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.