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!

[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?