Look as someone who has in the past two years grown his hair out, let me tell you:

• Don’t comb that shit dry, ever - unless you really want volume (I mean - I have a habit of running my hands through my hair and as a result I will always fuck it up like 30 minutes after I finish styling it)
• For dreadlock prevention, try a satin pillowcase (my sister swears by this) or a nightcap. I personally don’t enjoy using either, so I bought this electric detangler and run it through my hair to detangle like once a week.
• for parts of your hair (the back of my head is where I fight this the most) that naturally just want to get tangled and form proto-dreadlocks as soon as it starts drying, like others have said - a nice leave-in conditioner and a comb is your best bet.

I have 2c/3a type hair and I wet it in the shower, fingercomb/wide tooth comb it, use plenty of non-silicone conditioner, and that’s all. I don’t brush/comb it when it’s dry.

Wet, wide tooth comb, while drowned in conditioner. Air dry over a period of 2 days.