Help! Hair suddenly all matted and crusty! Can't detangle - don't know what I did!

[Revontuletar]

I have been trying to stretch my washes out to twice a week. Last night I put my scalp treatment on -castor and coconut oil. When I went to wash my hair it just turned into this great massive birds' nest. All I did was use my regular CO conditioner to wash it. I thought it might have been build up or something so I tried clarifying but it did nothing. I'm trying to comb it and it's just breaking and coming out everywhere and I don't know what to do!!!

[the.fee.fairy]

first, stop combing. The knots may be easier to work out when it's dry.

Second. Calm down. Have a cup of tea.

Third. You've clarified and it's still not good, so try using a very gently shampoo to gently clean it, and then a massive handful of conditioner all over, and then another massive handful of conditioner for luck. Leave the conditioner on for a while and then rinse out.

Don't do Co washing or any other kind, and don't add anything to the conditioner. Just plain, normal conditioner.

Obviously your hair has reacted to something. I can't tell you what it is.

Good luck.

If you hair is smooth after rinsing out the masses of conditioner, then blast it with the cold water to smooth the cuticles and try gently combing. If it won't comb easily wait until it's dry and then gently tease out the knots.

[Revontuletar]

first, stop combing. The knots may be easier to work out when it's dry.

Second. Calm down. Have a cup of tea.

Third. You've clarified and it's still not good, so try using a very gently shampoo to gently clean it, and then a massive handful of conditioner all over, and then another massive handful of conditioner for luck. Leave the conditioner on for a while and then rinse out.

Don't do Co washing or any other kind, and don't add anything to the conditioner. Just plain, normal conditioner.

Obviously your hair has reacted to something. I can't tell you what it is.

Good luck.

If you hair is smooth after rinsing out the masses of conditioner, then blast it with the cold water to smooth the cuticles and try gently combing. If it won't comb easily wait until it's dry and then gently tease out the knots.

Thanks very much. I will do what you said.

[the.fee.fairy]

try it. I can't make any promises...

Maybe you just tried to stretch the washing a bit too quickly, or maybe just lighten up on the scalp treatments.

I've got naturally oily hair and i just left mine a week before washing it. My hair was horrible! The oil was down around my ears, even though i brushed every day. After washing it's not back to it's normal shine, so i don't think i'll try that again!!

But...the whole point was that i didn't use any scalp treatments or anything, just left it to do it's own thing to see what happened.

So maybe try stretching washes without scalp treatments in future? Your scalp is pretty self sustaining and only really requires cleaning occasionally. It's protected by your hair. We tend to clean it when we see our hair looking oily or not right.

[Revontuletar]

Yes, I think I tried to stretch washes too quickly, and I didn't really comb my hair much as it started to get a little oily and tangly. So doing the scalp treatment wouldn't have helped very much at all. I think you might be right. Thank you.



try it. I can't make any promises...

Maybe you just tried to stretch the washing a bit too quickly, or maybe just lighten up on the scalp treatments.

I've got naturally oily hair and i just left mine a week before washing it. My hair was horrible! The oil was down around my ears, even though i brushed every day. After washing it's not back to it's normal shine, so i don't think i'll try that again!!

But...the whole point was that i didn't use any scalp treatments or anything, just left it to do it's own thing to see what happened.

So maybe try stretching washes without scalp treatments in future? Your scalp is pretty self sustaining and only really requires cleaning occasionally. It's protected by your hair. We tend to clean it when we see our hair looking oily or not right.

[the.fee.fairy]

slow and steady wins the race!

When i first joined here, i washed my hair every day, two shampoos and then a conditioner.

Slowly, i moved to one shampoo, then every other day, and now i'm at about twice a week, which i'm sticking with.

Also, remember to go slow especially when the seasons change. I found moving to winter a nightmare because my hair was getting staticky. Then i tried a spray leave in conditioner and that made a difference. Then my ends were horrible, so i chopped them off, after a few months, they were horrible again, so i started to use a cream leave in on the ends and it made a difference.

Slow and steady, little by little! Try things to see if the make a difference, but not all at once. So try stretching washes by just leaving your hair. If it looks oily after a day, put it up. Most people will assume that you've used gel or hairspray and not realise that it's oil.

When your hair has acclimatised to being washed when you want it, then try a scalp treatment once every two weeks and see if it makes a difference.

I've found that for me, the best routine is to CO in the winter to stop the statickyness (yes...I just made that word up...), and shampoo once and condition in the summer. I also use a spray leave in on the lengths and a cream leave in on the ends to protect them. I also found that if my hair won't behave, then dyeing it, or microbraiding and leaving for two weeks, basically abusing it works. It learns it's lesson and behaves!

Might not work for you, but keep experimenting slowly to see if anything makes a difference.

[Revontuletar]

Thanks very much! I guess this is just all part of experimenting and finding out what works and what doesn't

[sfgirl]

Maybe it was a mix of the oils since they're slightly different density's? I'm not sure. :( Hope your tangles go away!

[ravenreed]

If I use coconut oil too much, I get protein overload and my hair turns crunchy and I am unable to run a comb through it.

[Revontuletar]

Thank you very much! It is all ok now, it took me a while but I managed to get all the tangles out when my hair had dried completely, and it is back to normal. I think my main problem was the fact I had left it alone for too long without combing it so it all got tangled up, and then I put the oils in on top of it last night and it just ended in a disaster. I won't be doing that again too soon. I may have put too much oils in it too. I think I will stick to washing it every third day, it seems to behave nicer that way.

[Blond On Blond]

I'm guessing it's the castor oil to blame. Don't get me wrong, I love castor oil, and IMO it's the best oil around to use for my hair. But it CAN be a PITA to remove if you go overboard with the amount (regardless if you mix it with another oil). I find that applying conditioner and waiting at least 30 minutes to let it dissolve the oil is best. Sometimes this has to be repeated.

I might do a castor oil hair sauna tomorrow ;)

[Revontuletar]

I'm guessing it's the castor oil to blame. Don't get me wrong, I love castor oil, and IMO it's the best oil around to use for my hair. But it CAN be a PITA to remove if you go overboard with the amount (regardless if you mix it with another oil). I find that applying conditioner and waiting at least 30 minutes to let it dissolve the oil is best. Sometimes this has to be repeated.

I might do a castor oil hair sauna tomorrow ;)

Thanks! I will try the conditioner trick. It seemed to me that it had all washed out ok when I washed it first but maybe not. It does tend to be very heavy. It might also be the coconut oil, even though I have been using coconut oil for a while and never had any problems with it before.

[chou]

This sounds like protein build-up made worse by oil. I have protein sensitive hair and I have experienced this before with coconut oil. I don't know if your hair loves protein, though. Perhaps avoid protein in conditioners for a couple of days just to be safe? A protein-free moisture treatment might help as well, but it's probably best to just give your hair some time to recover.

[Kiwiwi]

Also, do brush/detanlge your hair before you oil, wash, etc. in the future ^_^

[HappyHair87]

Maybe it was the Coconut oil? I know coconut oil isn't good for everyone's hair. I don't know....just try like the.fee.fairy said and just use regular conditioner and finger comb it out:agree:

[heidi w.]

If I understand you correctly, you applied some kind of oiling goup to your scalp skin/hair, then jumped in the shower and washed your hair with conditioner?

That is not a good idea, to combine a lot of oiling goup and conditioner only hair wash. It's too much waxiness, as a way of saying it.

You need to simply clarify again.

HOWEVER, I would FIRST detangle in little sections and bits at a time, working up to pristine, tangle-free hair. I'd detangle in layers if you will, as time passes and the hair becomes more and more dry.

I don't know that a detangling spray (such as is used on kids' hair) will help you with all that topical application that has yet to come out completely.

THEN once it's all detangled, then I'd re-wash the hair. As always do not pile the hair on the head. Use fairly warm water, and use a shampoo or home-recipe that "clarifies" the hair.

I would not this session apply conditioner, although your hair will come out feeling kind of weird texture-wise. Then the next day or so, although your hair is clean, I'd consider then re-washing the hair so to include conditioning the length ONLY. Nothing on the scalp related hair zonage.

I would be very patient in the detangling process, knowing it's going to take a while to detangle it all. You will lose some hair, but not all of it. Just do the best you can.

Don't do anything overly fancy or crazy such as adding more moisture such as oil and conditioner.

When you condition on the third day, coat the hair with conditioner, and also dip a wide-toothed comb in the vat of conditioner, coating the comb over&over as necessary and detangle a bit in the shower, using the downflow of shower water as an aide in detangling.

The goal is to get all the stuff on top of the outer layer of hair, on top of the cuticle off.

And next time you do this, I would recommend that you detangle your hair FIRST before you wash your hair at all. Never jump in with tangly hair. Wash in general standing upright such that the power of the shower water aides in keeping hair organized. Wash the hair such that the length is only moderately touched by shampoo and runs down the length. And just squeeze the length. Never pile on top of the head. It's a big help to detangle the hair pristinely prior to a full hair wash.

When you wash the hair you can consider dividing the hair in half prior to getting it wet, and draw the sections over each shoulder.

When you dry, simply press the hair in the towel after wringing the hair somewhat in the shower to get rid of excess water. Do not pile the hair in a towel and rub. Don't wrap the hair in a towel on top of your head. This tends to create volumes of tangles.

I hope this of some help. It's very upsetting what you're experiencing, but calmness and patience is the only way to resolve this problem. And little steps, one step, then the next step. Not trying to fix the whole thing all at once.

My best,
heidi w.

[heidi w.]

This sounds like protein build-up made worse by oil. I have protein sensitive hair and I have experienced this before with coconut oil. I don't know if your hair loves protein, though. Perhaps avoid protein in conditioners for a couple of days just to be safe? A protein-free moisture treatment might help as well, but it's probably best to just give your hair some time to recover.

The topic of protein is very confusing to most people, even me a bit. It's important to know that all shampoos and conditioners contain a little bit of protein in the combination of the two in that brand line. One can encounter problems with protein overload (or too little) by combining brands across different lines, or in my case, I experienced protein overload because I tried a leave-in conditioner, and it caused my hair to break off immediately, and a LOT of it all of a sudden.

Because I had the habit of changing one thing at a time, I re-read the bottle, and there it was, to rinse this leave-in out for fine hair types, which I am. I just clarified and removed it, and the fuss was all over. I never used it again.

The clue that one has protein overload (and too little) is that hair suddenly begins breaking off, a lot, as in a LOT. The symptoms are the same.

Over the counter protein applications, such as VO5, have boatloads of protein in them, and can cause this response, sometimes too.

When talking about protein or porosity, a lot of people become very confused as to how to tell. It's unwise to suggest this idea without filling in the complete info on at least what to look for.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

Maybe it was the Coconut oil? I know coconut oil isn't good for everyone's hair. I don't know....just try like the.fee.fairy said and just use regular conditioner and finger comb it out:agree:

Somebody means something that they aren't explaining very well. If one has a bird's nest of hair in tangles, fingercombing isn't going to work alone. In fact, bird's nest can actually happen to hair. Usually by people who wear their hair up and don't take it down at least once a day to detangle.

The OP already has boatloads of oil AND conditioner in the hair. I am confused as to how applying more is helpful?

heidi w.

[Neorah]

I agree with what everyone else has said, and I'm glad that you worked it out! :flower:

In the future, it's definitely important to remember to detangle daily, even if you aren't washing or are keeping your hair up. For me, dirty hair + no detangling = dreadlocks! Also, I don't know where you are located in the world, but I tend to avoid coconut oil in the winter, because it can solidify in my hair and cause excess waxiness... Something to consider at least.

[heidi w.]

Thanks! I will try the conditioner trick. It seemed to me that it had all washed out ok when I washed it first but maybe not. It does tend to be very heavy. It might also be the coconut oil, even though I have been using coconut oil for a while and never had any problems with it before.

How much oil are we talking about?

One really doesn't need much oil if they're doing a deeper treatment, and certainly in oiling the hair, very little is needed for all the hair.

I only oil my length sometimes. For that, I take maybe a fingernail full of Spectrum Naturals' Coconut Oil and smear it on the palm of one hand, then rub my palms together, and the friction from rubbing is sufficient to "melt" the coconut oil. I am left with a very light sheen on the palms of oil. One can only see the oil if the hand is tilted to and fro on the available light. Never do I use a pool or a teaspoon or a tablespoon. Never. Ever.

heidi w.

[heidi w.]

I agree with what everyone else has said, and I'm glad that you worked it out! :flower:

In the future, it's definitely important to remember to detangle daily, even if you aren't washing or are keeping your hair up. For me, dirty hair + no detangling = dreadlocks! Also, I don't know where you are located in the world, but I tend to avoid coconut oil in the winter, because it can solidify in my hair and cause excess waxiness... Something to consider at least.

I didn't see that it was all over for her. Thank you for the alert! And absolutely, in my universe, no detangling would eventually mean matts which eventually means dreadlocks. That's what dreadlocks are. Organized matting.

heidi w.

[Revontuletar]

Thank you everyone for the advice! I will definitely detangle every day from now on, and remember to use less oil as well, as that would probably help. Thank you all!