Is this normal for Funky Hair Syndrome?

I don't use an acidic rinse. I use store bought conditioner. My hair is long, dry, and naturally curly/frizzy. I go through LOTS of conditioner. I may at some point need to use an acidic rinse, but not yet. I am not ruling out the possibility of needing it at some point, and indeed keep some citric acid in the bathroom, just in case.

I use basically the Lindy recipe posted elsewhere in the forums. Not exactly that, but really close. High conditioning, low cleansing. I only wash my hair once a week because it is so dry. I know someone is saying "yuck" and envisioning oily hair, but trust me when I say there is no oil, even on the scalp, at the end of a week.

My sister-in-law has oily hair, and she uses my shampoo bars. Same recipe. She has stopped having to wash her hair every day, and now only washes every 2-3 days because of the shampoo bars. I don't understand how or why one bar works for both types of hair, but there you have it.

I'm using the lindy bar, only I subbed mango butter for the shea, and jojoba for one of the liquid oils... Soy, maybe? I also did an infusion with the OO, made a tea for the water, added citric acid to the lye-water to made sodium citrate to help with rinsing out the soap in hard water...

My hair is certainly on the dry side, but after three-four days it's noticeably oily. My normal cycle is washing every 2-3 days, and I've been doing a steady two day cycle since switching to hopefully help get rid of the gunk faster.

And I washed my hair tonight, and switched up my lathering technique... For the first time I got thick full lather like an SLS shampoo! (And that was with both coconut oil soap and my shampoo bar, I hadn't been able to get either to really lather up my hair before). And after rinsing out my hair felt much better. The last several times I've washed it I could feel the gunk even while it was sopping wet. This time I didn't start feeling it until after giving it a brisk towel-dry. I have it up in a hair-twist towel to dry some more overnight.

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of the hair funk!

I tried a variety of different shampoo bars, but every one left my hair feeling really weird, kind of springy and rubbery. I just couldn't stand it. I went back to standard shop bought shampoo. It's such a shame as I would have loved to get it right. I have very very fine hair and I think it was ending up coated with too much oil. Do you rinse with neat apple cider vinegar?

I too am unable to use shampoo bars. I have thick, course, somewhat curly, color treated hair and it just did not work for me. My husband loves them for his hair.

Verdict this morning--it seems like last night's battle got rid of most of the gunk from the top of my hair, around my scalp! I could still feel it a further down on the shaft, but I also wasn't as vigorous in my working the later on that area so that might be why. I can actually touch the top of my head without cringing at the feel! Whoo!

Saponista--I don't use the ACV neat. When I was using it I was diluting it into water (I started with 1 Tbsp into 1 cup water, upped it to twice that before switching to citric acid). I have heard of some using a rinse that was 1:1 ACV to water, though that doesn't seem to be the norm. ACV, even the cheap stuff, just seems way to expensive to use straight as a rinse.

shunt2011--I'm sorry it didn't work out for you! My hair is thick and coarse too, and closer to wavy than curly (though it's edging closer to curly since I started with acidic rinses). I don't color treat my hair, though!

Its possible that the addition of jojoba is leaving more a film since its actually a liquid wax. I used Ginny's bar for a few months but it left too much residue. My last batch I replaced the soy with 5% coconut and 5% neem. It raised the cleansing number from 0 to 3, just enough to clean a little more. Its a much better bar for my hair which is fine but thick and wavy.

It may be the case, though I'm going to hold back my opinion of how well the shampoo bar works until I can tell if it's the shampoo bar or from transitioning. I hope it's not the jojoba--I used it in the conditioner I made too.

Did you make sure you got all of the silicones off before you went no-poo? I had the same problem with the nasty sticky hair through the length. My hands looked like I had waxed them after I 'washed' my hair - the water beaded. I gave up and bought some of the cheapest SLS laden shampoo I could find and used that for 2 weeks with a nice silicone free 'natural' conditioner (moogoo). The stuff that came off my hair in that first SLS wash was unreal. I'm now using the moogoo shampoo and conditioner until my shampoo bar cures (just made it today). I'm hoping by then that all of the nasty waxes and silicones from my old conditioners and products will have washed off and I'll have a better time of it. I've also switched to avocado oil as my hair 'product' for heat protectant - apparently it's got a really high smoke point, and I'm not adding more silicone, which needs a detergent to be removed.

The shampoo I was using just before I switched to my bar (H&S 2in1 Dry Scalp Care with Almond) had plenty of SLSes and silicones...

I don't need a heat protectant, thankfully, since I don't use any sort of heat stylers on my hair.

The silicones build up and leave a residue. That's why you have to use a cleanser that can actually remove silicones in order to get rid of the gunk before you go no-poo. Either an sls shampoo WITHOUT any of the -cones or -xanes or other silicones, or something with coco-betaine should do the trick. Can't use a shampoo with silicones in it still, it defeats the purpose of trying to get rid of the built up goo

My understanding is that using a shampoo bar isn't going no-poo, it's changing what's used to clean the hair. And it seemed like the one-two pump of the two bars got rid of a lot of it, I just need to better work the lather through the areas that are still a bit gunky (which is localized to the back of my head, mostly on the strands. It's an area I have trouble really getting thoroughly anyways).

Just been to the supermarket and bought timotei no silicone shampoo and conditioner. Going to use the whole bottle up then start on my shampoo bars and see if there's any improvement.

I'd like to pop into this thread if I may to recount my shampoo bar experience to date

Four days ago I too began making the transition from silicon-laden shampoo and conditioner to a Genny-type shampoo bar (-thank you for generously sharing your recipe, Genny).

In my bar I have kept the oil proportions the same as the original recipe, but used sunflower oil instead of soybean, and lard instead of shea butter. Sunflower oil because I have been unable to source soybean oil locally, and lard because my OH has a sensitivity to shea butter.
(I reasoned that should the bars not work out as shampoo, then my OH can use them as facial bars. He is prone to very dry skin while mine is oily. If all goes well though I shall treat myself to a proper shea butter version!)
I HP'd, used no fragrance or EO, and SF'd at 6%.

After the first wash my hair felt vile. It combed out easily enough after rinsing, but once it was dry it soon settled down into being a gunk fest. It felt as though some semi-sticky gloop was holding it together. I combed it through as best I could and styled it in a plait, and then tried to forget about it

Yesterday I washed my hair again. I stood in the shower and gazed at the bottle of shampoo on the shelf and wondered 'Should I?!'
Then on the spur of the moment I grabbed a 20% superfatted 100% coconut oil bar instead and washed my hair thoroughly with that. It felt so great to have loads of lovely lather! After rinsing I washed my hair once again, but this time with the shampoo bar.

I didn't use conditioner or acid rinse, and my hair combed through easily. Once it was completely dry it felt a whole lot better.
I'm not 100% happy with how it feels, it still seems a tad 'tacky' in places, but at least when I move my head it 'swishes' around again like hair should, rather than being glooped together like some great mutant dreadlock, and it does feel clean and fresh now, which it didn't before.

It feels so nice having an itch-free scalp - for over twenty years now I have quickly developed a sensitivity to it seems every shampoo I have ever used, and it feels so good to have an itch-free, non-cracking, non-flaking scalp

That is the main reason I hope the shampoo bar works out for me. I think the coconut soap helped shift some of the gunk (-silicon?) residue from my hair. It felt so very unpleasant beforehand and I did wonder if it was worth carrying on!

Next time I wash my hair I'll use the coconut soap again, followed by the shampoo bar. Ultimately I hope to use the shampoo bar alone.

I forgot to say that we are lucky to have soft water here.
Also my hair is long, I do not dye or blow dry it, and while it is adjusting to the new regime I will keep it plaited, I think I'll go for the Rapunzel look

After today's shampoo, trying to focus on the area where there's still gunk... Still didn't get it completely off. I think the almost-gone shampoo I had bought to wash non-machine-washable wool knits is silicone-free, though. Might try a localized application of it next time. (It's from the Suave Naturals line up.)

The places where the previous wash got rid of the gunk are very soft after today's wash, and I didn't even have time to put my leave-in conditioner in it!

I'm now 5 weeks into using my Shampoo Bar (- as per Genny's original recipe, albeit with no EOs or FOs, and Lard instead of Shea), and things are slowly improving
(Btw, I normally need to wash my hair every 5-6 days, it's long, I don't blow-dry, and my scalp tends towards dry rather than greasy).

Up until last week, every time I combed my hair (- I have long, slightly wavy hair, which I comb with either a rake or a wide-toothed comb), a thin layer of greyish-white residue would collect on and coat the inner edges of the comb teeth. This residue I could scrape off with my fingernail, and could be collected and squished together like putty :Kitten Love:
I'm not using conditioner, and I don't use any styling products, or colour my hair, so I assume the grey squidgy stuff was some kind of silicone residue (?)

I do think that this residue was the cause of my personal funky hair syndrome, when my hair was tacky and glooping together, and also the cause of the weird staticy effects (- I had unusually static, flyaway hair for the first few weeks).
It's definitely clearing now though, and just small amounts the mystery gunk are collecting on my comb, and I've been wearing my hair loose again, as the tackyness has just about completely gone

My scalp dermatitis has cleared up completely, and for the first time in years, my scalp is not flaking or cracked or raw. I can't say how great that feels!
I am shocked though at what had been building up on my hair, I always though shampoos were there to clean, not leave a build-up of gunky residue...

I had the same silicone residue, looked like dandruff bits in my hairbrush. Now I seem to have washed it all off, it took about two weeks with shop bought silicone free shampoo. I have now started using my own shampoo bar with a citric acid rinse (instead of vinegar as I don't like the smell). My hair has never felt better, it is smooth and shiny and I now only have to wash it every other day rather than daily.

Anna, are you still using the coconut soap bar? If so, thats possibly where the gunk is coming from. With a 20% SF, a lot of oils are getting left in your hair. Your regular shampoo bar is low cleansing and it just can't wash all that excess oil away at once.

Saponista said:

I tried a variety of different shampoo bars, but every one left my hair feeling really weird, kind of springy and rubbery. I just couldn't stand it. I went back to standard shop bought shampoo. It's such a shame as I would have loved to get it right. I have very very fine hair and I think it was ending up coated with too much oil. Do you rinse with neat apple cider vinegar?

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My hair is like yours. I have tried several shampoo bar recipes but they all leaving my hair feeling stripped, yet strangely oily and straw like. Yuck. I wish I could figure this out. I have never tried adding citric acid but I suspect my problem might be with the pH.

Obsidian said:

Anna, are you still using the coconut soap bar? If so, thats possibly where the gunk is coming from. With a 20% SF, a lot of oils are getting left in your hair. Your regular shampoo bar is low cleansing and it just can't wash all that excess oil away at once.

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Hello Obs
I used my coconut bar just the one time, which was the second time I used the shampoo bar. Although I think it did help me move away from the 'one solid dreadlock' look, I didn't want to use such a high cleansing bar on my hair any more than was absolutely necessary, and yes being 20% superfat, it will have left a residue all of its own. Thank you for pointing that out

I have very long hair, which would mean proportionally more residue being left on my comb too.

Interestingly I've had the same 'funky hair syndrome' once a few years ago, when I switched brands of shampoo, from Head and Shoulders (I think - not 100% certain, as I've used so many?) to a much cheaper, no-frills, supermarket own brand. At the time I held the 'new' shampoo responsible, and returned it to the shop...

And as for that yucky feeling when you can't run your fingers through your hair, because strands suddenly decide to stick together (- this is what I experienced anyway)... I think that 'funky hair syndrome' is a very apt name for it

My hair LOVES shampoo bars, by my scalp hates coconut oil (and SLS, which is why I wanted to use shampoo bars). I tried just buying one without coconut oil, but I couldn't find one in my search. They all work for a few tries then start to irritate. Some brands are better than others. I tried a 100% coconut oil soap once, before I knew, ouch!

That's why I am here, I decided to make my own. I wanted to keep the oils very basic. Partly because I don't know what I am doing yet and didn't want to waste a bunch of expensive oils if I screwed up . I used Lard and Castor oil, but I just made it last night so it will be a while until I can try it.

I use a vitamin c rinse instead of vinegar or citric acid. No real reason other than because I had a bunch of pure vitamin c crystals left over from a film developing project a couple years ago . Works well and doesn't smell like anything.