How not to smell like a tire when you do, in fact, smell like a tire
July 2, 2018 10:25 PM   Subscribe

My hair smells like black tar because I just used a new shampoo containing black tar. No matter how much perfume, leave in conditioner, and dry conditioner I try to soak my locks in, the result is the same: all I smell is wet asphalt. On me. All over. What do I need to bathe in to rid myself of this horrible mistake?
posted by Hermione Granger to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
tomato juice? That's what gets skunk smell out, I'm led to believe. Jumping in the ocean might help. Or maybe some Dr Bronner's. Dilute! Dilute! OK!
posted by vrakatar at 10:37 PM on July 2, 2018


baking soda can remove odors but you'd have to use a lot of it? Like powder your hair and scalp with it and just... IDK cover it with a shower cap and wait an hour? and maybe wash it out and do it again? But Baking soda might do the trick.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 10:38 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


Just going to note tomato juice doesn’t actually work on skunks- myth busters tested it and hard fail. There *is* a mixture that does kill the skunk stink thial but as it contains hydrogen peroxide I’m fairly certain it’s not safe for hair unless you want the worlds weirdest dye job.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 10:44 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


Per my quick google, vinegar is not terrible for hair and I know it absolutely gets the impossible smells out of my workout clothes. Likely can’t hurt.
posted by charmedimsure at 11:27 PM on July 2, 2018 [2 favorites]


Get some soap on your fingers and wash your nose hairs, as well as you can without causing serious discomfort for yourself. Sometimes scents linger because they live in your nose, at least in my experience, and you smell it more strongly than anyone around you as a result. I could of course be wrong in your case, but it's a cheap thing to try.
posted by Sunburnt at 11:40 PM on July 2, 2018 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I'm assuming that you mean coal tar shampoo, that one might use to treat psoriasis or seborrheic dermatitis. They do work wonders, but I've learned that there's a trick or two to using them. The ones that are stong enough to heal the scalp are pungent. MG217 is my favorite, and well worth the odor.

Hard learned lesson on using stinky treatment shampoo: Condition and rinse your hair first. Then put the coal tar shampoo on, let it soak into your scalp for 10-15 minutes, rinse like mad, and don't follow it with anything until after your hair is completely dry. Treatment shampoos often contain conditioning ingredients, so doing this isn't too bad. You can use another shampoo after, but it usually doesn't help enough to bother with and it strips your hair more. Just don't condition in the same hair washing session after using a coal tar shampoo. I have fine, frizzy, snarly hair, and while this is no fun, it is how I've gotten the best results.

So right now you need to stop adding, and start subtracting. Conditioners by nature are cationic and substantive, same principle as fabric softener. They stick to your hair and coat it. Putting more on is the last thing that you want to do if you want to get rid of a scent.

You can't cover up an odor, but you can get rid of the cause. Wash your hair with a simple clarifying shampoo, and rinse like crazy. If the shampoo isn't clear, it probably has some kind of conditioning ingredient, film-forming ingredient, and/or refattening/pearlizing agent, thus it isn't clarifying. (examples: polyquaterniums, dimethicone, glycol stearate or distearate, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride) You have to strip off all of the conditioners, all of the oil and lubircation. Your hair is going to feel like straw. Let it dry all the way without adding anything to it at all. It doesn't feel nice, I know. If you do use actual soap, which is not a good choice as it is far too alkaline for hair, do rinse with vinegar of any kind to help restore the naturally acidic pH of your scalp and hair.

After your hair is fully dry, overnight dry, it shouldn't smell anymore. Then go ahead and take a bunch of your favorite thick and creamy conditioner and put it on your dry hair. Let it soak in for an hour, then go rinse it out. Or use some light leave-in conditioner, though this may reactivate the tar smell until it dries. Anti-frizz serum works too.

(For anyone wondering about the basic chemistry of this, as conditioners are cationic and shampoos are anionic/amphoteric/nonionic, cationic polymers can be added to anionic surfactants without affecting their ability to cleanse. I don't really understand why, but real chemists figured this out so that I don't have to.)
posted by monopas at 1:14 AM on July 3, 2018 [21 favorites]


If you are indeed using coal tar shampoo for medicinal purposes and monopas's procedure is too complicated for you (I have pretty bad seborrheic dermatitis but I'm also extremely lazy)--consider getting a prescription for other options. I use a 5-minute leave-in clobetasol shampoo right now, which is "big guns" but I'm scrubbing away the steroids after a short period of time and it's definitely the most effective in calming down a flare. When I didn't have colored ends and thus wasn't concerned about minimizing the amount of sodium laureth sulfate touching my hair, I also used ketoconazole prescription shampoo which is an antifungal that works pretty well for maintenance. The clobetasol has no significant scent and the ketoconazole doesn't smell great but is nowhere near as pungent as coal tar.
posted by serelliya at 2:08 AM on July 3, 2018


Tar can be loosened from its' stickiness with oil, so if your hair is literally coated in tar, cleansing with oil might get it unstuck from your individual hairs.
posted by juniperesque at 8:36 AM on July 3, 2018


It should fade in a few days with use of a regular shampoo.

Using a shampoo with ketoconazole might remove the offending odor particles faster. Nizerol is the brand name of OTC ketoconazole shampoo in the US, it is sold as an anti dandruff shampoo, is also an antifungal, and some studies have shown it to slow male pattern baldness, by stripping DHT-laden sebum from hair follicles. I use it on my hair a few times a week, and whenever I get something nasty smelling on my skin, I use it as a body wash. (I am not aware of any studies supporting this, just my own experience from trying multiple soaps).
posted by ethical_caligula at 8:49 AM on July 3, 2018 [1 favorite]


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