Scalp help!

[wrh452]

I have been acting like a crazy woman to try and lighten my henna and so I have been doing vitamin c treatments almost every day. My scalp was a little upset, but it wasn't too bad and it was working. This morning I decided to try baking soda in my morning shampoo and now my scalp hurts so bad and my skin is peeling off my ears and scalp. AND IT DARKENED MY HENNA RIGHT BACK UP! What can I do? I have neosporen on it right now. I want it to get healthy enough in the next few weeks to try and do another vitamin c treatment before I go and get it colored in 2 weeks.

By the way, oddly my hair is fine. It's just my scalp.

[Anje]

Did you rinse your scalp with dilute vinegar or another acid solution after rinsing out the shampoo-baking soda mix? You definitely have to return your scalp to its normal acidic pH after something like that.

Ditch the Neosporin. You don't have an infection, you just irritated it! (ETA: Sorry. Microbiologist. Inappropriate use of antibiotics is a big pet peeve.)

[wrh452]

Well, it was raw and very dry and I think it helped the pain a bit.

I used a citrusie shampoo afterwards, but maybe it wasn't enough? I can dissolve some vitamin c tablets in a bunch of water and do a rinse with that tomorrow. Do you think that would work? I don't have any acv or lemon juice at the moment. I could also super dilute some crystal light with water.

[Anje]

I'd do it tonight if I were you. You aren't supposed to leave your scalp in that pH unbalanced state. Got any other fruit juices? Dilute orange or apple would work pretty well, but you'd want to rinse them out. Failing that, conditioner.

[Flor]

I find it that baking soda mixed with water can be quite effect to soften the skin and remove dead skin flakes (I use it to soak my feet, makes it very easy to scrap off all the hard parts). It's quite likely the flakes you're getting are just that, dead skin. I would gently comb it out and rinse with A LOT of water. And you might wanna hold off all your henna lightening tricks for a while. Your scalp is now freshly exfoliated, leave it be for a while.

Btw, baking soda washes do darken the color (acidic rinses do the opposite), it's a known fact.

[Firefox7275]

I have been acting like a crazy woman to try and lighten my henna and so I have been doing vitamin c treatments almost every day. My scalp was a little upset, but it wasn't too bad and it was working. This morning I decided to try baking soda in my morning shampoo and now my scalp hurts so bad and my skin is peeling off my ears and scalp. AND IT DARKENED MY HENNA RIGHT BACK UP! What can I do? I have neosporen on it right now. I want it to get healthy enough in the next few weeks to try and do another vitamin c treatment before I go and get it colored in 2 weeks.

By the way, oddly my hair is fine. It's just my scalp.

Please stop attacking and burning your poor scalp with harsh acids and harsh alkalines, let your skin barrier heal properly for at least a month. Resetting the pH with vinegar after baking soda does NOT repair the damage done to the acid mantle/ skin flora/ stratus corneum.

You are saying the damage was not too bad but TBH it sounds like the acid had burned through and destroyed multiple layers of skin, the baking soda just loosened that from the living skin beneath by stripping out (saponifying) more structural lipids. You've basically done the scalp equivalent of a facial acid peel, that is more than just exfoliating. Normally after a peel you would aim to keep the dead skin in place for as long as possible by moisturising, the dead skin protects the underlayers from infection and from dehydration much as a scab does.

Consider aloe vera inner leaf gel for its proven healing, anti inflammatory and collagen inducing properties, other than that leave well alone DO NOT apply more acids to raw unprotected skin (AKA a wound) that is terrible advice. Your skin will reset the pH of its own accord through sweat and sebum. Do not use anionic shampoos either unless specifically advised to by a medical professional. Don't overwet or soak your scalp in water either, that is irritant and flushes out the skin's natural moisturising factors .

Run patch tests before EVERY treatment from now on, a damaged skin barrier is at much greater risk of allergic contact dermatitis or irritant contact dermatitis. Also use pH test strips on any acid or alkaline mix you make up.

[wrh452]

I don't think baking soda turning henna darker is common knowledge. I have been reading through pages and pages on here about removing henna and everyone recommended acids or baking soda. Very few reported that it darkened it.

[Anje]

I hadn't kept track of all the other things you'd done to your scalp... You'd be right to baby it and give it a break from all the treatments for a while in that case. My advice was more general for after using shampoo+baking soda to clarify.

You're going to hate this, but if I may make a suggestion: order a wig. You're trying to get henna off (challenging at best) with a time limit, and there's a decent possibility that you might not be able to hit that magic point of the right hair color with not-destroyed hair at the exact moment you need it. It wouldn't hurt to have a backup plan (wig) at the ready, just in case you can't get your hair exactly how you want it.

[ositarosita]

Treat your scalp like a burn, I completely agree with Firefox7275 leave it alone and only apply aloe vera gel ( the real stuff direct from the plant) and leave it alone.. to do anything else now your just going to make it worse. Take a Tylenol for the discomfort but do not touch it.. the last thing you want is an infection on top of everything.

[Leeloo]

Ohhh, I think your scalp needs a long break from all the treatments to heal. They sound very very harsh to the skin.

[Leeloo]

Treat your scalp like a burn, I completely agree with Firefox7275 leave it alone and only apply aloe vera gel ( the real stuff direct from the plant) and leave it alone.. to do anything else now your just going to make it worse. Take a Tylenol for the discomfort but do not touch it.. the last thing you want is an infection on top of everything.

I didn’t even think about this. If you do any more treatments you risk infection or worsening of the damage you already have. We often forget that scalp is a living part of our hair and we treat it as it isn’t.

[wrh452]

I don't have any aloe, but do you think antibiotic ointment would be ok for the worst parts? And maybe just some oil on the rest?

[ositarosita]

100% vitamin E will help it to heal faster but the best thing to do is leave it alone ... give it sometime to heal on it's own .. I would say wrap it in sterile gauze but you might feel a little funny ... but the name of the game right now is to get it to heal cleanly

[ositarosita]

Disclaimer I am not a nurse nor doctor, I do not have any medical training aside from CPR and First Aid ... I'm just a complete clutz

[Firefox7275]

I don't have any aloe, but do you think antibiotic ointment would be ok for the worst parts? And maybe just some oil on the rest?

You have a (hopefully minor) chemical burn so purchase some aloe vera inner leaf gel: it has reams of published research supporting its wound healing, anti inflammatory, collagen inducing properties. By all means use a cream over that but you are the one hoping for the fastest possible rate of relief and healing. Please do not use aloe gel or juice right from the plant, the irritants and allergens (enzymes, other proteins etc,) are in that, you want stabilised/ standardised gel found in a decent quality commercial product.

Do not randomly oil because your skin barrier does not need the fatty acids in the vast majority of them, it needs cholesterol, saturates stearic and palmitic acid, ceramides. Worse: oleic acid which is found in many oils is a proven irritant/ penetration enhancer/ barrier disruptor. TBH the conflicting information in this thread is exactly why you should be checking with an appropriately qualified medical professional instead of asking mostly unqualified people on forums.