Stuff in my dreads, help!

[he who shall not be named]

Hey everyone, I have a problem I'd really love some advice with. I have 18 month old shoulder length dreads (Caucasian hair if that matters) that end in about an inch of loose hair (wizards sleeves). A couple months ago I started to notice thin strands of matted hair amongst the loose ends . Upon closer inspection, these matted strands were bluey-greeny-whitey bits of stuff that held bits of hair together. The only way I could get it out was by ripping out the strands of hair (and even then I couldn't be sure the stuff wasn't still in the tip of my dreads). This problem has continued to this day, and the stuff keeps coming back. I don't know what it is or how to stop it, please help!

Thanks 

[lexmercury]

Wash your hair with dish soap and hot water regularly, make sure you squeeze them a lot like sponges so it gets inside, blow dry them

[james]

Change what you wash your hair with. Don't use a soap based thing, use a detergent. Sounds like you have some sticky soap that's not rinsing out and getting fluff stuck to it. I had that when I first started dreads at about the same time as you. I was using Dr Bronners and my hard water supply was making it into a sort of scum that just wouldn't wash out. I got a build up of fluff from hats.
Yeah it'll be impossible to get out. But it's ok, as long as you know it's clean fluff.
Get an empty bottle, some litre sized thing, a coke bottle something like that size. Put about 2-3 tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda ( baking soda) in it. A pinch of sea salt and a few drops of tea tree oil if you have it, it's not important. Then fill it up with warm water and shake it up, mix it up. Use that to wash your hair with for a bit. It works a treat.