Long hair and tangles from hard water?

Use Garnier untangling spray... and then brush it..

For me, any conditioner will work. What you need to do, however, is deep condition. Partially dry your hair before conditioning, and work the conditioner in for five minutes or so. Rinse and reapply as needed. Also, it never hurts if you have thick, coarse, dry hair to leave the conditioner in. Some people probably don't like to because it makes their hair greasy, but for me it helps with the frizz and dryness a LOT.

.I've lived with this problem forever and this is my best suggestion (and as you can see from the picture, my hair is quite long, so I know from whence I speak):

STOP brushing your hair when it's anything but bone dry.

Use the best tools ever invented for untangling wet hair: Your hands!!

I can tell you from lifelong experience that the less you do to your hair when it's at it's weakest (which is when it's wet), the happier it is, the healthier it will look when it's dry, and the happier and less stressed you'll be. It actually starts before you even get into the bath/shower.

For starters, brush your hair BEFORE you wash it when it's still dry. That really does make it easier to untangle once it's washed. While you're shampooing, if you gather your hair on top of your head into a big messy pile and then bash it around in order to lather it, this will only make it worse when you try to untangle it later, so even while you're washing it, keep it free down your back as much as possible. The same applies while you're conditioning (which should NEVER ever ever ever be done more than once). After you apply it to your hair, run your hands through it to 'pre-untangle' it before you rinse it all out, taking as much care as you can to not tangle it while you're rinsing.

When your hair is fresh out of the shower, wrap it in a towel like usual for a few minutes to get the bulk of the water out. When you take it down from the towel, split it down the middle in back, and bring both sides around over your shoulders, one on each side of you. Starting at the bottom, GENTLY use your fingers to break up the tangles until you can run your fingers through it from the top all the way down unhindered. Not knowing the texture of your hair, this really shouldn't take you more than a minute per side. If need be, rub A LITTLE (juuuuust a little!!!) ordinary hand lotion on your hands (like you would if your hands needed a little lotion), and THEN run your hands through your wet hair.

If your hair is not super curly or frizzy and you don't need to apply an anti frizz product or a curl activator, then just reeeeeeelax at this point. If you do need to apply the curl stuff, then do it now and relax for a few minutes after you put it in. If your hair is less demanding, then after the tangles are all gone, LEAVE IT ALONE for around 10 minutes before you try to style it, or add any other product (mousse, gel or whatever). Give it time to breathe and relax, and give yourself time to breathe and relax while you're at it.

Once it's partially dried, then go about styling it, but NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER brush it when it's wet. Ever!!! Especially when it's fresh from the towel. When you do that, your hair screams at you in the only way it can - by breaking and leaving the dead soldiers all over your sink and counter. STOP DOING THAT!!!!

Pick ONE conditioner, use it like I described, and use your hands. Give that a try and see how it goes. Using too much conditioner might make the problem worse by coating your hair with too much goop so it sticks together more than it should, ergo your hair is harder to manage.

In truth, about the only time I actually brush my hair is when I want to style it into something that requires smoothness, like a sleek, classy ponytail, a bun or a braid. Nine days out of ten, I just use my hands to get the tangles out and smooth it before I fix it however. I don't spend a fortune on products or more than 5 or so minutes on it after it's dry enough to style, and my hair has never looked better.

Best of luck to you!!

:D

P.S. If you're in the US, you're going to laugh when I tell you what products I use but it's the God's honest truth: I actually DO use Suave!! My hair is normal to oily, so I use their Daily Clarifying Shampoo and the .... what's it called ... it's the stuff that's got something like Brilliant Shine or something that makes my hair gleam like crazy conditioner. When it's super dry out, I use a teensy tiny little bit of (again, swear to God) VO5 that's been rubbed into my palms, which I then smooth all over my hair. It's amazing what that teensy tiny little bit does. It's like magic how it makes everything fall into place - but again, I only do that when it's super dry outside. Also, I use Suave Extra Hold shaping mousse, too., because my hair's like baby hair (super fine and has no texture) so it gets a little oomph with the mousse. Even if your hair's curly and harder to manage than mine, do the stuff I suggested. Whatever you do, never ever ever EVER brush it when it's wet!!! USE YOUR HANDS!!

:D