oily hair

[Freeland]

Do you have any recommendations for oily hair, but dry ends. I know it seems like an oxymoron, but my hair is an oily mess by the end of the night, but yet my ends are fragile and dry. Could my moisturizing shampoo be the culprit of my hair woes?

[Nat242]

I feel your pain, I have this problem too. I used to have to wash everyday because my scalp would be so oily, but I've stretched it out to every second day. Here are some things that worked for me:

- Try a non-sulphate shampoo, or dilute your shampoo. Too much of the "detergent" ingredients in shampoo can strip your hair, contributing to dry ends, and it stimulates your scalp to overproduce oil. Diluting my regular shampoo works really well for me. ETA: I'd hazard a guess that your current shampoo is contributing to your oily scalp, without helping your ends much. Try a new one.

- Don't shampoo your ends. Try putting conditioner on your ends *before* you shampoo, as well as after. This is known as a CWC wash method.

- Look at the ingredients of your conditioner. Some conditioners contain what we call "cones" (check the articles section of the website for more info on what a "cone" is and you can identify them in your conditioner). Cones seal the hair, trapping moisture in, but also trapping moisture out. Some people find that cones work wonderfully for them, for me, I found they exacerbated my dry ends. I switched to a cone-free conditioner, which helped my ends become more moisturised.

- Use a leave in on your dry ends; I would recommend pure, virgin, unrefined coconut oil, or shea butter, or jojoba oil. Others prefer extra virgin olive oil, or other oils. I would recommend oiling your ends *lightly* when your hair is still a little damp, as a little oil can help keep the moisture in your hair. Coconut oil also helps prevent protein loss, I believe, which can lead to stronger hair. If your ends seem dry during the day, you can always add a bit more oil. It takes some experimenting to work out what method and what oil works best for you.

- When your hair is damp, put it up in a bun. This helps your ends stay moisturised.

Hope that helps!!

-- Natalie

[spidermom]

I second the idea of CWC with diluted shampoo. I have an oily scalp also, and this has made a huge difference for me.

[Riot Crrl]

I know it sounds weird but I had the most luck with CO. (Cone free though of course)

It seems clear to me that my scalp had always been overproducing oil as an overreaction because of getting stripped by detergent. Once the detergent was gone, it stopped. But like everything, YMMV.