Help me diagnose this damage?

[Nymph]

My hair is driving me slightly crazy at this point and I don't know what to do. It is sticky, in the sense that it sticks to other hairs and I'm stuck with this huge amount of knots and tangles all the time. Even in the end of my braid I can get tangles.

I used to have very straight hair (1aF) and it would never ever give me knots. Now I actually have waves in it. I don't know if my hair type changed or something else happened, but I get the feeling that those waves are more the result of my hair "sticking" to each other.

My hair absorbs oil like there is no tomorrow. I will slather on coconut or almond oil untill it's shiny, and the next morning it's absorbed. Now, could be that a part of my oil end up on the pillow, but probably not all.

I tried doing deep conditioning treatments (honey and my fave conefree conditioner for a few hours) but it doesn't seem to help... except it just makes my hair feel softer and lighter and then it flows around and starts sticking to other hairs everywhere. It did feel slightly better after I clarified it but then everything started again the next time I washed it (CWC). I tried ACV rinses but that seemed to make it worse.
I don't have many split ends, but when I look at a singly hair, instead of being straight, it will look a bit "fried", like there are a lot of small bents and dents. Not sharp corners or curves. Some of them are simply just wavy.

I'm afraid to use protein on my hair because the last time I did so, my hair hated it and went all scrunchy. Does this sound like a protein problem? Also, I'm not completely cone free, but before my hair went crazy it seemed like it didn't really like conefree stuff. Maybe now it has had too much cones?
Anyhow, any insight will be welcome!

[BunnyBee]

Hairs like to stick to each other. It's the cuticle's fault. Maybe your cuticles are more raised than they used to be. ACV rinse should technically help, but since you said they made it worse, you need something to coat the hairs, so that they can 'glide' past each other better. If you are not adverse to using silicones, a good coney conditioner is probably a good idea.

The bends and dents may be natural or they may be a result of stress on the hair from updos or combing. Sometimes when a hair snaps with force, the still attached end of the hair *pings* up and looks crinkly. You could try S&Ding them.

Depending on what products you've used on your hair and for how long, you may have to clarify more than once.

[Fufu]

I will say skip all the oil hair treatments and deep conditioning.

Go for mild/gentle shampoo and mild/gentle conditioner first :)

Maybe your hair has build ups.

Did you do any chemical treatments to your hair recently?

[Hypnotica]

Still sounds like you have some build-up left.

[Elenna]

Sounds like residues in your hair from products and even oils. How about clarifying your hair with a clarifying shampoo. Then going for mild shampoos and conditioners like Fufu said.

[kwaniesiam]

Definitely sounds like build up, has your hair been chemically processed?

[Nymph]

My hair is dyed chemically on the roots, with occasionally henna on the roots and henna on the lengths (though it's been more than two months since I did my lengths). The dye probably doesn't help, but I've used the same product for 3 years now, and I never had this. This sort of damage is new, one or two months I think.

What is a good shampoo to clarify? I generally CWC with SLES shampoos.

[julliams]

Clarify ( I use Herbal Essenses Drama Clean), condition and just leave it. Sometimes in our quest to find the perfect solution we kind of overdo it. I did! I had a sticky end problem that just didn't feel right and it turned out being the leave in I was using.

If you leave it alone for a little while and then just gradually add in small things to your routine, you will be able to finetune what works for you. I find that less is best and the more I leave my hair alone, the better it seems to behave.

Something to try a little later is a coconut milk soak since your hair likes coconut oil. I use a can of lite coconut milk and work a third of the can through my hair, leave it for an hour and then wash and condition as normal. I find it very moisturising and it makes my coarse hair softer.