Total gunk/hindering process

So I am two weeks into negelct, got some curlies taking form and whatnot, used some liquid bronners, and now I have gunk at the roots..I checked up on the forums, read some stuff and realized that liquid bronners applied directly to the scalp can gunk your roots up. So I did a baking soda wash, and it doesn't feel like I got anywhere.

I'm wondering what I can do to rid or at least cut this crap down, and I don't want to try another wash for a couple days since I washed my hair twice today. Getting in there vigorously would suck seeing as my hair is still just matting and the curlies are taking form..What can I do or should I do to get rid of the crap? I squeeze at the roots and it feels sticky..but I don't feel anything on my hands.

Thanks in advance

 

A lot of people have had trouble with liquid bronners, especially if you have hard water or weak pressure. I would switch over to the bronner bar soaps, you'll go through them quicker but they lather and rinse really well. I go through a bar in about 5 weeks, washing every other day.

As for the build-up on your scalp, you could try a deep cleanse, there's a thread about it somewhere, or try the baking soda again with hot water and really scrub away. Good luck.

 

yeah, I have the deep cleanse forum on my favorites. After reading up, seems bar soap is the way to go, so I will definitely head that way. thanks for the response

 

dude ive used dish soap with absolutely no problems. gets the gunk out and it isn't abrasive to the skin. i would limit it to once a week, though.

 

Bonners in liquid is EXTREMELY concentrated.
Read the bottle.
It should be diluted prior to using it.
Something like 12 parts water to 1 part bonners.
I prefer the bars.

 

with that dish soap idea, you'd probably want to put some on your hair line and wait an hour to see if it irritates your skin.

but yeah... dawn dish soap work wonders with dreads. i kinda like the way it makes my dreads feel.

 

yeah..im used to bronners, just never got around to the concentrated part. Dish soap hmm? lol. so it looks like with whatever deep cleanse, i might have to get to scrubbing a tad..not a problem I suppose, seeing as I have only neglected for two weeks. My hairy is wavy/curly..a 2 week setback on my journey wont hurt me too bad, makes me sad though

 

just tried an ACV and baking soda rinse..idk, I think im just drying the fuck out of my hair, theres still some signs of gunk or something..its a little frustrating to say the least, but im just going to let some grease get to it..im doing what some beginners do, and thats worry too damn much..im just going to let it do its thing and wash my hair with water every now and then to clear up grease and see what happens

 

ok 12:1 dilution.

maybe it isn't product how long do you go b/n washes? maybe it's sebum and skin cells....?

 

I've only neglected two weeks, my first wash to get started was a baking soda wash, washed it two days after, and continued that until yesterday, yesterday was going to be my last wash for a good week, and then I did the bronners thing..noticed that I ended up with the crap, it was in there before, but not so much as it ended up to be last night. I tried the deep cleanse thing today. I did ACV, baking soda, and a few drops of tea tree, left it in for about 10 minutes, didnt do any hard scrubbing, washed it out and my hair was dry as hell, with still some of the crap in it, I cut it down a little, just not all of it is out. It sucks because its only in a few places too, its not all over my head. For some reason, its right where my hairline in the front is, the sides where the hairline is, and this one spot on the back of my head. So it's either from me just being a tard with the bronners and it just gunked up bad, or maybe a mix of water pressure, the baking soda and the dryness of my hair. I was just thinking of running some shampoo through it in a few days or a week..my hair is way too dry as it is now, and I have some hair coming out just from all the normal hair loss from the past two weeks, kind of freaked me out at first, but remembered that the average person loses 250 strands of hairs a day. When I first started out my hair was fine, it started its thing ,I washed at it with water, got the bronners..and I think thats where it went bad.

 

You'll be fine. Growing locks is all about finding what works for you.

If how you washed with the liquid bronner's didn't work you can either ditch it, or adjust what you're doing (i.e. dilute more). About baking soda (I haven't used ACV on my hairs yet) I find that it can dry you out (I don't measure so sometimes I use 'too much' and it makes my hair really dry), but I don't mind it too much.

I like to switch it up and not allways wash with the same thing. I go back and forth between using just water, baking soda mixed with water, and a bar of bronner's baby-mild. I used to use the liquid, but I was given a bar and I found it easier to lather and (I think) easier to rinse out.

 

Maybe it is a hard water issue. Getting one of those filters in the shower head might help.
I would also try seeing if conditioner would help loosen the gunk (*groans heard worldwide*).
If you want to get real crazy see if hydrogen peroxide will clean it off. I have never tried that but the way it bubbles seems like it would deep clean. Of course it might dry your hair and make it brittle and weird, but it is only hair.

 

I don't think they should condition after only a couple weeks of neglect... maybe later when things are actually locking, but at this early stage it would probably hinder things more than a little soap gunk.

 

That's just the thing. To me anyway the actual locking and wearing of dreads... doesn't... matter. If my hair is gnarly, cool, if not that's cool too. I would not want wear gunk around on my head for fear of hindering my knotting process.

 

I got it..finally. I think Vigilante was right, just some buildup of sebum and skin cells mixed with the baking soda and bronners..along with not rinsing well enough. I did an ACV cleanse with hot water, I got it in my hair, scrubbed clockwise, popped it in a towel to get the drips away, then just let the air get to it for about 15 minutes, repeated that for about a half hour, then the last time I just let the ACV sit in for a good hour, and I rinsed it all out, going clockwise just to help keep some roots of already babies to hold..got it all out. thanks for all the advice and I think ill be sticking with the ACV and diluted bronners. As for the water issue, I think I do need a water softener, so I will for sure look into that.

 

"Gunk" is an ambiguous term. And it sounds like duder got it figured out, no setbacks required

 

I know the gunk. It's kinda hard but kinda soft... almost slimy. It gathers under your finger nails... I've suffered from it on and off since getting dreads.

I have found that laying down in the tub water and scrubbing with my nails is the absolute most effective of getting rid of the crap.

Currently I'm just using diluted bronners once or twice a week and it's a good balance for me. Even using baking soda once a week worked well. knotty boy made it worse and i found the ACV made my hair get unknotty... but that's just my experience.

I'm happy to hear that oyu are finding what works. It is just a lot of trial and error.

 

yeah..I've been contemplating dreads for about..4 years, thats how long i've lurked the site lol, well, off and on. I just started worrying hardcore, didn't know what to do, didn't do anything thorough because I didn't think I'd end up with an issue like this..but trial and error it is. It was almost tacky, but not. I could squeeze where I felt this crap, and nothing would be on my hands, I'd smell my hair and it didn't smell, I just didn't know what the hell it was. It might of had something to do with not weening my hair off shampoo as well..just a lot of different factors came in. I'm going to stick to diluted bronners and an ACV rinse when needed. Seems like a lot of people that just use plain hot water have a good run, so that's what I'll do. Being the newbie that I am, I just need to let go and let my hair do its thing haha.

 

bronners gave me the gunk too, even diluted, as did irish springs bar soap, the only stuff that hasnt is this organic shampoo i got, but it was in a trial size bottle so i have no more... it feels like when you squeeze/roll the dread between 2 fingers like theres vaseline in there, and its like water resistant, ive noticed when i try n scrub it out in the shower with just hot water it gets on my hands and has an oil like feel to it that repels water. Im tryin to get to the bottom of this and i dont want my dreads getting all fucked from it, this sucks! it seems like most soap/shampoo leaves it in there so i try to use as small amt as possible to just get the main oily ness of my hair/scalp clean and not add to it. lemme know what works for you

 

What I did was pour about 10oz of ACV into a 32oz bottle, then filled the rest with hot water. after that I put my head in the sink with the drain closed and just sat there pouring it into my hair until it all was in the sink, filled the sink with hot water, and just used the bottle to re-pour the ACV into my hair. After that I threw my hair into a towel to keep drips from going everywhere, took the towel off for about 15 mins, went back and poured more ACV in and scrubbed in a clockwise fashion against my scalp, toweled it up, repeat that two more times, and the last time I did it, I just left it in there until my hair was just moist, washed it all out and the build up was gone. I had that same feeling on my hands and the vaseline like feeling was frustrating me as well. Just throw some ACV in it and let it work its magic, it breaks it all down fairly well, left my hair not feelin dry either.