Help! My Hair Feels Sticky and Gritty

Hi all, I am hoping somebody will have some kind of advice for me. I am 5 months in and have some dreads that are pretty tight and some hair that is still curly with no knotting. I was using the Baking Soda AVC method for my hair and I wash every 2-3 days. I never got that clean feeling that everybody describes and was measuring everything very precise so I started using the DreadlocksShampoo Bar in patchouli. I absolutely LOVED it!! Now that I've been using it for a while (a little over a month) I have been noticing that as my hair finishes dripping or dries even that the ends of my hair feel gritty, like I had sprayed sea salt water on it...but hadn't. I tried rinsing more but still no luck. I have a dread on the top of my head that has a section around 1 1/2 inches and had been contemplating combing it out to separate it since there was no way to split it. Today I started at it and found that my hair is sooo sticky on the inside I couldn't believe it. I have never used anything on my hair other than what I've stated so is it possible that it's from the Shampoo Bar? I went to the store today but they didn't have Neutrogena Clarifying so I'm at a loss until I hit another store. I took a couple pics of my hair and when I zoom in you can actually see what looks like hairspray on my hair. (I never touch the stuff) Would it be bad for me to just leave the dread alone at the size it is? My hair is fine and not thick at all, if it weren't for my curls It'd be real thin. I appreciate any advice to get this crap outta my hair...and the dread size issue. THANKS SO MUCH!!!

updated by @zoeyrainsmom: 01/13/15 09:58:01PM

there shouldnt be any way the soaps causing that but if you have realllly bad water it might be possible the water itself is? do your faucets have alot of heavy mineral buildup?

that dread does look thick..but maybe not so thick it needs starting over

id try the anti residue and see how that goes u just might need to use that every 4 or so months

had you been adding oils to anything ..some essential oils arent really esential oils but heavier fragrence oils that may buildup..

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My new book Ban The Taboo Vol 1

The only time I added any oil at all was when I was using Baking Soda and ACV. I'd add 10 drops of tea tree oil to the rinse. Our water is horrible here, I'm pretty much on the hardest water part of the chart you post (Las Vegas). I do have trouble with minerals on the faucets too....damn you're good!!! Is the Anti Residue the same as Neutrogena or is it from DreadlockShampoo? Thanks Eagle...I appreciate your help!!

soaring eagle said:

there shouldnt be any way the soaps causing that but if you have realllly bad water it might be possible the water itself is? do your faucets have alot of heavy mineral buildup?

that dread does look thick..but maybe not so thick it needs starting over

id try the anti residue and see how that goes u just might need to use that every 4 or so months

had you been adding oils to anything ..some essential oils arent really esential oils but heavier fragrence oils that may buildup..

Neutrogena makes an anti-residue shampoo. I don't think all of them are. But most contain SLS or SDS which are detergents. They do help remove buildup. But something labled as "anti-residue", or "clarifying" will be better to clean it all out.

That buildup is undissolved minerals in your water. BS is a salt. It needs to dissolve in the water. But because your water already has so much mineral in it, there is no room for the BS to dissolve completely. This leads to you having that buildup in your hair. Boiling your water and adding the BS while hot will help a bit. But probably not enough if your water is that hard.

Don't bother getting the neutrogena shampoo. That stuffs crap. Go pick up a small bottle of dawn dish washing liquid. The regular blue one, no ultra. That stuff will work better at removing all the residue in your hair and not leave it silky soft like the neutrogena will.

Thank you so much for the advice Heather! I am so desperate to get this sticky gunk out of my hair, I'm sure it's delaying any progress. It feels like a soda was left spilled in my hair. I never dreamed that hard water could cause so many problems with my journey.

Heather said:

Don't bother getting the neutrogena shampoo. That stuffs crap. Go pick up a small bottle of dawn dish washing liquid. The regular blue one, no ultra. That stuff will work better at removing all the residue in your hair and not leave it silky soft like the neutrogena will.