I am desperate for answers as my son and I have tried everything. Both our bathtub and now our bathroom sink are draining extremely slowly. Last night in desperation my son and I opened up the pipes underneath the drain in the bathroom sink only to discover that there was thick black sludge in the pipe in the wall. We cleaned it out as best as we could but this morning when we got up for work and school and used the sink, the situation is worse than ever. Can someone please tell me what this black sludge is, how to get it cleaned out and how to prevent it from happening again? Is this something that we are going to have to get a professional plumber to do and will it cost us a fortune? I have really been trying to fix it myself but to no avail but paying a plumber a fortune right now to take care of this is not something that I can really afford.
I would appreciate any advice or information that anyone could provide to me
Thanks

Can someone please tell me what this black sludge is, how to get it cleaned out and how to prevent it from happening again? Don't panic Mom, help's on the way. Your drain line's clogged with hair and grease. This will require a hand snake,(see image).
Remove the "J" bend from the trap and send a snake up into the wall, (see image) you will run into a elbo about 6 inches in but once past that you should only have 5 nore feet to put out. Replace the "J" bend and flush the line with a basin full of hot water. Good luck and thank you for rating my answer. Tom