Weird Crunchy/Sticky, very Tangled Hair. Help!?

[Titianesqe]

Hello all,

Long-time reader, infrequent poster :)

I'm having trouble with my BSL, 2b hair that's baffling me.

Recently my hair started feeling really crunchy and dry, especially on the ends, but also weirdly sticky/grabby and I swear it tangles as I'm combing it.

I've been oiling the length with olive oil or (strange, I know) veggie oil to try and combat the dryness, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. I also tried leaving in conditioner overnight, but that didn't help either.

I've trying trimming the ends, that didn't seem to help.

I just clarified with baking soda/water mixture and did a quick lemon juice rinse (my water is really hard, thought that it might help to chelate as well) and put a tiny amount of cone free conditioner on the length. It feels very slightly less dry, but still really sticky... possibly more so than before, and the tangles are still bad.

I'm really confused. The shampoo I'm currently using is a 'damage repair' type, so high in protein... I'm wondering if that might be what's causing this. But then again, moisturising doesn't seem to be helping either.

I just bought a couple shampoo bar samples from CV just because I wanted to try them... I'm hoping going natural might be better for my hair.

In the meantime, does anyone have any ideas? The tangles are becoming a serious pain... I pretty much have to wear my hair up in braids all the time or else suffer through constant tangling, and it's driving me crazy. Help!?!

Thanks so much in advance,

T

[brave]

It does sound like it might be hard water buildup to me. You might need an actual chelating shampoo to really knock it out, and use the lemon juice more as a preventative. I was having terribly tangly, determinedly dry hair that wasn't responding properly to anything, and chelating knocked it instantly back into shape.

[Titianesqe]

Thanks. I was wondering if that might be it... I moved from my soft-water apartment to a hard well water country home (my parents, ha) in May. I suppose it could have taken this long for the build up to become really bad.

[palaeoqueen]

It could be your shampoo, my hair was the same with protein overload. Have you tried switching to a protein-free shampoo? I don't think extra moisture will do the trick if you're still overloading with protein.

[katfemme89]

My hair reacts the exact same way with protein. Ew. What did the trick for me was doing a vinegar rinse.... and GET RID of that shampoo and conditioner!!!!!!!!

[MsBubbles]

I had a similar situation, although I wasn't using any protein products. What calmed my hair down was to only wet the ends with distilled water (that I happened to have in my home). Somehow my tap water was making my ends crunchy. I wash with tap water but then final rinse with distilled, and any in-between washes styling moisture with distilled only.

I also recently went off cones, possibly long-term, for the first time. The distilled water is helping my ends feel like hair again.

[Arakazi]

My advice would be to do a clarify, using 1part baking soda to 3parts shampoo and follow up with white vinegar or ACV rinse. And then a deep treatment leave in over night like an SMT.

Chelating would help too I'd say. Let us know how you do! :D

[minxe]

Mine's been doing that too, and after examining my ends, I've found splits an inch or two up the hair shaft. The damaged bits have been making my hair stick and grab like you described. Maybe try an S&D and look for damage higher up?

[ravenreed]

My hair does that when I use anything with protein or if I use coconut or olive oil.

[Rufflebutt]

It sounds like some bad buildup. Try clarifying one more time to see if there's any improvement?

[goldloli]

My hair does that when I use anything with protein or if I use coconut or olive oil.

Same. It used to be real bad. If I used cones then it would happen by the end of the day and on second day hair, if I used too much protein then it was all the time, then i found out it even happened if I oil sealed my ends. I stopped oiling my hair after/inbetween washing and only use as pre treatment mixed with conditioner. I couldn't believe that even olive oil could do this.

I find heavier/fattier oils are okay when added it conditioner or leave in, so are seed oils. Oh jason vitamin e oil works well on dry hair without giving the crunchies, but again it's heavy and thick like castor oil so you have to distribute well.

I'd suggest s&d. Clarifying with a sls poo (without protein) then a simple conditioner with no cones, add in products one by one to see what is causing it. Also if an ingredient is causing it, such as coconut oil, don't be disheartened that you have to throw the product away because there are many ways of making them work, such as adding to smt. but yeah I would most definitely never use sls shampoo with protein, thats just asking for dryness.

[florenonite]

Have you tried a clarifying shampoo? I find that baking soda makes my hair feel like it's got build-up, even when there wasn't any build-up before. After clarifying, try a moisture treatment like an SMT, but stay away from the oil, particularly the olive oil, as that can be detrimental towards hair with protein overload.

I'd also lay off the protein shampoo and go for a basic clear one, with or without sulfates.

[continuum88]

i had had the same exact problem until yesterday. All i'd done was clarifies my hair with tea tree shampoo.shampooed twice and gently massaged shampoo into my ends aswell until you get nice lather going and then rinsed and left conditioner on for a bit longer than normal and yeah my hair was super puffy when it dried and didnt feel any different but then just used a little drop of coconut oil on it and this morning my hair was silky smooth with very minimal crunchiness.

[continuum88]

looking at your avatar, looks like my hair so its worth a try if our hair types are super similar. in the past i couldnt help myself annd just kept trimming the crunchiness but that didnt make any difference so learned to live with it and try not to think about it until a few weeks ago when my ends started looking horrible so Ive been experimenting since then and good clarifying and coconut oil seemed to have done the trick

[continuum88]

oops, was looking at goldloli's avatar so disregard that unless your hair's similar

[goldloli]

Well if your hair is anything like mine, then this quote will ring true


Have you tried a clarifying shampoo? I find that baking soda makes my hair feel like it's got build-up, even when there wasn't any build-up before. After clarifying, try a moisture treatment like an SMT, but stay away from the oil, particularly the olive oil, as that can be detrimental towards hair with protein overload.

I'd also lay off the protein shampoo and go for a basic clear one, with or without sulfates.

I personally find coconut to be detrimental with protein sensitivity and olive oil builds up and need clarifying.

How is your damage? Has it created porous hair as in it gets dry very quickly even if you have good conditioner? Aside from s&d, I'd look into rinses such as acv (which is very popular) or catnip (my fave) for added slip and to make cuticle lay flatter so hair has less chance of grabbing

[woolyleprechaun]

I'll add my paltry advice to the wonderful stuff you've already been heard :)
When mine does that, I tend to give it a S&D, clarify and a good warm oiling. Tends to work. Good luck! :D

[spirals]

Some water softeners use salts and some use as the chelating agent :drumroll: ....citric acid. So maybe a strong citric acid rinse? By strong I mean 5% followed by a plain water rinse and a deep condition. For that solution I'd dissolve 3 tablespoons of the powder in 1 quart of water. It seems like a lot, but that's about the same acidity of straight vinegar. It won't kill you. :lol:

[Titianesqe]

Thank you all for your input!

I'm going to try clarifying again in a couple days (let my hair rest!). I did notice it feels a little better today so maybe the clarifying is all it needed. I happen to have some citric acid (leftovers from bath bombs!) so I think I'll try a rinse of that as well.

Then I'll see what's what and maybe do an SMT. I don't tend to have a lot of problems with splits running up the length and I did just trim it, but if I find myself with some extra time (it could happen maybe! haha)I may S&D higher up the length.

I'm definitely going to avoid the protein shampoo for a while to see if that make a difference.


Thank you all! I'll post back with updates the next time I clarify and let you all know how it goes.

[jacqueline101]

My hair is feeling dry and rough at the ends. I have protein in my shampoo and conditioner. I did clarify its still doing it. I took the no trims challenge. I also tried the leave in I have at home with shea butter mineral oil. I forgot my vo5 has shea butter so I think the protein over load caused it. I need to get new products. I did clarify my hair and it did help. When I was done I put a leave in on my hair ends and mineral oil. I'm going to use my leave in and mineral oil.