I hate my scalp!

[Snakecharm]

I need some help, I'm getting very frustrated. I seem to have a very flaky, angry scalp, and I can't quite figure out what to do to make it happy. About 2-3 years ago, I had major onset of PCOS symptoms, and my hair went sort of haywire. My dry to normal hair became oily. It was a fight to stop it from turning into an oil slick only a day or two after washing.

Things sort of normalized after a bit, but then all of the sudden I had dandruff. Major yuck. So I tried just about every dandruff product in the world and finally settled on Neutrogena's T-gel shampoo. It didn't get rid of it, but it seemed to help somewhat.

Here is my current regimen:

I wash once a week. First I scritch thoroughly with a horn comb and then spread the oils around with a BB brush. Then I apply T-gel only to my scalp, let it sit for a minute and rinse. Then I use Cocoa Pink's Princess Poo on everything. (SLS-free, all natural shampoo) And starting about a month and a half ago, I switched out my conditioner (Cocoa Pink Shine Sweetie) for SMT using V05 cone-free conditioner. The length loves the SMT and is shiny and manageable. I've been careful to make sure my scalp gets a good helping, massaging it in. But my scalp is still flaky and angry. It gets better for the first day or two after a wash, and then we're right back at snow mountain again.

What am I doing wrong? Am I drying it out too much? Should I drop the T-gel for now? Previous experiments with oil left me gross and unhappy, but there is an Indian grocery just down the street and I picked up a bottle of Vatika oil the other day to try. I noticed they also carry the Hesh herb preparations and am thinking about trying those.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

~Jenn

[Katze]

could be the Tgel, I remember that stuff as being somewhat harsh.

Also, you might not be washing enough...or too much. Hard to tell.

Do you put the SMT on your scalp? For my 'angry' scalp, honey always calms it down, and every time I do an SMT my scalp is happier.

Honestly since coming to LHC I have had less and less problems, but used to have terrible crusty SD/dandruff that itched and bled. The biggest things that have helped me are:

1) not touching my scalp. That includes massage and 'scritching' - it just gets worse if I do so!
2) washing less
3) more natural products
4) occasional sulfates - when my scalp feels really itchy and won't get clean, and my hair is dull and lifeless, then I know I need sulfate shampoo!
5) diluted vinegar rinses
6) honey

It's been a long path to figuring out how to get a happy scalp and happy hair, but these things really have helped me...maybe they can help you? :)

[MadPirateBippy]

The first thing I would do is get a black light and look at your scalp. If it glows orange, then you have sort of classic dandruf and what's wrong with your scalp is a fungal infection- if the t-gel does not work, check out the monistat thread. Not only will that knock out any fungal infection you've got going on, but it will probably make your hair grow faster.

If your scalp does NOT glow, the t-gel isnt doing you any good. You just have an angry, irritated scalp and some other things that are good for angry skin will probably help- asprin masks, mud masks, aloe, honey (though honey will lighten your hair), etc.

Once you know what direction you are going in, it'll be easier to fix the problem.

I hope that helps!

Oh, as a side note- I'm not volunteering with a couple of doctors who are doing some fantastic research and they've found a huge reduction in PCOS and PCOS symptoms among other things (diabetes, syndrome X, etc) for people who eat beans at one or two meals a day. It's cheap, there are some great recipies out there, and an unfortunate side effect is you loose weight and your cholesterol and blood pressure go down. We've got the Texas Diabetes Council to vouch for us and we're working on some other stuff, but if what's going on with the PCOS is it's pushing up your blood sugars and insulin levels and making you more suseptible to things that make your scalp itch... try eating beans for lunch and dinner for a month. Your PCOS symptoms should ease up a bit, you'll get healthier, and it might fix some of the scalp problem.

PS- it's damn hard to get the word out about stuff like this when the drug companies have all the marketing dollars.

[Snakecharm]

Thanks ladies~

Hm, black light. I'll have to try that for sure. Maybe I'm going about it all the wrong way. It's possible, I won't deny that. If it *is* fungal, I was already thinking of trying the monistat stuff. I bet that would help. That, and I haven't done ACV rinses in a while. May have to add that back into the routine soon.

You know, I just keep hearing more things about beans lately! That's such a coincidence. I'd already been making an effort to include more in my diet, sounds like I may want to go even a step further. Thanks much for the information!

I hear you about the drug companies. =P I'm learning to veer away from doctors that constantly want to prescribe the latest, greatest and most expensive drug because they're inevitably in the drug companies' pocket.

[Auryn]

T

Oh, as a side note- I'm not volunteering with a couple of doctors who are doing some fantastic research and they've found a huge reduction in PCOS and PCOS symptoms among other things (diabetes, syndrome X, etc) for people who eat beans at one or two meals a day. It's cheap, there are some great recipies out there, and an unfortunate side effect is you loose weight and your cholesterol and blood pressure go down. We've got the Texas Diabetes Council to vouch for us and we're working on some other stuff, but if what's going on with the PCOS is it's pushing up your blood sugars and insulin levels and making you more suseptible to things that make your scalp itch... try eating beans for lunch and dinner for a month. Your PCOS symptoms should ease up a bit, you'll get healthier, and it might fix some of the scalp problem.


OT but how is losing weight, lowering cholesterol, and lower blood pressure an unfortunate side effect? (I'm hoping that was a typo :) )

[Wind Dragon]

Auryn, methinks our Bippy had her tongue firmly planted in her cheek there. :silly:

I didn't know that, about fungusy stuff showing up orange under black light. Mind you, I don't think I've seen an actual black light since the 70's. Where on earth do you find those now?

[edensapples]

Your poor scalp. It needs loves, not hates. <3

[Anje]

Auryn, methinks our Bippy had her tongue firmly planted in her cheek there. :silly:

I didn't know that, about fungusy stuff showing up orange under black light. Mind you, I don't think I've seen an actual black light since the 70's. Where on earth do you find those now?

I've seen them at Walmart, with the other lighting stuff. You also come across them in pet care stuff from time to time, to help you locate sprayed urine. (Hint -- don't take the thing into the bathroom that any male in your household uses. Ewww.)

[cowgirllong]

You'll keep us posted, right? I've been having dandruff issues as well, so I feel for you. The blacklight tip intrigues me, I may need to try that out.

[Snakecharm]

Didn't get a chance to grab a blacklight, but I did decide to try some monistat. I figured it couldn't hurt one way or the other.

Tried a generic 2% last night on clean, damp hair. So far not bad on the greasies. I can also report that upon application the cream did offer some itch relief. Whether that was the active ingredient or the oils at work is hard to say.

We'll see how this progresses.