my child's head stinks

[Snow White]

The other night, middle child took a shower and when he got out his head smelled like a wet dog. I asked him if he'd used shampoo and he said no. Tonight I washed his hair for him and he still smelled funny. Anyone have any suggestions? It's not bad when his hair dries, just natural boy child smell. :) I'd just like to be able to tell if he's washing in the shower or just playing without having to be in the bathroom with him.

[Regan]

a lot of people do WO and don't have any sort of odour so I don't think it's that. Especially since you did say that you washed it for him and it still smelled. Is his scalp healthy? It might be some sort of fungal related thing.

[julierockhead]

I've noticed that too on my daughter - stinky while still wet, but smells fine later. Just a kid thing I guess.

[neko_kawaii]

I had this problem a couple years ago, though the smells seemed more like urine to me. It drove me to not want to wash my hair and I ended up washing once or twice a week and that seemed to solve the problem. I tried MANY different shampoos/condish and that would seem to work for one or two washes but then the smell would be back. I even wondered if it was my towel and washed it with bleach. Nope, for some reason my head decided it didn't like getting washed all that often.

[cindy58]

Boys are like that, yeah they are.

Especially between 8 - 12 or so, they like to duck under the water and call it a shower. No soap/shampoo necessary! It can be kind of tiresome, you just have to keep after them.

[Snow White]

Thanks everyone. I'll look over his scalp to see if I see anything that might be causing a problem. It may just be little boy smell. :) I have this boy who likes to just use water, and I have another who doesn't even like to wet his hair. It's fun. :rolleyes: I keep their hair pretty short so it really couldn't be too dirty. I also don't make them shampoo every time they shower. But after he played soccer the other night he definitely needed some. :)

[GlennaGirl]

You know, I have the same issue with my children, and that's WITH shampoo. I shampoo their hair and I get a shampoo smell...but I also get a very strong wet-dog smell. Yet once the hair is dry, it smells nice. :)

I use a cheap detangler with a great scent on my boys' hair (heavily against their will, but hey, I'm Mom, what I say goes) sometimes as a ruse when really it's just the day between washings. :p

[heartgoesboom]

how old is he? are you sure it's just his head that smells? i hope i'm not being offensive, but, some boys smell differently than girls at a certain age!

[dragonette@1]

You could try adding a few drops of tea tree oil into the shampoo bottle. That would help with any fungal issues and should fix the smell as well.

[GRU]

Boys are like that, yeah they are.

Especially between 8 - 12 or so, they like to duck under the water and call it a shower. No soap/shampoo necessary! It can be kind of tiresome, you just have to keep after them.

I loved that my 11yo's pediatrician told him "you're at an age now when you need to start paying attention to your hygiene, and you need to take a shower every day when you're going to school. (her kids are aged 14, 11, and 8, so she knows EXACTLY the things I'm going through!)

[Anje]

I'm wondering if there's just something a bit wonky with his scalp and whether dilute vinegar rinses at the end of the shower wouldn't clear it up.

[lapispimpernel]

The Internet™ recommends Selsun Blue/other dandruff shampoos, mostly. Also mentioned are: vinegar rinses, tea tree oil, anti-yeast/fungal products, and sulfur, tar, or zinc rinses. Advice gets progressively weirder & more paranoid after those. :confused:

[skaempfer]

My middle daughter gets this. She had cradle cap as a baby, and when she hit pre-teen (around 10 or so) it looked almost like it was trying to come back, along with a really funky smell. In her case it was necessary to go all over her scalp with a tangle teaser to loosen things up and the shampoo.

BUT.

When choosing shampoos, I found that stronger shampoos actually made the problem (and the smell!) worse and wound up using a natural, non-sls shampoo. Works well now, but she washes every other night (in theory)

[Snow White]

Thanks for the replies.

He's 5 and a half, so still a bit young. I thought about tea tree oil. ( I love that stuff) We've never had a problem with lice, but I heard that tea tree oil will keep them away.

[Lilli]

My baby gets this. It is from his cradle cap, and occasional use of Nizoral antifungal shampoo keeps it at bay. It would also work for older children.

[Xandergrammy]

Come to think of it, my 8 year old grandson's hair smells a little like a wet dog when wet, even after I shampoo it myself.

[PianoPlaye]

I've three boys. The eldest (12) needs to shower daily. (His brothers need very little nudging to start the "yuck you reek" reminder.) He favours short hair & a lemon shampoo & wet, smells like slightly lemony labrador. Dry, slightly lemony boy.

Middle son has a seriously thick pelt but washes it carefully every time "it feels uncomfortable", which is pretty much every three days or so. However, he also enjoys getting seriously messy & has been told to Go Wash before now.

Youngest (9) smells like the eldest but without the hormonal need to scrub. Very labrador like in colour, enthusiasm & affection for muddy puddles at awkward times.


hey, I'm Mom, what I say goes

Thank God for Mummy Power. I've only hauled one bodily into the shower (fireman's hoist is one handy grip!) - the other two looked & learned...

[MandyBeth]

The 14 y/o is into looking nice, so getting him OUT of the shower is the hassle some days. I don't notice the wet dog smell from him.

The 9 and 8 y/os are into the Labrador stage. It's more fun to be wet, muddy and dirty than anything else. But they like getting a scritching from a TT, so DH scritches their heads first, then sends them into the shower. And the threat of they better wash for real, or they can have supervised baths like their sister has so far worked. They do however, when wet, smell vaugely of wet dog. Once dry, it's fine.

Guess it's just the fun of little boys!

[Snow White]

Very labrador like in colour, enthusiasm & affection for muddy puddles at awkward times.



Thank God for Mummy Power. I've only hauled one bodily into the shower (fireman's hoist is one handy grip!) - the other two looked & learned...


That first part definitely also describes my boy. :)

I once put my oldest in the shower in his underpants because he refused to go. I've never had to do that again.