Help with my scalp

[Bucatini]

Long thread, sorry!!!

For the first time ever I'm having problems with my scalp, and I don't see anything similar on here. My scalp smells so bad I can hardly stand being near myself. A few hours after a shower, the smell comes right back and gets stronger over the day until I am grossed out by myself. I have to change my pillow case every night because it reeks.

I saw the dermatologist to get a mole removed so I asked her about it. It had only been a week or so at that point. She said it smells "like sebum." I don't know about that, I'm a mammal and I've always had sebum. But I've NEVER smelled like this before. She gave me samples of a shampoo called Clobex. It didn't change anything. (an aside, I have oily skin on my face and my face doesn't smell...)

Nothing specific happened leading up to this. No new medication. No difference in my hair care routine. Not pregnant. No change in my diet or exercise routine. Haven't changed my laundry soap or my pillow or anything. There are no other symptoms, just the smell. No flakes. No itchies. No scales. Nothing bad or weird going on with the skin.

My regular routine is almost daily washing with S&C (V05 blackberry tea, or bioinfusions rosemary mint), once a week I use suave clarifying shampoo and the hask henna-placenta. ACV rinses whenever I feel like it or remember, no schedule for that. Styling products vary. I scritch some mornings before my shower but not daily. I sleep braided. Every couple of nights I oil the length. Maybe once a week I massage my scalp with oil before braiding. I switch between coconut, olive oil, and jojoba. Once in a while I scrub scalp with brown sugar. Haven't changed my routine other than trying what the dr gave me, and nizoral at her suggestion.

I SMELL. I'm embarrassed. I don't know what to do. I don't want to add or remove anything too much all at one time at the risk of making it worse. Ideas???

[Garnett]

Has anyone else mentioned it? I wonder if you've developed a sensitivity to a normal smell? Could your sense of smell be heightened?

[Bucatini]

Excellent questions Garnett. My sense of smell is consistent. I asked a friend, and she said yes without even checking first. No hesitation. Something like "I didn't know if you knew and I didn't know how to tell you." Also my mother mentioned it.

[Sweet Beat]

No idea...:undecided
But I think the first step must be to find the reason why it smells. Do you use hairdryer? If not, your hair maybe getting the smell because of that it is wet for so long.

Good luck solving it! :)

[Firefox7275]

Ask a pharmacist for advice if your dermatologist is unhelpful. You can become allergic to products you have used before, although that does not appear to be the case. You can also strip the protective acid mantle from the skin by washing too frequently, this can let opportunist infections take hold.

According to Google Clobex is steroid-based so won't work for any kind of infection if there is one present. Maybe try an antifungal or antibacterial shampoo (e.g. chlorhexidine based)? Micro-organisms need warmth, damp and food (protein/ fat) to survive - obviously you cannot stop being warm (!) but you can try to spoil their fun in other ways.

Personally I'd cut out all non essential products, just keep one shampoo and one conditioner, but don't let the conditioner touch your scalp. Lose the styling products, scrubs, henna-placenta and oils in case they are aggravating your skin or feeding beasties. Scrub your hairbrushes and combs, hot wash your towels and bed sheets. Maybe let the air get to your scalp more so your scalp stays as dry as possible?

ETA: you tried Nizoral, did that do anything? Did you leave it on for the required time and use at the directed frequency?

[Anje]

Any chance your diet has changed lately?

Any new medications? Sometimes increased body odor can be a side effect.

[Cleopatra18]

Any chance your diet has changed lately?

Any new medications? Sometimes increased body odor can be a side effect.
^^^ This. I know many people who said their sweat smells like garlic after taking garlic supplements, same thing with fenugreek. I feel this is more of an internal issue rather than your hair.

[bella77]

my daughter has a very stinky scalp. She has to use a dandruff shampoo, even tho she does not have dandruff. I did some research and it turns out it's a bacteria that causes the smell. Maybe it's a dietary thing like others have mentioned causing this.

[Bucatini]

ETA: you tried Nizoral, did that do anything? Did you leave it on for the required time and use at the directed frequency?

No effect. I left it on for the time it said to, and let the four days pass between uses.

[Firefox7275]

No effect. I left it on for the time it said to, and let the four days pass between uses.

And you used it the required number of times (two to four weeks IIRC)? You weren't smothering your scalp in other products when you tried the Nizoral? If the answer is yes, then no my money is on bacteria; after all it's bacteria that are responsible for smelly feet, armpits, breath .... whether that is entirely an external issue or an internal and external issue nobody can tell you until you've tried an appropriate antibacterial product on your head, again you should complete the course unless you have an allergic response. You may need to try the antifungal again afterwards as it's not uncommon to have co-existing infections when there's been an issue for a while.

All this is an educated guess of course, do ask the pharmacist before you buy/ try anything. Apart from anything else, my pharmacy is horribly rusty! ;)

[terpentyna]

I say see another dermatologists.

Yes, of course, it's microorganisms that cause the smell, but this is because they are chowing down our sebum and sweat and it's the substances they expel that cause the stinkiness (this is what attracts mosquitoes as well). I would say there's some sort of imbalance going on.

Is this smell consistent? Like does it change throughout the month at all?

[DoubleCrowned]

My first guess is an imbalance of the micro organisms that would normally live on your skin because, like someone else mentioned, it is the bacteria that causes the smell.

The way to keep the bacteria, fungi, yeasts--whatever nasties are causing the smell--in check is not by killing them. In fact, eradicating them would also kill the organisms that would normally protect your skin. So my thinking is to introduce beneficial bacteria that would restore balance to your scalp/skin. I know people who had candida overgrowth on their skin and used this method successfully: they simply rubbed yogurt onto the skin, then spent at least 20 minutes letting it work.

Although my hair and skin did not smell, I experimented with cleaning the scalp with a cotton ball soaked in kombucha as another method of restoring balance to the skin. It left my scalp clean. I don't know if it did more than that, but I do know that the people who had candida overgrowth on their skins were greatly helped with the yogurt treatment.

Of course, benefit from yogurt or kombucha applied topically would be temporary. Eating/drinking them and other probiotics would be needed to balance the flora internally.

[Pierre]

How about trying some essential oils, like tea tree or lavender, on the scalp?

[jojo]

how about trying a ACV rinse ? might help!

[gogirlanime]

Has anyone else mentioned it? I wonder if you've developed a sensitivity to a normal smell? Could your sense of smell be heightened?

I agree with this, but I wouldn't ignore it and approach it like you might have a medical condition

[Ciridae]

I had a similar issue, although admittedly it seemed less severe than your description. My scalp always kind of smelled like 'wet dog' to me, even right after a wash. I found I also had a lot of waxy-flaky buildup, even the day after washing.

It is under control now, because I improved my eating habits; I eat plenty of yoghurt now and I take Omega 3 supplements regularly. I drink lots of water and wash my hair every 2-3 days maximum with a gentle SLS free shampoo. But the biggest improvement can be attributed to switching to a ACV as a final rinse. Whatever was over-stimulating my scalp cleared right up after two weeks of sticking to ACV. Might be worth a go for you. :)

[Mesmerise]

Have you tried products with added tea tree oil? I find it really effective against skin infections, and if it's a bacterial issue then possibly tea tree oil would help with this.

[Wavelin]

I've done a bit of lab work on infections in school, and in my experience fungi does not smell as bad as bacteria. Fungi smells like yeast or nothing at all. Bacteria can smell horrible, and from your description it sounds like some kind of opportunistic bacterial infection.

It's important to know the difference before treating, because different substances kill fungi and bacteria.

If you and people around you notice the smell, then I think you should get a second opinion from a doctor or pharmacist.
Good luck!

[Bucatini]

UPDATE: I tried the yogurt thing.

I tipped upside down in the kitchen sink and smeared plain (non-fat so I can eat the leftovers) yogurt on my dry scalp and, by extension, my roots. I never thought to leave the yogurt sitting out to warm up, so that part was unpleasant! By making a tight bun/knot sort of thing, the tension of my hair being gathered worked to press the yogurt onto my scalp a little better. It also seemed that it was going to leave me with a huge tangled mess.

Surprisingly it was not tangled or knotted. It rinsed right out no problem. I did use VO5 S&C after, condish only from ears down, and skipped all styling products.

It seems to have cut way back on the stink. 1 being nothing and 10 being worst ever, it normally gets to 5-6 level by noon. But right now it's at about 2 or 3.

Keeping fingers crossed... will update this evening....