Scalp no longer produces ...sebum?

[Dreams_in_Pink]

The only problem I had when my scalp was too...sebumless , was that my scalp would get itchy, I'm assuming because it was too "dry" in a sense. If you don't get that itchyness, then it's probably fine.

it's not itchy, i'm glad I think itch is an outcome of some kind of "allergy" or irritation. I had itchy head back when my hair was greasy and i thought it was because of greasiness :/ go figure.

I've noticed this too, recently! My scalp like, produces NO oil. When I massage it, I can just hear my roots moving around. I don't see any oil on my fingertips or anything. It's as if it just doesn't exist anymore.

wow, i found someone with dry head!

My scalp is really dry too and hardly produces any oil.
Did you ever try Aubrey Organics White Camellia conditioner? I love it so much ... it's the only conditioner I've found that actually leaves some oil in my hair when I rinse it (and my hair really wants that oil so this is a good thing). I also use it as a leave-in conditioner when my hair looks dry. It is so useful. Without it my hair would be a dry frizzy puffball.

I'm afraid we don't have brands like suave and aubrey organics in stored here (also coconut oil, can't find it anywhere!) besides, i can always put some oil on my scalp and length, no need to wash it less

Antibiotics for flu don't make sense. Antibiotics kill bacteria, including good ones in the gut. A flu is a viral infection.

Well, everytime we go to the doctor's for flu they always prescribe us some kind of antibiotics. They say it prevents infection in lungs

Could you explain this?

I agree about sufficient fat. Not just omega-3, but also olive, coconut, and others. My main source of fat is avocados, but I include others in small amounts.

I consume good amounts of olive oil every day. Besides, my diet hasn't changed since my greasy times, so i assume it's not diet.

Hmm...

It makes sense within normal ranges of oil, but sebum is a weird excretion in that whole cells die off and get excreted along with the oils they held while alive, instead of just secreting oil. So, as the cells die off and get replaced, they *need* to be excreted as sebum.

This is why stripping oils makes the scalp over produce it, the rate of cell death and replacement amps up, almost like inflammation.

In the case of a majorly under-secreting scalp, adding oil is unlikely to reduce that secretion more.

OP: what is your haircare routine?

wow, i didn't know that! What happens in case of dry dandruff then?

I'm in a trial and error phase in my routine now. Currently, i'm massaging my scalp and brushing every day, deep treatment the day before wash and then washing with a cone-free conditioner. I've only done this once though, maybe dryness can be caused by not having a constant routine?

Oily dandruff and dry dandruff are usually 2 very different things. If you haven't tried Head and Shoulders with the dry dandruff, it may help.

Also, there is usually a balance between good bacteria and yeast on the skin. Antibiotics don't discriminate, and kill the good with the bad. The result can be more yeast/fungus on the skin. Yeast usually thrives in oil, though, so if anything, dryness is opposite of what I would have expected. ...?

Are you on a low-fat diet?

I used head and shoulders for months, and i came up with dry flake covered head. It was totally useless.

about antibiotics, well, i guess it's not the reason then my hair always behaves in the opposite direction though, nothing works on my hair! : and no, i'm not on a low-fat diet (i've never been)

[Wicked Princess]

My scalp behaves similarly to yours - it doesn't produce much in the way of oil. Even after four or five days, my scalp itself is fairly dry, doesn't flake much, and what flakes are there are tiny and dry. If I were to scratch (very gently) at my scalp, there isn't usually anything under my fingernails. After four days, the roots behave as if they're a tiny bit greasy, but my scalp itself is generally dry.

Of course...I thought this meant that I was successful in stretching my washes, not that something was necessarily wrong! If your scalp seems healthy, aside from dryness, then maybe this is just how your scalp reacts to an SLS-free routine!

I wash my hair every 5 days. Before every wash, I do heavily oil my hair and scalp for a few hours before the actual washing. It seems to protect my hair from drying out too much and stops any minor itching I'm experiencing from my dry scalp.

I'm going to be spying on this thread to see if it turns out I've been doing something horribly wrong for a couple months now, heh!

[Bellalalala]

Dry dandruff= dry scalp sloughing off dead cells

Oily dandruff= the dead cells that are secreted as part of the sebum are super-delicious to the natural fungus that grow on your head. Fungus are eaten by bacteria, so if your natural bacteria levels are low, the fungus can get out of control if there's enough sebum around to feed them.
The fungus overgrowth results in large, yellow-y, oily flakes that tend to get stuck in hair instead of just dusting your shoulders.

Dandruff shampoos kill off the fungus temporarily.

Some people, like me, are prone to low levels of bacteria, so we can have symptoms like oily dandruff, yeast infections, and stomach issues.
Anti-biotics can cause these symptoms as well, since they kill off bacteria.

It's not black and white though, there are many types of fungus, many types of bacteria, many types of anti-biotics, and every body has different pH levels, which affect all of these things.

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Have you ever tried washing with baking soda?
Even though I get oily dandruff, I have pretty low sebum secretion, so dandruff shampoos fix the oily dandruff for me, but they cause dry scalp dandruff in return, and then a rebound of sebum, which encourages the fungus.

Baking soda doesn't strip oils, but most types of "dirt" as we know them will get washed away with a basic solution of baking soda and water.

I just rub handfuls of baking soda on my scalp, then rinse well, and rinse with lemon juice to bring the pH back to slightly acidic (hair is normally slightly acidic, pH ~5-6).

Lemon juice will dry hair if applied normally, but acids applied after a base can actually act as a conditioner...yay chemistry!

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Anyhoo, try and experiment.

I tried WO first and my hair loved it until winter started and then I went with baking soda and lemon, which is my new favourite and pretty much solved all of my scalp and dry hair problems.

If you are using a conventional shampoo, I would definitely recommend experimenting with something that doesn't strip the little oil that you are secreting.
Unlike me, you don't get rebound sebum secretion when you strip the oils, so what oil you do have is precious.

Good luck.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

Good info there, Bellalalala. Your case is very similar to mine. When i was using anti-dandruff shampoo of head & shoulders, oily flakes were replaced by dry flakes right after wash, and as i reached the end of the week, oily dandruff was back again.

Since i started to go SLS free, i only have dry dandruff. Maybe SLS shampoo was so harsh for my skin that my skin reacted badly by flaking and producing sebum more. More sebum+flakes were the source of fungus infection now that there's no more irritation and extreme levels of sebum production, low levels of bacteria on my scalp can finally control fungus growth wow, everything makes sense now

About the baking soda thing...right now i'm trying to find if CO+ACV rinse works for me. If it doesn't, i'll try that. I already let go of SLS shampoos, also coney products because of that (to cut down on needing to clarify).

Thanks a lot for the post!

Of course...I thought this meant that I was successful in stretching my washes, not that something was necessarily wrong! If your scalp seems healthy, aside from dryness, then maybe this is just how your scalp reacts to an SLS-free routine!

I think so too, but since i'm such a noobie in hair and scalp chemistry (also the results i'm getting are quite drastic), i wanted to make sure i'm doing things right.

[countryhopper]

not sure if you've tried this yet or not: dilute vinegar and water 50/50 and dump on the scalp. massage in and rinse. This is suppossed to be good for dandruff (not sure though if it's for oily or dry dandruff!)