Picture this: You’re back from the beach and totally rocking that windswept, sandy look. There’s only one problem. Your hair is a total mess. There’s nothing worse than having to spend hours detangling coarse, painfully clumpy hair, especially when you’ve just showered and there’s absolutely no reason for tangling. Here’s the deal: Hair of any type and any length has the potential to get tangled if you don’t treat it right. That said, there’s no reason to deal with a mess of broken combs and detangling sprays day after day. If you’re dealing with tangled hair, here are a few easy tips to try out.

1. Wear a Hair Mask

In the old days, it was enough to throw in some conditioner every so often and leave it at that. These days, however, the bar has been raised thanks to the presence of a few off-the-charts hair masks that boost hair’s strength and vitality while helping your everyday conditioner do a better job. A few favorites include the Keratin Smooth Hair Mask, which will help to give your hair a nice, detangled shine, and the Tea Tree and Argan Oil Repair Mask to help strengthen and revitalize shine without stripping away any color or depth.

2. Use Cold Water

Taking a shower with cold water is pretty unpleasant, as most of us know. However, there are a few serious benefits to turning down the faucet for the final few minutes of your shower. Taking a cold spritz after washing and conditioning will close your pores and let those follicles rest in place, creating a much less tangle-prone environment on your scalp.

3. Use a Strong Comb

While wet brushes are good for seriously taming rough, shaggy manes, sometimes you need a basic yet strong wide tooth comb to really do the trick. After treating your hair with shampoo, conditioner, and a serum or scalp treatment of your choice, take some time to gently comb through your hair with a strong comb to keep everything separated.

4. Turn Down the Heat

Your first impulse with the straightener or hair dryer might be to crank up the heat, but hold on for a second. Exposing your hair, especially still wet, just-showered hair to too much heat can be extremely damaging. Instead, turn the heat setting down on your tools and wait for your hair to dry about 80% of the way before styling. Your hair will thank you.

5. Don’t Sleep with Your Hair Down

It might seem basic, but sleeping with your hair down can actually lead to a ton of issues, including waking up with a full-on rat’s nest in the morning. If you’re used to spending a ton of time combing through stubborn knots and tangles, try sleeping with your hair in a contained bun or a loose updo to avoid getting your strands mixed up with each other after a night of tossing back and forth. You could also try “training” your hair to straighten out while you sleep by using a bonnet or by cutting a sleeve off of an old T-shirt to use as a sleeping cap.

6. Brush Smart

Public opinion is always going back and forth when it comes to the benefits (or non-benefits) of brushing. However, when it comes to preventing tangling, one thing is certain: Brushing gently and consistently using a gentle tool like a soft brush or comb is a time-honored way of keeping your hair smooth, shiny, and tangle-free. If you’re spending a day in a particularly windy area, think about bringing your comb along and doing a bit of preventative free-combing in the off moments.