Ghassoul clay wash fail - sticky hair!

[cestlavie]

So, I tried to wash my hair with ghassoul clay yesterday and it cleansed my roots very well. Scalp was feeling great and my hair was soft but the lengths were very sticky, clumpy and didn't seem to dry at all. I must say I applied a bit of cone free conditioner after rinsing out the clay (the clay I applied to my wet scalp only for 5 minutes). I felt my hair became rough after I applied the conditioner which I found quite strange. The shower water is hard btw.

When my hair was dry my roots were fine but the lengths are terribly sticky and very hard to brush.

Today I tried to clarify with a cone free sulphate shampoo, washed twice and conditioned and applied my leave ins (raw shea detangler and a bit of khadi protein cream). My hair came out sticky again? What am I doing wrong and how can I fix this sticky mess because I'm afraid of causing damage.

[cestlavie]

Oh and after rinsing out the conditioner I tried a rinse with filtered water and a splash of lemon juice which didn't make any difference in roughness when wet.

[lapushka]

I had the same results on my lengths. I don't even remember what it did on the scalp. But my hair was one big mess and I had to clarify wash *immediately* or it would mean my hair would be damaged beyond all repair getting that mess out of it!

Same thing with rhassoul/ghassoul, other types of clay and baking soda.

[Kalamazoo]

There was somebody of (was she of African descent?) married to a man of European extraction who did an experiment on her husband's hair, using various cleaning methods, and found that clay-washing was totally ineffective on European hair. Does anybody remember where that thread is?

[lapushka]

There was somebody of (was she of African descent?) married to a man of European extraction who did an experiment on her husband's hair, using various cleaning methods, and found that clay-washing was totally ineffective on European hair. Does anybody remember where that thread is?

Never even heard of that one!

[Kalamazoo]

There was somebody of (was she of African descent?) married to a man of European extraction who did an experiment on her husband's hair, using various cleaning methods, and found that clay-washing was totally ineffective on European hair. Does anybody remember where that thread is?

The LHC thread had a reference to another site where somebody was talking about her experiments on her Caucasian husband's shed hairs. I can't find it right now.

But I did find https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/how-do-you-get-bentonite-clay-out-of-your-hair.2293222/ where other people are talking about how they have successfully used clay on their own hair. Maybe there's some advice there that will help OP.

[Obsidian]

Using clay was the worse thing I ever did to my hair. More drying then bleach and it took three weeks of multiple clarifying washes to get it back to normal.
On top of that, it dried my scalp out to the point of almost cracking.

I suggest washing it as often as you can with a chelating shampoo followed up by a good heavy conditioner.

[SleepyTangles]

I used to like a spoonful of ghassoul clay in my fatty masks (full fat yogurt, honey, olive oil...) but alone Is quite harsh. My ends became very tangly and dry.

Just take your time, baby your hair for a week or two. I suggest oiling your hair then washing with a strong/clarifying shampoo all over, then doing your favorite deep treatment.

[cestlavie]

Thanks for the replies! I think I have to clarify at least two more times and hope for the best.

It's strange that my scalp is totally fine but the rest of my hair is going crazy. I will lay off the clay washes for now.

[cestlavie]

Thanks for the link Kalamazoo, I will check that out too!

[Kalamazoo]

You're welcome!

[lapushka]

Thanks for the replies! I think I have to clarify at least two more times and hope for the best.

It's strange that my scalp is totally fine but the rest of my hair is going crazy. I will lay off the clay washes for now.


I'd rather you said "forever". :lol:

I was a lot like you when I first got here, I just refused to call it quits on things. :) Hence my back and forth on henna and even indigo.

But I have stopped experimenting and stick to good old shampoo and conditioner and the natural stuff, the concoctions, the clay, the baking soda, all done and over with. No more! :)

But... you do you, girl. :thumbsup:
Everyone has to decide this for themselves!!!

[cestlavie]

I'd rather you said "forever". :lol:

I was a lot like you when I first got here, I just refused to call it quits on things. :) Hence my back and forth on henna and even indigo.

But I have stopped experimenting and stick to good old shampoo and conditioner and the natural stuff, the concoctions, the clay, the baking soda, all done and over with. No more! :)

But... you do you, girl. :thumbsup:
Everyone has to decide this for themselves!!!
Oh, I know what you mean. I had my henna phase too haha. I'm not planning to do clay washes any time soon (maybe never, who knows) but I think calling it off completely after one go is rather quick. But still, I'm not tempted to go through this again although experimenting is something I like to do sometimes.

But you are totally right on sticking to what works for you. I appreciate your advice and I didn't mean to open a thread, asking advice and then ignoring it completely!

[Joules]

I'd rather you said "forever". :lol:

I was a lot like you when I first got here, I just refused to call it quits on things. :) Hence my back and forth on henna and even indigo.

But I have stopped experimenting and stick to good old shampoo and conditioner and the natural stuff, the concoctions, the clay, the baking soda, all done and over with. No more! :)

But... you do you, girl. :thumbsup:
Everyone has to decide this for themselves!!!

Yeah, same here :lol: at the very beginning of my hair journey (circa 2010) I did horrendous things in the name of being natural :lol: I'm glad this phase is over, nice smelling chemicals are my everything now :lol:

I'm not gonna say too much about clay washing and experiments, the only thing I will say is: please research thoroughly what exactly you're using. Some of those things can cause permanent damage, like baking soda for example. It's way too alkaline and basically 1 baking soda wash equals 1 bleaching session in terms of damage to hair and scalp. Of course I can't tell you what to do, but please consider it. Clay seems to be harmless, but still.

[cestlavie]

Yeah, same here :lol: at the very beginning of my hair journey (circa 2010) I did horrendous things in the name of being natural :lol: I'm glad this phase is over, nice smelling chemicals are my everything now :lol:

I'm not gonna say too much about clay washing and experiments, the only thing I will say is: please research thoroughly what exactly you're using. Some of those things can cause permanent damage, like baking soda for example. It's way too alkaline and basically 1 baking soda wash equals 1 bleaching session in terms of damage to hair and scalp. Of course I can't tell you what to do, but please consider it. Clay seems to be harmless, but still.

Thank you for your reply! I appreciate all the insights I'm getting from all of you. I will definitely do more research before using this kind of stuff again. All the excessive washing during the past two days isn't worth it.

[Reyn127]

Oh, yikes. That is not a good outcome, I'm sorry!

Just to warn you, I'm pretty sure that clay has a high PH, and can harm the cuticle of your hair. Very similar to using baking soda. I would not recommend using it to cleanse by itself. I've heard of people mixing in a bit of aloe/honey/lemon/vinegar to help balance the PH, BUT, I'm not certain that it would help/work. Definitely do more research if you plan to use clay regularly.

[lapushka]

Yeah, same here :lol: at the very beginning of my hair journey (circa 2010) I did horrendous things in the name of being natural :lol: I'm glad this phase is over, nice smelling chemicals are my everything now :lol:

It's so weird how things can change, right? :lol: I am all for whatever works, be it natural or... whatever, but it has to *work* and that to me is the most important. What is great for one person is not so great for another.

I can definitely understand though about the clay washing turning out sticky; I had the same thing happen to me! Maybe it's how much you use of the clay. I think maybe you need to use tiny amounts of it diluted in a lot of water. But then, is it still cleansing enough.

I'd rather not chance not knowing. At least when I use a bottle of my shampoos (ones that I trust), I know the exact outcome.

[Kalamazoo]

That thread that I still can't find about the lady's cleaning experiments on her Caucasian husband's hair: She coated the sheds with oil, & then tried about 4 different ways of cleaning them. The microscope photos of his hair post-clay-washing showed lots of big droplets of oil still clinging to the hair. Her conclusion was that clay-washing wasn't at all effective on Northern European hair.

Personally, I think I recall trying a little bentonite clay on my own hair. It did absolutely nothing. I needed shampoo to wash the mud out. (At no point did it ever remotely approach being dry on my head!) And yes, my ancestry's all northwestern European, to the best of my knowledge.

If it's effective on your scalp, how are you going to keep it from running down over your lengths & doing them in?

Clay has so many other great uses! No need to waste it on messing up your hair...

[cestlavie]

That thread that I still can't find about the lady's cleaning experiments on her Caucasian husband's hair: She coated the sheds with oil, & then tried about 4 different ways of cleaning them. The microscope photos of his hair post-clay-washing showed lots of big droplets of oil still clinging to the hair. Her conclusion was that clay-washing wasn't at all effective on Northern European hair.

Personally, I think I recall trying a little bentonite clay on my own hair. It did absolutely nothing. I needed shampoo to wash the mud out. (At no point did it ever remotely approach being dry on my head!) And yes, my ancestry's all northwestern European, to the best of my knowledge.

If it's effective on your scalp, how are you going to keep it from running down over your lengths & doing them in?

Clay has so many other great uses! No need to waste it on messing up your hair...

Sounds like an interesting experiment! I hope it is still somewhere on the internet for me to find.

Yeah, I guess there is no way from completely preventing clay going down over my lengths.
So I'm going to use this on my face/body only since that works really well for me.

[Joules]

Oh, yikes. That is not a good outcome, I'm sorry!

Just to warn you, I'm pretty sure that clay has a high PH, and can harm the cuticle of your hair. Very similar to using baking soda. I would not recommend using it to cleanse by itself. I've heard of people mixing in a bit of aloe/honey/lemon/vinegar to help balance the PH, BUT, I'm not certain that it would help/work. Definitely do more research if you plan to use clay regularly.

I did a quick google search, and I found out that

Ghassoul clay has a ph of 6,9-7,5
Bentonite clay has a ph of 8,3-9,1

So bentonite clay is pretty much just as bad as baking soda. Ghassoul clay is neutral, but an average drugstore shampoo has the same ph, take that as you will. Also clay contains a lot of hard minerals (magnesium, calcium, aluminum, etc.), and considering how harmful water full of hard minerals can be to our hair...yeah. I would dare to suggest that that's where the stickiness comes from, for example when I wash my hands in hard water I often get sticky soapy residue.

Also you can't just add vinegar or something equally acidic to "balance it out". There's a whole thread somewhere here on how chemistry isn't that simple at all and there are byproducts of that "neutralization" that you probably wouldn't want on your hair.


It's so weird how things can change, right? :lol: I am all for whatever works, be it natural or... whatever, but it has to *work* and that to me is the most important. What is great for one person is not so great for another.

I can definitely understand though about the clay washing turning out sticky; I had the same thing happen to me! Maybe it's how much you use of the clay. I think maybe you need to use tiny amounts of it diluted in a lot of water. But then, is it still cleansing enough.

I'd rather not chance not knowing. At least when I use a bottle of my shampoos (ones that I trust), I know the exact outcome.

I think I went back to store-bought stuff mostly because I'm lazy and all the "natural" wash methods are a ton of work, and yeah, the outcome is unpredictable. Also smells. Gosh, those smells. I just had a flashback of waking up nauseous because a piece of my hair fell on my face and I could smell it. I need to go sniff my Pantene, be right back.

[cestlavie]

The high mineral content of ghassoul is something that people always seem to praise for skin and hair. Never thought of comparing it to high mineral content in hard water, I think it makes sense. Thank you for mentioning it!

[lapushka]

I think I went back to store-bought stuff mostly because I'm lazy and all the "natural" wash methods are a ton of work, and yeah, the outcome is unpredictable. Also smells. Gosh, those smells. I just had a flashback of waking up nauseous because a piece of my hair fell on my face and I could smell it. I need to go sniff my Pantene, be right back.

Yeah, it's a "chore". Not that great.

Haha! :lol:

[cestlavie]

I applied a cassia treatment (I do that every 2 weeks) with honey, jojoba oil and aloe vera juice. I washed it out with a clarifying shampoo followed with my most hydrating conditioner and the stickyness is gone! I'm quite relieved that my hair doesn't need more washing. I've learned my lesson!

[lapushka]

I applied a cassia treatment (I do that every 2 weeks) with honey, jojoba oil and aloe vera juice. I washed it out with a clarifying shampoo followed with my most hydrating conditioner and the stickyness is gone! I'm quite relieved that my hair doesn't need more washing. I've learned my lesson!

It's great that you've got your hair back! :thumbsup:

[Laurab]

Someone I went to high school with did an instagram video of how she washes her hair with clay. I was VERY confused about it, because I'd use the same type of clay as a face mask, and I couldn't imagine it doing anything good on my hair!
But I've got type 1 caucasian/european hair, and she's biracial with curls somewhere in the type 4 range, so it makes sense that we'd have entirely different hair routines.

I'm with the people saying they just use drugstore stuff. I've tried DIY shampoos on a whim before. No horrible results luckily, but DIY shampoos seem to just leave my hair itchy and greasy. They're not my friend. Meanwhile cheap drugstore shampoo leaves my hair soft, shiny, and clean. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

[lapushka]

Someone I went to high school with did an instagram video of how she washes her hair with clay. I was VERY confused about it, because I'd use the same type of clay as a face mask, and I couldn't imagine it doing anything good on my hair!
But I've got type 1 caucasian/european hair, and she's biracial with curls somewhere in the type 4 range, so it makes sense that we'd have entirely different hair routines.

I'm with the people saying they just use drugstore stuff. I've tried DIY shampoos on a whim before. No horrible results luckily, but DIY shampoos seem to just leave my hair itchy and greasy. They're not my friend. Meanwhile cheap drugstore shampoo leaves my hair soft, shiny, and clean. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

It took me a lot longer to reach that conclusion. I experimented to high heaven when I landed on this site. :lol:

That's why I don't do that anymore. I am so sick of all those concoctions. Hahaha!

[Kalamazoo]

Drugstore stuff is easier if you aren't allergic to 99+% of it. I'm very fortunate to have found an aftershave that I like, the 45th Parallel by Captain's Choice. It smells like cherries. I think it's relatively close to natural. I am allergic to almost all perfumes, and fragrance is an ingredient in every commercial shampoo out there. I was definitely unable to tolerate any of the cherry fragrances that I tried before stumbling across Captain's Choice.

And then I noticed that the website wasn't selling it any more. So I contacted the owner. It turned out that his stock wasn't moving, so he had discontinued it. I was heartbroken. So he gave me a good price and I bought out every last drop he had. So now I can happily smell like cherries for the rest of my life. And my haire masques don't smell half-bad.

But, yeah, Pantene made me itch like nobody's business.

So I'm committed to enjoying the journey that my allergies have forced upon me, of making my own hair cosmetics.

It used to be worse. I used to know nothing of what I now know about concocting my own, and had no access to supplies, and my hair was growing thinner and thinner. Doing one of my DIY haire masques can actually stop an allergy attack. What's good for my hair is also good for my fingernails, my face, my knees...

And I'm very grateful for LHC being available to help me out. There really is a great wealth of knowledge here, and I'm SO appreciative of the emphasis here on listening to your own hair & doing what works for you! Society At Large is so big on trying to enforce uniformity.

I wonder if I can grow it to the floor? (I also wonder if I'll be able to tolerate it if it ever gets to Classic.)

It's really an incredible blessing to have all this moral support for experimenting, here on LHC! ESPECIALLY since it comes with advice on how to avoid some major pitfalls.

cestlavie, congratulations on getting your hair back. I know it means a lot to you!

[Joules]

Kalamazoo, I definitely agree, allergies are a thing. My scalp is fine with whatever, but there's a big patch on my face around my mouth that's allergic to God knows what. It's red all the time, but when it doesn't like something I put on it it becomes dry, inflamed, painful and cracking/peeling. Elimination of harsh sulfates helps keep flare-ups at bay, but it's still red all the time. Everything else on my face and body is fine, it's just that one patch that likes to give me trouble. So I just stick to the same cleanser, toner and moisturizer without experimenting much. I don't wanna go the natural route though because natural might not be as effective and natural things can be stronger allergens than chemicals that are tested in a lab to be safe (this patch is allergic to aloe for example).

There's a big trend in skincare right now of eliminating fragrance and other unnecessary stuff, let's hope it gets to haircare too.

[cestlavie]

I agree, Kalamazoo. This is a great source of knowledge from so many people and I'm glad and thankful for everyone's input. Otherwise I wasn't able to care for my hair as I do now.

Yes I'm really happy I got my hair back and once again, I'm thankful for the replies I got here and learned my lesson!

[cestlavie]

It's great that you've got your hair back! :thumbsup:

Thank you Lapushka!

[AutobotsAttack]

That thread that I still can't find about the lady's cleaning experiments on her Caucasian husband's hair: She coated the sheds with oil, & then tried about 4 different ways of cleaning them. The microscope photos of his hair post-clay-washing showed lots of big droplets of oil still clinging to the hair. Her conclusion was that clay-washing wasn't at all effective on Northern European hair.

Personally, I think I recall trying a little bentonite clay on my own hair. It did absolutely nothing. I needed shampoo to wash the mud out. (At no point did it ever remotely approach being dry on my head!) And yes, my ancestry's all northwestern European, to the best of my knowledge.

If it's effective on your scalp, how are you going to keep it from running down over your lengths & doing them in?

Clay has so many other great uses! No need to waste it on messing up your hair...

It’s not really effective at cleansing any type of hair. Ethnicity has nothing to do with it, and everything to do with the properties of the clay. Only reason a lot of African or African American hair textures use it, is because they’ve somehow manage to persuade themselves that it’s “cleansing”. When it really isnt. Not to mention it’d Ph is way too high.

[Kalamazoo]

It’s not really effective at cleansing any type of hair. Ethnicity has nothing to do with it, and everything to do with the properties of the clay. Only reason a lot of African or African American hair textures use it, is because they’ve somehow manage to persuade themselves that it’s “cleansing”. When it really isnt. Not to mention it’d Ph is way too high.

That's good to know. Thanks!

[Kalamazoo]

Kalamazoo, I definitely agree, allergies are a thing. My scalp is fine with whatever, but there's a big patch on my face around my mouth that's allergic to God knows what. It's red all the time, but when it doesn't like something I put on it it becomes dry, inflamed, painful and cracking/peeling. Elimination of harsh sulfates helps keep flare-ups at bay, but it's still red all the time. Everything else on my face and body is fine, it's just that one patch that likes to give me trouble. So I just stick to the same cleanser, toner and moisturizer without experimenting much. I don't wanna go the natural route though because natural might not be as effective and natural things can be stronger allergens than chemicals that are tested in a lab to be safe (this patch is allergic to aloe for example).

There's a big trend in skincare right now of eliminating fragrance and other unnecessary stuff, let's hope it gets to haircare too.

Yeah, once you've got a routine that works for you, there's no sense messing with it. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[Obsidian]

My scalp is fine with whatever, but there's a big patch on my face around my mouth that's allergic to God knows what. It's red all the time, but when it doesn't like something I put on it it becomes dry, inflamed, painful and cracking/peeling.

I had something very similar years ago and my doctor said it could be from flouride toothpaste. I switched to a natural paste for about a year, check labels and make sure its also sulfate free.

[lapushka]

I had something very similar years ago and my doctor said it could be from flouride toothpaste. I switched to a natural paste for about a year, check labels and make sure its also sulfate free.

Here's another one who's fine with sulfates wherever (body, scalp), but in my mouth? O Lordy no! That's a disaster. Super sensitive teeth and my gums are on fire. I am so glad they do a couple totally sulfate free (even CB free) toothpastes here and that's Zendium & Elmex. Even the Sensodyne has CB in it! Beware!

[Joules]

I had something very similar years ago and my doctor said it could be from fluoride toothpaste. I switched to a natural paste for about a year, check labels and make sure its also sulfate free.

I never thought about fluoride :hmm: I just checked. My current SLS-free toothpaste doesn't contain fluoride, but my previous sulfate one did. But! I used this previous fluoride toothpaste when I was on vacation in a different region of my country and this redness went away completely when I was there. I recreated my entire toothbrushing and skincare routine at home but the redness stayed. It doesn't seem to be affected by stress, so my final conclusion is that there must be something in the water. It's not even about water hardness, because I thought that water in that vacation region was awful (it even smelled like chlorine), but for some reason my skin liked it more.

[lapushka]

I never thought about fluoride :hmm: I just checked. My current SLS-free toothpaste doesn't contain fluoride, but my previous sulfate one did. But! I used this previous fluoride toothpaste when I was on vacation in a different region of my country and this redness went away completely when I was there. I recreated my entire toothbrushing and skincare routine at home but the redness stayed. It doesn't seem to be affected by stress, so my final conclusion is that there must be something in the water. It's not even about water hardness, because I thought that water in that vacation region was awful (it even smelled like chlorine), but for some reason my skin liked it more.

Maybe, if you think it's the water, try bottled water?

[elisam]

I read somewhere in the past that ghassoul clay needs to be used for a month to have good results with it.
It's something strange, appearently it makes a "detox" on the hair, meanwhile they are horribles! And you have to make always an acid rinse.
I used to used it when I had long hairs, and I didn't dislike it.
I'm going to retry it in these days and let you know ��
I also agree with Kalamazoo, I also have a lot of allergies and herbs washing is good for me.
Also buying cosmetics is very hard and DIY is the only solution sometimes!