Bentonite not rinsing out!!??

**naturalbeauty898** · 12-26-2012, 08:00 AM

I HATE bentonite clay! It's not for me. My hair is fine and every time I try to like it and use it... I feel it is so drying (and this time I added honey and olive oil.. it STILL DIDN'T make my hair feel nice at all). And this stuff gets stuck to my hair. I constantly rinsed it out... I put in my leave in conditioner to try to detangle the small section that still has some clay in it (it's the section in front, right above the forehead). I tried everything! I feel like I will pull my hair out if I try to scratch, tug, or anything else! I don't want to cut my hair off, how do I get it out?! NOTHING is working and I am panicking!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to sleep but if it dries, I don't know what I will do! I really want to cry right now, I should have never gave this stupid clay another chance...

**KnottyAuthor** · 12-26-2012, 11:27 AM

Well..I hate that you have to go through this..I did too and canNOT stop trying to warn everyone and their mama on the dangers of bentonite clay. I wish I could ban all those dern YT videos on it, lol. But it works for some people, just not us I guess.

Hopefully your hair is loose and not locked. I had locks and never got that junk out of them. Now, my hair is loose again ( experimentation with the clay contributed to my decision) I'm glad to say it's out..but it took a few years of me trying to get it out. I knew bc I had white bands from the clay leaving behind residue (ah, the sacrifice of learning and going through trials so others can learn what NOT to do). Anywho. if your hair is locked and you see build up from it, forget about it, it may not coming out unless you release your locks by take-down OR cutting. If your hair is loose, you can effectively wash it away..no worries, even if it dries it just will get powdery and 'sprinkle' out as you untangle..ewww I know, I know.

Get some sleep.

Stop with the condish. For some reason or another some oils (olive, jojoba are two i tried) and conditioner seemed to join to form a cement with the powder. Go back and rinse with some ACV, maybe 50/50 or 60 acv/40 water or AVJ and let it sit on your head for 30 minutes , then rinse. You may need to repeat. You're doing a few things, loosening up the clay and recalibrating your hair to a PH that will bring it back to a neutural/almost acidic PH. Clays are very basic/alkaline and make your cuticles open and 'trap' in the clay, clingining to it. We want your hair to slip. Wash only with sls/sles free shampoos-but dilute a capful in 8oz of AVJ or water..the AVJ is moisturizing and nourishing to the hair, provides better slip than plain water. Get some coconut oil, smooth between your hands until it's in oil form and work into your hair in sections, detangling with your fingers and securing in china bumps or something. Then, take your time and rinse and finger detangle each section. Follow up with a DC of your choice, stick with sls/sles free soap solution and clarify if need be with shampoos with it. Once your hair is free of the clay, condition it again.

After I freed my hair of it, it took maybe 2-3 washes before I totally saw no more clinging to my hair-but it was manageable and only on a few indiv strands. Let us know how it goes! hth!

**soapinphilly** · 12-26-2012, 03:46 PM

what is the clay supposed to do...headed to youtube ...

**Vavoon** · 12-26-2012, 07:46 PM

when i hate this problem i rectified it with acv/baking soda rinse. it really did this job but then i had to deep condition

**Claire76** · 12-26-2012, 08:49 PM

I'm inclined to cosign KnottyAuthor's post.

That said, it's clay. If your hair is loose, it should come out more easily than it would if your hair is locked. Once I tried bentonite clay in my loose hair and it came out. But not without patience and perseverance.

**KnottyAuthor** · 12-26-2012, 08:53 PM

@vavoon girl, not for me...but glad for you, I was wondering how you made out!

I cant remember how mature your locks are...but I did the clay around yr 4 or 5 after reading raves about it on the lock board....foot...I wish I NEVAH! It did bring out lint and impurities..but it left behind a beach of residue I never could get out of that tightly packed matrix.

I figured sharing might help others...life is a journey after all. The key is to keep learning.

@claire76 Yup! I tend to think mature lockers realllllllly need to be careful what they do with their locks, bc of the difficulty getting things out once something penetrates that 'matrix', whereas locks that are still forming are much more forgiving!

@Soap...it's supposed to cleanse and bring impurities out of the hair, some say it softens their hair.

**Vavoon** · 12-26-2012, 09:03 PM

im 2 yrs in.. i will never use bentonite clay because of the amount of lint it brought to surface of my locs! never again!

**ebonyquean4u** · 12-26-2012, 10:32 PM

Wow. I'm surprised about this. Never heard about it. I've used rhassoul clay and love it and have thought about trying the bentonite as another option. I haven't had any issues with the rhassoul. Are they similar?

**KnottyAuthor** · 12-27-2012, 02:05 AM

Sorry @ebonyqueen4u If Rhassoul works for you by all means stick with it. All things will definitely impact us all differently.....btw I've never heard a bad thing about rhassoul and it was created by one of our own! if it works , stick with it. With loose hair, i have tried Shea Moistures cleansing clay and it works fine without the sticking drama so definitely use your best judgement and listen to your hair. Sometimes we get off track and jump on the bandwagon and throw what we know out with the bathwater, and that's not good.

listening to our own hair is best....with mature locks i would NEVER recommend a clay or powder product though.