The fuss with greasy hair...

[Iylivarae]

So, hi there, I need help.

My hair has been greasy since puberty started, and it is still greasy now... I just don't have nice hair anymore, as soon as it is dry from washing, the roots are already a bit greasy and stringy. I don't use harsh shampoos, I apply conditioner only on the lengths... I just don't have an idea how to fight that grease any more!

Every tip would be appreciated, so... tell me everything you know!

(And, if you like, I'll offer some Swiss cheese here :D)

[squiggyflop]

my hair is greasy too... im almost 19 (this friday) and its been greasy since puberty too... baking soda/shampoo scalp washes help me sometimes

[Curlsgirl]

What about a clarifying shampoo only on your scalp like Suave Clarifying? I always had to wash my hair at least every other day when I was in my teens and sometimes by then it would be awful.

[*Elvina*]

I would say, find out what works best for you. For some people it's better to wash their hair less frequently and with a milder shampoo (one without sulfates maybe), while for others it's more frequent washing and a shampoo that contains Sles.

[lora410]

Have you tried a shampoo bar? I know there are ones for greasy hair issues. Tea tree oil I believe is a good one. I know the soap lady of oregan and chargin valley have ones with tea tree oil in them. Or maybe just try mixing a bit of tea tree oil in with your regular shampoo?

[Kyamo]

Mines greasy, and going CO=conditioner only helped. It's still greasy but not nearly as bad.

[Iylivarae]

Thanks for those ideas!

I'll try that tea tree oil-thing tomorrow, CO-ing maybe in my holidays (I've read that it sometimes leads to greasier hair, so I don't want to see anyone then... if that happens).

I can't buy Suave-products over here (Europe), but I've tried about five shampoos now, all organic, and most of them have made my hair even greasier, except for one, which I use now... but this seems to make them sticky or coated, so I'll have to change again.

I don't know where to find shampoo bars here, except for LUSH, so I'll try one of their bars, I think.

[talullah]

I would say, find out what works best for you. For some people it's better to wash their hair less frequently and with a milder shampoo (one without sulfates maybe), while for others it's more frequent washing and a shampoo that contains Sles.

Yep. Washing less and using gentler shampoos doesn't work for everyone.

Also, there's a popular theory around here that excessive washing and harsh shampoos leads the scalp to produce more oil, therefore if you're prone to a greasy scalp, you should wash less and over time the scalp will learn to produce less oil. But this isn't necessarily true for everyone, either. :twocents: Some of us just are better off using regular sulfate shampoos and washing frequently.

Personally, I use an SLES shampoo (Nexxus Therappe) and I wash every other day or every two days. My scalp and hair are very happy. :)

[MadPirateBippy]

You might want to try doing a baking soda wash for a week or so, or try it on the weekend, to see how it goes. I had great luck with mine (and I'd even link you the recipie I used, but it was all on my journal here and that's not back yet)

It was basically mixing a tablespoon or a teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of hot water, letting the water cool while you shower, then massaging it into the scalp and rinsing. When that's done, do some sort of heavy rinse with water, and then an acid rinse. See if your hair likes it, it's cheap!

If not, perhaps adding a bit of baking soda to your shampoo or conditioner would help, just remember to do an acid rinse. Baking soda is a base and opens up the scales of your hair, making it a bit more prone to damage, so use some acid to close your hair up again when you're done washing.

Hope that helps!

[Mahars]

I second the shampoo bar idea. I used them for a few months and found that I could go a day or two longer than normal between washes with very little grease. I stopped using them because they took too long to use and because they stripped my color, but they were amazing for scalp happiness. I only tried the CV bars but I hear the PLH ones are good too.

[Ohio Sky]

The part that really sucks about greasy hair is that anything you change to try to fix the problem will probably have some kind of adjustment period. I never had a problem with my hair being greasy until I quit using commercial poos.

I use CV bars now and once in a while a vegan shampoo and condish. I think Nettles is recommended for greasy hair as far as poo bars go, and some people seem to have immediate results with this and some people have a few days/weeks of greasies and waxies after switching.

You may also check into the WO method. I dont know if I could do it, but some people who have had greasy hair problems swear by it, and they all have beautiful results after the "adjustment period" is over.

Hope that helps :)

[SolSara]

CO really helped me. I didn't have awfully greasy hair, but it looked quite bad second day after wash and I always had it worn up until washing the third day. After 5 months with CO (three times clarifying) I'm down to CO-washing scalp once a week, and then it's not even greasy!

I've heard Rhasoulclay is very good for cutting down on the production of grease. I tried it once instead of CO-wash not long ago, but it was to drying for my scalp at this point. :( To bad, because I really liked that it was natural and cheap. (Though, not so easy to use..)

[salamander]

You could always try going water only for a week or two, then going back to washing normally and seeing if your grease production has decreased. For some people, when they wash their scalps, the scalp struggles to replace the oil lost as soon as possible, so leaving it alone for a while lets it calm down. This experiment is, of course, best paired with lengthy backpacking trips into the wild or something so you have an excuse for being a greaseball.

Oh, connected to the scalp-trying-to-replace-oils thing, sometimes it's trying to reestablish the "acid mantle," which protects you from infection, and which shampoo, being basic, disrupts. So, you could try a vinegar rinse, and see if that helps. I haven't actually tried this, but hey, worth a shot, right?

[AJoifulNoise]

I have a very greasy scalp/hair, too. I tried to stretch my washings with disasterous results. I CO just about every day and it works. Usually by the time I've COed 6 times I need to shampoo.

You just have to figure out what works for you. The "rules" don't apply to everyone. :)

[lapushka]

I have oily hair, but the CO or CG method don't work for me. If conditoner (I don't know why) touches my scalp, I shed like mad. I have the same thing with some shampoos but it's okay with others. I use mild shampoos, natural ones (De Traay, Urtekram, Essenza), shampoos for dry hair because they're generally more nourishing and more hydrating for wavy, curly hair. Sometimes I use a plain SL(E)S shampoo to clarify especially if I've used cone conditioners. And that's it. Apart from that there's little you can do but try and find ways to make it work. You have to find out though if it's oily because you wash it to much without it being necessary (try and stretch it), or if it's really oily (hormonal).

[Iylivarae]

Thanks a lot for these ideas!

It will take me quite a long time to test them all, but if they help, there's nothing to complain about. I already tried most of the greasy-hair-shampoos in the only shop here, where they sell organic products, so I'll rather concentrate on the WO/CO/baking soda-stuff, for I also don't know where to get cheap 'poo bars here... LUSH bars have SLS in it, so it could be harsh too... but... we'll see.

If the smileys worked, I'd put the smiley with the bunch of flowers here, so just imagine it here: [ ]

[Poolsoflaughter]

I do CWC every other day, and that's helped me tame the grease a little bit. Wish I could be more helpful. :(

[Kirin]

Everyone here has an opinion, so I'll share mine :D

My daughter, 13 went through a two year battle with greasy (almost waxy) hair. Here's the thing though, the more she shampooed, the worse it got.... it wasnt even dry yet, and it was greasy still...... if she washed more, the grease got worse.

Not washing, or using conditioner only was NOT an option. We've tried those, and it managed to make her greasy lank hair even worse, she looked like she hadn't bathed in years. Her hair after 1 day would get a smell to it not to be believed.

After checking with tons of dermatologists, one recommended she might be having a "hyper reaction" to commercial chemical laiden shampoos (not just sls but fragrance, additives, even in sls free shampoos).

Try using soap. Seriously, shampoo bar (chemical sls free), or what worked for her, Dr. Bonners liquid castille soap (most healthfood stores have this).

Your hair might feel a bit strange at first, but go with it, after one shampoo with it, her grease was gone, and has remained that way with a nightly shampoo with soap, for almost two months now.

[Mahars]

I have had ok results with castille soap too. If you're willing to give another natural shampoo a try, Aubrey Organics shampoo is soap based, all natural and works really well to keep my greasies at bay. They sell it on Amazon, Drugstore.com, and many other sites.

[Ice~Cold~Wind]

I'm going absolutely nuts over my greasy hair. It gets greasy just hours after I wash it! No matter what I do, it just keeps coming back! Grrr, trial and error as usual. lol :)

ETA:



Try using soap. Seriously, shampoo bar (chemical sls free), or what worked for her, Dr. Bonners liquid castille soap (most healthfood stores have this).



This sounds like a good idea. Maybe I'll try this myself!:smile:

[Kirin]

YES, try shampoo bars, or castille soap, your ends may not like it but I bet your scalp will!

[Lilli]

I'm going absolutely nuts over my greasy hair. It gets greasy just hours after I wash it! No matter what I do, it just keeps coming back! Grrr, trial and error as usual. lol :)

My hair was really greasy when I was your age. Now it is not. (I am 31.) It is pretty common to be greasy when you're young. I had to wash my hair every day back then. I don't now. So my advice is to get old. :D

[adiapalic]

My hair used to get greasy pretty easily, and I would wash it every day. I would nearly go insane if I went more than 2 days without washing it because the grease would start looking and feeling so bad.

Now, it seems I can go about 3-4 days between hair washes since I started CWC with Burt's Bees Shiny Grapefruit shampoo and Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose conditioner. Also, as far as those stringy hairs around the face and on top of the head, my BBB really smoothes those down and heads distribute the oils downward into the hair. But this is just what has worked for my experience with a greasy head. :)

[Feli]

WO may really work for you. As has already been written, WO works great for some people with greasy hair who are then amazed to find out that after a period of transition, there scalp settles down and presents far less sebum than it ever did using shampoo. I don't have particularly greasy hair and I can't speak from experience because I've only been WO for 10 days, but I've read the entire 213 page WO archive thread and there were several people who had greasy ("sebumy") hair and had success swapping over to WO.

[rogue_psyche]

I have had greasy hair since even before puberty and what has worked for me is switching to shampoo with milder cleaning agents. However, be careful when choosing CV bars. Not every bar is good for oily hair. My hair liked Chamomile and Citrus. My hair looked greasy just hours after washing with Honey and Egg, though.

If you have a Trader Joe's in your area, their Spa Nourish shampoo is a milder shampoo that always has given me good results and allows me to stretch washes very well. I CO wash in between washes with this shampoo.

[ikn]

I'd definitely try the CO method, it's helped a lot of people but you need to be willing to give the scalp a month or so to readjust before you declare it failure. For me I noticed improvements within a week though, my hair I much less prone to become greasy now.

I hope you find something that works for you!

[Armelle]

I had to do a search today for threads with "greasies" mentioned. I really can't pull my hair up any longer since it looks very greasy. I have shorter curls up front and they really look bad. When my hair is down, no one can see the oily hair around my face.

It has actually gotten worse as I've gotten older. I had worse problems with severe dandruff when I was younger though.

I've tried washing more often, less often, changing shampoos/conditioners, staying with the same ones, clarifying, and now I've swapped over to CO with the occasional clarification. I've also attempted to cut down on the number of times i touch my hair with my hands, but will do the occasional scalp massage if my head hurts. :)

Still it's greasy as the base and dry and tangled for the length of it. I'd rather handle the greasies than fight with dryness.