Having a hair disaster. Help :(

[Nadine <3]

I washed today and tried using peppermint tea as a rinse because I bought it but didn't enjoy drinking it. My hair dried really, REALLY frizzy and it felt dirty and sticky and I had so many tangles. I jumped back into the shower, clarified and used a basic sauve conditioner for detangling purposes. It's dry now and I have big mats on my underlayer of hair and my scalp hair still looks super dirty and greasy and my ends are frazzled and dry looking. I can't get the mats out and whatever is stuck in my hair is making them worse. I'm in a bit of a panic :(

[Breanna]

Oh no that sounds scary :shudder: The only thing I can think of is letting it soak in oil and whatever you have that contains cones, which I got from this video by Torrin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTedFB2hieI)

Or maybe soaking it in just conditioner first and trying to rinse it out again and then detangle? Sorry these suggestions aren't that good, I'm useless :confused: But I'm sure someone else here will know what to do, best of luck! I'm with you and your hair in spirit lol, I hope you can get this fixed :flower:

ETA: what are the ingredients in the tea? Maybe you can look at them and figure out what did this and get a better idea on how to tackle it. (I used Celestial Seasonings peppermint tea as a rinse for a while because I hated the taste but never had a problem with it that I can recall)

[truepeacenik]

SMT or whatever you have that is close.

Why didn't you strand test like you mentioned in thread?

[meteor]

It could be the drying affect of tannins in tea. I get similar effects from herbal teas, too.

Don't panic. :flower: The tea will wash out over time. If you have time, you could clarify, do an SMT, and seal with oils (mineral or other light oils) or, if you don't have time, you could just oil and use some cony leave-in conditioner for slip and put hair up until your next wash (clarify and use a very moisturizing conditioner then). Try to leave hair alone and not to manipulate it too much until you can wash it. :)

Best of luck! :D And let us know how it goes. :)

[aurorae]

wow.im so sorry i have zero experience with peppermint tea,but i have matted hair,i think you need a very good detangling conditioner something with great slip and a lot of patience I'm guessing you have tangles?.just take it littleby little.ill also advice against shampooing as this can lead to more tangles.just my two cents.
I'm sure someone with more knowledge will comment soon.

[Arete]

I'd slather on a ton of oil and let it sit overnight.
If you have a farm store near you, you might want to see if they carry survivor detangler. My horse's tail likes to dread and that stuff is incredible at taking out mats and knots. Another good option is vetrolin detangler. I know it sounds crazy, but just a thought.

[aurorae]

meant i have had tangles

[Nadine <3]

Oh no that sounds scary :shudder: The only thing I can think of is letting it soak in oil and whatever you have that contains cones, which I got from this video by Torrin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTedFB2hieI)

Or maybe soaking it in just conditioner first and trying to rinse it out again and then detangle? Sorry these suggestions aren't that good, I'm useless :confused: But I'm sure someone else here will know what to do, best of luck! I'm with you and your hair in spirit lol, I hope you can get this fixed :flower:

ETA: what are the ingredients in the tea? Maybe you can look at them and figure out what did this and get a better idea on how to tackle it. (I used Celestial Seasonings peppermint tea as a rinse for a while because I hated the taste but never had a problem with it that I can recall)

The ingredients in the tea is just peppermint tea leaves. Thank you.


SMT or whatever you have that is close.

Why didn't you strand test like you mentioned in thread?

I did, I brewed the tea last night and left a strand out of my sleep braid and dunked it in the cooled off tea. Then I placed the rest in the fridge and went to bed. The hair I left out seemed perfectly fine this morning, shiny even...


It could be the drying affect of tannins in tea. I get similar effects from herbal teas, too.

Don't panic. :flower: The tea will wash out over time. If you have time, you could clarify, do an SMT, and seal with oils (mineral or other light oils) or, if you don't have time, you could just oil and use some cony leave-in conditioner for slip and put hair up until your next wash (clarify and use a very moisturizing conditioner then). Try to leave hair alone and not to manipulate it too much until you can wash it. :)

Best of luck! :D And let us know how it goes. :)

Thank you, I think I'm going to leave it be...I clarified it, and now it's in a damp conditioner soaked, coconut oil soaked bun. I'll let it soak for a few hours before I try detangling again...:blossom:


wow.im so sorry i have zero experience with peppermint tea,but i have matted hair,i think you need a very good detangling conditioner something with great slip and a lot of patience I'm guessing you have tangles?.just take it littleby little.ill also advice against shampooing as this can lead to more tangles.just my two cents.
I'm sure someone with more knowledge will comment soon.

Thank you, definitely no more peppermint tea for me! No more shampoo either, my scalp feels really tight and dry :/

[Nadine <3]

Ate dinner, now I'm going to start the detangling process. Fingers crossed.

[swearnsue]

How is it going, Nadine? I bet the conditioner and oil will work.

[-Fern]

:grouphug: Hope everything goes smoothly with detangling now. Sorry, Nadine!

[Nadine <3]

How is it going, Nadine? I bet the conditioner and oil will work.


:grouphug: Hope everything goes smoothly with detangling now. Sorry, Nadine!

Thanks you guys :grouphug: It took an hour of sitting here with my wide tooth comb and a needle, just picking the tangles apart little by little. I got it into a french braid for the night and it's soaked in oils and conditioner. I'm just going to baby my poor hair for the week...

[vega]

Oh I'm sorry to hear about this Nadine ,I've had no side effects from peppermint tea rinse , I hope you get rid of that tea

[lapushka]

I just read this. I'm glad the hair's on the mend, Nadine! Yes, I'd toss that tea, esp. if you can't drink it either. Or give it to your mom; she might like it?

[*ReiKa*]

Seems like you already have the situation under control, anyway, I had a very similar problem few months ago when I tried to wash my hair with ghassoul clay twice. My hair was a matted mess, incredibly dry and unruly, and the clay residues all over my hair. I couldn't see it in my hair but I could definitely feel it in my hair. Brushes and combs wouldn't go through it, a true disaster.
I clarified straight after as you did but didn't do much. Hair got better only after at least 2 washes with clarifying shampoo and some oilings (they do help "cleaning up" the hair's surface), so keep calm and carry on oiling and washing you hair with clarifying shampoo (of course, don't forget to apply your favourite conditioner afterwards), it will go back to normal! ;)

[lapushka]

Seems like you already have the situation under control, anyway, I had a very similar problem few months ago when I tried to wash my hair with ghassoul clay twice. My hair was a matted mess, incredibly dry and unruly, and the clay residues all over my hair. I couldn't see it in my hair but I could definitely feel it in my hair. Brushes and combs wouldn't go through it, a true disaster.
I clarified straight after as you did but didn't do much. Hair got better only after at least 2 washes with clarifying shampoo and some oilings (they do help "cleaning up" the hair's surface), so keep calm and carry on oiling and washing you hair with clarifying shampoo (of course, don't forget to apply your favourite conditioner afterwards), it will go back to normal! ;)

Don't get me started on rhassoul/ghassoul clay. My hair was a dry gritty mess after that, much like your experience. I have the same thing with baking soda, but this was much worse. Velcro describes it best. I use it for foot baths now - works like a charm. Nice, soft, feet.

[StellaKatherine]

Oh I am happy to hear, that your hair is feeling better! I love to use chamomile tea rinses. But I did notice, that I need more oil on my ends before washing and after as otherwise my ends become super dry.

[mssummerrose]

Oh no!! Poor Nadine!!
I tried a caffeine rinse recently (with dissolved pills), and ended up with a similar-sounding situation. I mermaided in a bath for about 30 minutes, then slowly combed with a ton of coney conditioner.
I hope it straightens out quickly, sounds like you are on your way!

[Nadine <3]

Today I washed out all the coconut oil and conditioner I had it soaking in and my hair still seemed like it had some residue lingering... Uhg, I didn't feel like dealing with it so I threw it in twin dutch braids and pinned them to the top of my head. Eventually I think it will resolve it's self...I hope. At least the pinned up braids make my feel cute.

[cat11]

Build up stinks :( For me its the most frustrating thing to deal with.... and it messes up the wash cycle... I recently had a similar situation where something didn't work for me, I kept the hair up and didn't touch it until it was time to wash it, detangled with light oil... by then a lot of the build up broke down with help of light oil and detangling and then it was fine after i clarified well and moisturized it.

[Auni]

Sorry to hear this! Glad your getting it under control!:blossom: Hair experiments that end in disasters can be so scary and discouraging.:(