Weird Buildup in my dreads??

Hey everybody:

I've had my dreads for about 3 years now, and they are probably 18-24 inches long. I used wax for the first 4 months, but I stopped immediately after I realized what it was doing. For the last 2 years, I have been taking multiple measures to soften up my dreads and get the wax out, and I'm very pleased with how well it has worked. It's difficult to tell the difference between the waxed tips and the new, natural growth.

However, within the last 3 - 5 months (After having dreads for 2.5 years), a weird gunk has been building up in the very tip of my dreads. It doesn't feel waxy at all, but honestly I have no idea what it could be. I have a few theories:

1) The wax removal methods have, over time, loosened up the wax within my dreads and it has thus begun to surface

2) The shampoo I am using (knottyboy shampoo, cause it seems pretty natural) is causing a buildup

3) It could be oil I use after I shower, jojoba oil.

4) I deep clean once a month using baking soda, lemon juice, tea tree oil, avena orange oil, and vinegar, and maybe I'm not rinsing everything out well enough.

4) My body wash (suave) gets into my hair when I wash my hair and that is causing a residue buildup. I normally wear a shower cap but when I wash my hair (once or twice a week), I let them out.

5) Who knows??

In the near future, I am planning on trimming off the waxed tips of my dreads (only about 3 - 4 inches) to leave just the unwaxed length remaining, so if it is the wax then I'm not really that concerned. I just want to know if it could potentially be something else I'm doing to my hair, cause when I cut the tips off, I don't want this weird buildup to occur again.

Any ideas?? Thanks!!

updated by @michael-lacour: 01/13/15 09:21:38PM

It is most likely the wax surfacing. How long did you try to remove the wax? It can take months and months of biweekly sessions to remove it all.

When I used knottyboy shampoo once or twice at the beginning it left a nasty oily residue on my hair that wouldn't go away til my next wash.

The lemon juice is not needed at all for a deep cleaning. The BS and oils are fine to use once a month.

When you cut your locks, I'd actually recommend to cut a extra inch to 2 inches more to make sure that, if any mold grew in the wax portion, it did not spread to areas higher up over time.

If you are gong to cut them in the near future anyway, I'd say cut them today. Trim at an angle so that you stand the best chance of keeping the tips a little wispy, or at least pointed.

I find that if residue does build it, it tends to do so more at the roots than the tips, so it;s probably not from the body wash, although it could be, but most likely not. It's more than likely wax that wasn't fully removed surfacing again. Especiallyif it is only at the tips, where wax was used in the first place.

try these www,.dreadlockshampoo.com i wouldntuse knottyboy anything dreadlockshampoo also has a wax remover thats pretty effective

the suave might be an issue hard to say

if the tips are blunted u may wantto simply comb out the tips

they are better off not blunted anyway

if its soap not wax nutragena anti residue

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