Smelly me

[minkstole]

I have settled into a routine that suits my hair and scalp pretty well: I CO every other day, s&c every now and again (every two weeks?). I use either a leave-in or oil afterwards. So far so good.
My problem is (how to put this delicately?) my funky smelling scalp. It is not just paranoia either - I have had people close to me point it out. "Rotten candybar" was one description. I suspect it is the lack of shampoo combined with the oil.
What to do? Ignoring it and not caring is not an option for me.
Any and all suggestions welcome!

[anna1850]

Could you mask the smell with some essential oils.

If I'm doing an ACV rinse without any nice-smelling leave in afterwards, I just get an empty 330ml shampoo bottle, fill it with water and add a few drops of essential oils and it smells pretty good. I like orange EO best I think or lavender when I'm stressed.

[Patrycja]

have you tired a clarifying treatment with baking soda and shampoo?I know that you do use CO but maybe its all that condish and oils that have built up over time.I did a clarifying treatment last night and I woke up to the greatest hair.I mixed my baking soda and Sauve Vanilla Floral scent into a paste and washed my scalp.I did gently squeeze the sude down my length.When you rinse it doesn leave your hair scary feeling but once you apply a conditioner and wash it out,your hair is back to normal.But a much softer normal.

[spidermom]

I'd just shampoo a little more often - maybe once a week. You can dilute the shampoo; shake it up in some water in a squirt bottle. Be careful about baking soda. It made my hair matt together like felt.

[minkstole]

Thank you for the advice - I will try both the more frequent shampooing and adding scents. I recently clarified (though not with bakingsoda), so I will leave that for later. Cannot be smelly Minky;)

[Anje]

How's your scalp texture? Is it like healthy moisturized skin, or is it gunky or dry? I'm thinking that while shampooing more may help, there may be an underlying issue that we may or may not be able to solve with the usual products.

If it's gunky, you could try doing an occasional brown sugar scrub of your scalp. Mix brown sugar with conditioner to make a nice gritty mixture and scrub your scalp. Rinse well. You might also benefit from a special shampoo and/or condish, or maybe an antifungal like people have been smearing on their scalps for growth... Tea Tree Oil mixed with your usual oil might be good on your scalp, too.

[jojo]

a scalp wash? im not too sure how to do one though but some of the ladies do them!

[lora410]

I get gunky to and had that smell last week. Nobody noticed it but me and I was like ehhh. I use poo bars so I am thinking to much oil=scalp buildup. I did a baking soda and poo super scrub last night. I actually used my nails to really scrub that junk off my scalp. I feel so much better and no offish smell today; so thats just my suggestion.

[Growin' It]

What about doing a WO every day (warm water, getting your fingers in and rubbing a bit) between your COs? I'm thinking if you have too much 'stuff' (oil, sweat, etc) near the scalp but not down the length, this might help redistribute it. HTH