Sebum :(

[Elichan]

I have 1b fine hair, and I find it becames oily so fast ( I have to wash every other day, but my hair really claims to be washed daily...). The smell it's so bad, my hair looks dull and sad, and itches so much. This get worse in winter (also because of my sebhorreic dermatitis, which fortunately is mild, by now...) . What can i do? :(
This is my hair routine:
- Henna, once a month aprox. I find it helps a lot whit my sebum problem... but 2 weeks after doing henna my hair returns to be as always... :mad:
- ACV rinses, I can't do it so often because when I do it my hair becomes dirty sooner... is this normal? Do you think that lemon + water rinses do better results?
- Natural shampoos: Urtekram for dandruff... I love it, but my hair becomes oily soon, even though I wash every other day
- Conditioning: never roots :)
- Never oiling my scalp. Just Jojoba in my ends
- Never hairdryer, I leave my hair dry at air

Please help! :(

[Pierre]

If the smell is caused by bacteria, try various essential oils. I suggest rosalina (close relative of tea tree, but smells prettier) and ylang-ylang (normalizes sebum).

If the smell is caused by detoxing, eat lots of raw veggies, raw fat (olives, coconuts, or avocados, whichever you like best), and no cooked fat. This will probably make the smell worse for a while, until you finish detoxing, and then the seborrhea may disappear.

[Katze]

I have similar hair, AND get SD, and my hair/scalp get exactly as you describe if I do not regularly use shampoos with sulfates. I notice that my hair really needs to get "clean" - while also needing more moisture on the length and ends. Oiling is hard, for me, as my hair also tends to get oilier faster. So, two suggestions first of all:

1) I would recommend trying a sulfate shampoo, diluted with water, for your next wash. I'd bet this will make a big difference. Urtekram is a nice mild 'poo, but as far as I can remember, doesn't have sulfates.

2) Vinegar should not make your hair oilier, but I would suggest washing it with shampoo first, then following with a vinegar rinse. *Just* vinegar rarely gets my hair clean.

Other than that, conditioning just the ends, no blowdrying, etc., sounds good - you sound like you are doing everything right, but running into the problem a lot of us fine haired people have - hair that gets greasy fast but also likes a nice thorough cleaning.

hth!

[Elichan]

Thanks! :)
Katze: can you suggest me any shampoo with sulfates?
Pierre: I'm probably going to try ylang ylan or rosaline, hope it will works good for my scalp... :cheese:

[Heidi_234]

I heard before that henna helps with scalp, shedding and dandruff issues. If you feel henna helps you, you could do root touch-ups between your monthly hennas with no worries.

[Elichan]

... but henna doesn't damage the hair if applied so often? Someone told me time ago that you can "suffocate" the hair applying henna too often... is this true? :confused:

[Leabhar]

Make sure to scritch or at least gently "scrub" your scalp before or during your shampoo. If I just pour diluted shampoo on my scalp, I get stinky scalp sooner than if I properly massage-washed.

I use sulfate-free shampoos and do fine, but my scalp likes mild vinegar rinses too.

[freznow]

Diet and hair are closely related. Have you been drinking enough water lately? Eating healthy food?

Maybe you need medicated shampoo, or something to kill the bacteria/fungus up there, if that's your problem (tea tree oil; medications; honey is antibacterial, it might help)

[Elichan]

I've alwaws eaten lots of fruits, raw and cooked vegetables (love them :)), fish, olive oil... almost no sugar, lots of green tea, so I don't think it's for the diet. I think I'm going to try the ylang ylang or the tea tree... how do you put essential oils or honey in your scalp? Do you dilute them, leave at night... ?
Thanks for the advices :)

[Heidi_234]

... but henna doesn't damage the hair if applied so often? Someone told me time ago that you can "suffocate" the hair applying henna too often... is this true? :confused:
As far as I know, it's a myth. But in any case, root touch-ups can be done once every 2 weeks without hesitation. Henna is 100% natural and healthy for your hair and scalp. :flower:

[freznow]

I've alwaws eaten lots of fruits, raw and cooked vegetables (love them :)), fish, olive oil... almost no sugar, lots of green tea, so I don't think it's for the diet. I think I'm going to try the ylang ylang or the tea tree... how do you put essential oils or honey in your scalp? Do you dilute them, leave at night... ?
Thanks for the advices :)

Honey I use almost like shampoo (sometimes with my shampoo.) Just take a glob of honey, maybe a glob of aloe, (and if you add conditioner it becomes an SMT!) and spread that all over. Essential oils you have to dilute them in a carrier oil (sometime like 15-30 drops essential oil per ounce of carrier, like jojoba) or put them in a mister bottle with water, and apply that to your scalp and massage in. Leave it in as long as possible (your hair should not be greasy after this) and repeat after every wash/when necessary.

[teela1978]

I find that vinegar rinses make my hair oilier faster too. My theory is that since vinegar closes the cuticle so well, that the oil doesn't absorb into the hair as fast, and just sits on the top, making it look greasy. Just a theory though. Maybe you could just use the vinegar on your length and see if that makes a difference?

[Elichan]

oh... I think it can be true... I'm going to try ACV just on my lenght. Today I tried lemon + water for rinse, and the results were the same: dull hair that tomorrow is going to be oily :o

[saoriiroas]

Here is what I do:
I have a similar problem, I have to wash my hair every other/2 days because my scalp is very troublesome. I wash my scalp with liquid castille soap, and give it a vigorous massage. My castille soap is dilluted with vinegar and distilled water+colloidial silver and I find that this helps me go longer between shampoos. I use neem oil+sweet almond oil on my scalp when I get a scalp irritation. I leave it on overnight, then wash this off with Aussie Moist shampoo and then the castille mix.

I find it is important to vigorously massage my scalp when I wash, I use JASON Jojoba Scalp balancing Shampoo as my daily winter shampoo (I use ALBA botanicals in the summer, and that worked great) after my castille treatment to be sure to get all the excess sebum off. When I use my oil treatments, I also vigorously massage to try to loosen/exfoliate dead skin cells. I do this once a month, or every other month.

I am thinking that you should try using Jojoba oil on your scalp when you do a deep conditioning treatment on your hair. Maybe the frequent shampooing is drying out your scalp, and that is why it is overproducing oil? You can part your hair in many sections, put a few drops of oil on the parts, and then use your fingers to massage the oil all over your scalp.

I have a thought that micronazole/monistat might help with dandruff, my sister has either SD or psoriasis, I am going to be experimenting on her next week and will post the results. Neem oil, tea tree oil, sweet almond oil, lemon juice, colloidial silver, vinegar,honey and every brand of dandruff/sd/psoriasis shampoo does not work, even prescription! Sometimes there is not much you can do except frequent washing :(

[teela1978]

Thought I'd add that I agree with Katze, you might want to try a commercial shampoo that uses sulfate detergents. I buy the cheapest shampoo available from the store and then dilute it a lot. The detergents used in the 'natural' shampoos are often a lot weaker than those in more commercial brands. If you're not removing enough oil and dead skin cells to start with, your hair will get dirtier faster, and I suppose could start to smell.