So I'd been using the dragon's blood locking up shampoo from dreadlockshampoo.com for a couple months, and I decided a couple weeks ago to switch to only baking soda washes...
My trouble is that after washing, my hair still seems kinda oily. This was not a problem with the dragon's blood shampoo.
My mixture is 1/2 cup baking soda and a few tbsp of sea salt in 5 cups of water.
Am I doing something wrong?
I must say, the locks in my avi are not my current set. I'm 7 months in, and the top/front of my hair is really slow to do anything. the locks themselves don't look dirty, just the straight hair.
Hi Christopher, your profile pic does not show where you live in the States, If you have hard water, that would be why your hair feels that way. Boil your 5 cups of water first, mix in the 1/2 cup of BS and let it cool until it is usable. If you do not normally have an extremely oily scalp, then finish off with the apple cider vinegar (ACV) rinse. 1 capful of ACV to 5 cups water. Pour this over your head once the BS is all washed out and rinse off right away or within one minute. The ACV balances the PH of the hair from using the BS. Also, you can try finishing off with a cold head rinse. Once you are done your washing, hold head under as cold water as you can take to close up all the pores on the scalp.
I have hard well water and used the BS/ACV for my entire first year of dreading. It is a balance to try and figure out sometimes but it does work well once figured out. Just make sure you rinse the BS out completely. Here is a map so you can see what type of water you have.....good luck...peace 
If this does not work out, then go back to the dragons blood shampoo (that is the liquid I use too). It was created to work in hard water, all of Vickies shampoos and soaps are one of the few ones that will. I have a squirt bottle that I fill with previously boiled water & add in the regular amount of shampoo, then I squirt this all over my wet scalp. When I rinse it out it runs through my dreads... Peace
Thank you. I live in Oklahoma, and I definitely have hard water. I read somewhere here about it being a problem, but did not see the solution. I'll give this a shot tomorrow.
Also, when you say regular amount of soap, you mean what kind of ratio?
the Barrellady said:
If this does not work out, then go back to the dragons blood shampoo (that is the liquid I use too). It was created to work in hard water, all of Vickies shampoos and soaps are one of the few ones that will. I have a squirt bottle that I fill with previously boiled water & add in the regular amount of shampoo, then I squirt this all over my wet scalp. When I rinse it out it runs through my dreads... Peace
Whatever the normal amount of shampoo you would put in your hand, put that same amount in the squirt bottle with water instead. This is if you are using the liquid form of DreadlockShampoo. Then you can concentrate putting it all over your scalp, hairline, earline, neck line etc, you can slowly squirt it all over. For me this works better, then I just gently scrub the scalp with my fingertips....Peace
If you use the DreadlockShampoo bars instead, you can still use this method, just cut a little piece off of the bar and dissolve it in the water. Oh yes, if I have boiled water laying around, then I use it for her shampoos, but it is not a necessary step because they do work fantastic in hard water. I just do it anyways....With the bars you can also just lather up your hands and then gently scrub the scalp, but I think my way ensures it gets all over..
Christopher Hooks said:
Also, when you say regular amount of soap, you mean what kind of ratio?
the Barrellady said:If this does not work out, then go back to the dragons blood shampoo (that is the liquid I use too). It was created to work in hard water, all of Vickies shampoos and soaps are one of the few ones that will. I have a squirt bottle that I fill with previously boiled water & add in the regular amount of shampoo, then I squirt this all over my wet scalp. When I rinse it out it runs through my dreads... Peace
Right on. Thanks so much for the advice.
Namaste
the Barrellady said:
Whatever the normal amount of shampoo you would put in your hand, put that same amount in the squirt bottle with water instead. This is if you are using the liquid form of DreadlockShampoo. Then you can concentrate putting it all over your scalp, hairline, earline, neck line etc, you can slowly squirt it all over. For me this works better, then I just gently scrub the scalp with my fingertips....Peace
If you use the DreadlockShampoo bars instead, you can still use this method, just cut a little piece off of the bar and dissolve it in the water. Oh yes, if I have boiled water laying around, then I use it for her shampoos, but it is not a necessary step because they do work fantastic in hard water. I just do it anyways....With the bars you can also just lather up your hands and then gently scrub the scalp, but I think my way ensures it gets all over..
Christopher Hooks said:Also, when you say regular amount of soap, you mean what kind of ratio?
the Barrellady said:If this does not work out, then go back to the dragons blood shampoo (that is the liquid I use too). It was created to work in hard water, all of Vickies shampoos and soaps are one of the few ones that will. I have a squirt bottle that I fill with previously boiled water & add in the regular amount of shampoo, then I squirt this all over my wet scalp. When I rinse it out it runs through my dreads... Peace
Noted. Thank you.
Noodle-Doo said:
If you boil the water, you gotta let it cool down before you dissolve the baking soda, or it will break down and fizz off the carbon dioxide. Made that mistake myself once...
You could also purchase yourself a large bottle of water from the grocery store, the cooler size ones and use that water for your BS. That would be the quickest way and last a long time. Once you pay the deposit on the large bottle, it is under $5 to get a fresh one every time. Or you can purchase the smaller jug sizes from the grocery store. That way you just pour and use, no boiling necessary, less of a hassle. ...Peace
