Scalp and oiliness issues

**MsBubbles** · July 27th, 2010, 08:32 PM

Petite Simone, I knew your hair type before I even opened this thread to read it! Not trying to be know-it-all, just know exactly what you're talking about. I have my Dad's fine, dead straight greasy hair and really 'should' wash it every day. The most I can 'stretch' my washes is 48 hours but honestly it looks greasy already after 24 hours. I fell for the lines 'your scalp will get used to it! I only wash my hair once a week now! It only took 2 weeks to adjust!'. Er, well a year later and here we are, 24 hours to greasiness. Regular as clockwork.

The best compromise I can think of so that I don't have to wash the ends every day, is doing scalp washes only, every other day, and a full length wash once a week or so. I think it has saved my hemline and saved me from overwashing my dried, fragile ends.

I have considered going totally paleo in my diet to try to achieve a less-acidic system, to see if that affects it. But I don't do too well at restrictive diets so I never found out if that's what was making my scalp oily.

This issue started for me at puberty and is still going strong at 43.

If you have to wash your hair every day, just do it, but try to find the gentlest way possible for you.

**Capybara** · July 27th, 2010, 08:59 PM

Just a thought - do you wash your hair in the morning or in the evening? If you are set of stretching washes, why not start by alternating washing in the morning and evening, so on day one you wash in the morning, then day two you wash in the evening, then wash in the morning on day 4 (skip day three) ... therefore leaving a day and a half between washes, if you really can't stand leaving two days? Just a thought

It may be that you have to wash your hair every day, at least for now. Everyone is different. I know that I used to have to wash my hair almost every day - probably caused by hormones, and also the fact that my hair was much shorter than it is now, so therefore the sebum didn't have as much hair to cover (at least this is my theory) - but I don't have to wash my hair every day anymore. I never had a "transitioning" period, because I only ever washed my hair when it needed it, so the change from washing every day to once every 3-4 days minimum was very gradual and I didn't have any noticeable "extra" greasiness during this time.

I don't think that I garnered any damage from washing every day, because I was always very gentle with my hair. Washing hair isn't a bad thing

If you can't stretch washes, that's okay - do what works best for you. Not everyone has to have the same routine.

Also, I have to agree with what MsBubbles said. Scalp washes are a fantastic idea! You could also try WO rinses, or dilute your shampoo and rinse with that.

Hope you find a routine that works for you!

**Darkhorse1** · July 27th, 2010, 10:15 PM

Ooh, I feel your pain. This was the story of my life from 12 to about 35.

What I ended up doing was scalp washes every other day, which became daily due to my lifestyle with horses. I had a special salon shampoo for greasy scalp and it worked well/kept my ends safe.

A few tips I learned over the years:
1. Rinse, rinse and rinse again. Sometimes left over shampoo will cause greasies
2. Ph Balance. Use ACV rinses to help keep your scalp balanced.
3. Dandruff shampoo--the itching is the fungus due to excess oils on scalp. Head and Shoulders is really nice--I use the citrus one as it seems to cut the grease the best
4. Diet. Drink lots of water and try to stear clear of excessively oily foods. Anything deep fried for me, would cause oil to come out of my skin--I could blot my face and scalp oil after eating french fries.
5. Cool water rinses. I find this soothing and helps keep oil down, but NOT icy cold.

Shampoos I've found work: Pantene Clarifying, Herbal Essence Degunkify--use a shampoo that is CLEAR. Any other won't work---even the pharmacists told me this. Except head and shoulders. That seems to work fine.

Hope that helps!