the am. If you wear silk/satin bonnets or scarves to bed, as well as, braid, twist, bun or low ponytail your hair it will help keep it from coiling on itself and knotting as well as make it more comfortable for you to sleep. Additional benefits of some of these styles are that you wont have to detangle your hair in the morning and you won't wake up to a matted misshapen fro.
5. Use a safety pin and put the needle right in the middle of the knot and gently loosen it- this generally only works for newer knots that haven't been pulled tight and for people will longer hair, so that you can see the strands in the back as you unravel the knots.
6. Moisturize your hair in the morning and at night before bed. Use a moisturizer with loads of moisturizing natural ingredients such as water, glycerin, and hydrolyzed ingredients such as protein. Add oils as a sealant to keep in the moisture also make sure that your hair is thoroughly moisturized before you do this. Hair that is moisturized thoroughly is less unruly and less likely to for knots.
7. Keep your hair in protective styles, minimize wash and gos because those foster one strand knots. Letting your hair dry as it stands straight out from your head causes these knots. Some of these styles include twists, braids, braid outs, twist outs, rod sets, straw sets or roller sets. If you set your ends in rollers with end papers it will further fight against one strand knot formation. Although summer is the prime wash and go season, you will need curb this habit and take more care and pay more attention to your hair if you want to keep it healthy!
8. Deep condition or use deep treatments on your hair weekly and really focus on taking care of your ends. Also twist or braid your hair when you are deep conditioning for extended periods (i.e more then 5 minutes). As a good rule of measure, if you simply co-wash and wash your hair in sections and twist those sections while you work on others, you will also reduce peppercorn knots!
9. Use a method called oil rinsing. This is where you oil hair that is wet and has conditioner in it in order to seal the moisture in your hair. One way is to deep condition, apply oil and use a heat cap or wear the treatment overnight. Another way is to shampoo, oil, condition and rinse the hair. This makes the hair easier to detangle and prevents knots and matting.
10. Stay away from cotton towels and microfiber towels. I never ever use any towels or cotton on my hair, including the microfiber that everyone raves about. If you take your hand when its dry and in need of lotion, and run you hand against the microfiber towels, you will feel the snags and feel how much it clings to your dry hands, it does the same thing only WORSE to your hair. I would recommend using a pillow case or a t-shirt to dry your hair and place a towel on top of it to absorb the extra moisture. Towels snag on curly, coily and kinky hair, causing split ends and those pixie knots.
11. Smooth your hair like you are flat ironing it with your fingers! Before styling or setting your hair and WHILE you style it, run your fingers down sections of your hair as if you are flat ironing your hair between your fingers. Whenever I use a product for curl defining I use my smoothing technique and literally run my fingers through my hair until I feel the product making my strands smooth. This will reduce frizz, stretch, smooth and also lessen the chances of getting knots. I also helps with curl definition depending on the hair styling product you are using.
12. REDUCE HIH (hand in hair syndrome)….Keep your hands out of your hair!!! Messing with your hair too much can will scratch the cuticle, causes frizziness and can lead to split or splitting ends and pixie knots. Also putting your hands in your hair frequently introduces more bacteria to your hair which can cause slower hair growth.
13. And of course the best way to heal strands with pixie knots is to trim them, better yet search and destroy. So cut the knots close to your ends with a pair of hair shears. If some of the knots are too high up on your hair strand you may not want to cut them, which is understandable. Keep in mind that if you straighten you hair they will be more noticeable.
14. To keep from an unlucky 13 steps… I will say give your precious strands lots of TLC to keep them healthy and happy.

Good Luck Ladies!!

love, love,