NW/SO help, please?

[Freija]

Hi! I really, really need your help, please, if you don't mind! My lovely cousin isn't well, and for the past three weeks, she hasn't been able to have her (fairly short) hair washed or made wet at all. She still can't. Synthetic dry shampoos and medical no-rinse shampoos are out, because they tend to involve strong artificial fragrances, and almost as much fuss as washing with water. But her scalp is starting to feel really bad, itching and burning.

Today I suggested that maybe she could try a NW/SO-type routine of scalp care. I really think that it could help. But... I've never been WO myself, let alone NW/SO, so I really don't know enough to give her a specific, basic, straightforward guide, and I can't find one online, either. I know there's an amazing, huge NW/SO thread here, but I don't want to have to send her family hunting through it.

It would be amazing if I could just link her mum to this thread, and if some of you who - unlike me! - really know and understand NW/SO, could please give some really simple steps on how to actually go about scritching/preening/massaging/'cleaning' the scalp so that it becomes less irritated. Do you think you could possibly help, please?

Also - is there maybe anything she could use in conjunction with the scritching, without rinsing it out, to help calm her scalp and clear off some of the build-up? Maybe arrowroot, or a bit of diluted tea tree oil, or aloe vera? Her hair isn't a concern - it's quite short, and takes care of itself, and this isn't going to be a permanent routine - but her scalp really is.

Thank you! : )

[winship2]

Well, I'm not expert but I have read the whole NW/SO thread at least twice, and practice SMP myself. The first thing is to clean her scalp by "scritching". This means lightly, gently, and thoroughly scratching her scalp with your fingernails, to loosen and remove dead skin cells, excess sebum, and basically all the normal stuff we wash out when we use water and shampoo. If she hasn't had a chance to clean her scalp in a while, there might be a lot of this to remove, to be patient. Have a clean towel to wipe your hands periodically to help remove excess. Probably her scalp will become less itchy fairly soon. But if it hasn't been cleaned in a while, you might have to do so much scritching that her scalp becomes a little overstimulated and irritated, so it might be necessary to scritch in 10 minute sessions, several times. I find that if I scritch a little too much at once, I have a short period of a few itches in the hour after that. I think that just means the scalp needs to calm down.

Once scritching is done, the scalp can be massaged with clean hands. This is just what it sounds like-- whatever feels good and calming to her.

Then preen by stroking remaining sebum down the hair, working in small clumps of hair. With short hair, all the hair will become coated with sebum quite quickly.

It's necessary to do this at least once a day, maybe twice. You'll just have to see what is appropriate for her with the itchy scalp. DO it faithfully, but let her response teach you when enough is enough.

I think a spray of distilled water and maybe just a drop of lavender EO might be very nice, but remember anything you put on is not going to be washed off, so don't over do it!

Hope this helps, and I hope your cousin's scalp feels better and that her health improves.

[Ingrid]

This isn't really a NW/SO suggestion but I think a nettle tea would be pretty good to calm the scalp. Boil some water and brew a heaped tablespoon of nettle for 15 mins, then wait for it to cool a little. Dip your fingers into the nettle infusion and run them through the scalp, like doing a scalp massage. The roots of the hair might get a little wet but they will dry much quicker than wetting the whole hair, thanks to the heat from the scalp. Nettle isn't needed to be washed out with water (it's used as a final rinse typically) and it doesn't have a strong smell.

[librarychick]

I'd go with what winship2 suggested, but I'd start by using cornstarch as a natural and non-irritating dry shampoo. Put it on, wait 10-15m, then brush for 5m or so. THEN move on to scritching. That might help get rid of some of the initial oils she's dealing with. It won't help the scalp as much, but it will take care of removing the extra sebum.

If she wants she can do the recipe I use for dry shampoo, which I lOVE and is super easy:

1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 drop peppermint EO

Mix together in a little jar and then shake it for 30-60s. It smells heavenly and the peppermint feels great on my scalp. If you're worried about adding too much product skip the EO, just in case. But the corn starch and cocoa powder will just brush out.

[lapushka]

Can she possibly get help washing the hair? How come, if I may ask this, she can't get to water?

[Freija]

Thank you so much! I'll show this thread - I'm sure it will help her, and I'm really, really grateful. : )

Lapushka - it's not really my place to say, sorry. It's not for want of help, though, that she can't have it washed. : )

[Madora]

Chiming in late here (dumb website would not load)...I would strongly caution you not to put anything on her scalp until it has been examined by a dermatologist. A burning scalp is a serious issue in my book.