Oily hair on teen girl

[Anonymous]

My 13 yo DD has a big problem with her hair over the past few months. I'm sure it's mostly hormonal but I'm looking for suggestions for a good shampoo or other treatment to help her with her oily hair. Her hair is thick and even after showering it looks and smells terrible. I know she is shampooing and rinsing well and we've tried a number of clarifying shampoos. It still feels terrible to touch all over the scalp. She does not use any conditioner or limits it just to the ends when needed. I'm willing to try something pricier if it will work!

One thing is that she showers in the morning and rarely blowdries her hair completely (if at all.) Would that help if she did? I'm wondering if it will overstimulate the oil glands. Some days she showers at night after sports and though her hair is dry in the morning, it smells funky and looks terrible.

Help!

[Anonymous]

Make sure she's working up a good lather and rinses thoroughly. With thick hair the lather needs to be worked a bit to get to the roots. My daughter did well with Head and Shoulders at that age. It helps with the funky smell from what is basically a layer of dead skin and oil that coats the scalp (yuck, I know). She'll outgrow it. I would also use a conditioner on the ends. Blow drying doesn't seem to make it oilier. If anything, it helps to get the hair away off the scalp sooner, so it doesn't have time to mat up with the oil on the scalp. Sorry if that's TMI, but BTDT!

[Anonymous]

Some possibilities -

Over winter vacation, she might want to try no-poo for a little while, to get things calmed down. She can use a dry shampoo, rice powder, etc. to control surface oil while she tries to get the scalp normalized.

Lush's BIG shampoo is really good with scalp schmutz, but it's stripping.

Alba and others make a shampoo with fruit acids that cleans up the scalp.

In terms of her diet - bad carb metabolism can make skin and scalp oil gross. She could try going paleo for a while, eating little or no sugar/refined carbs, lots of green veg and focusing on monounsaturated fats (olive, etc.) and saturated fats. Many people have normalized skin oils and less BO on paleo.

[Anonymous]

Washing too much, and with the wrong shampoo, can actually cause the scalp to produce excess oil (the body thinks the scalp is too dry and produces more oil to compensate). I would try a sulfate-free shampoo. Does she use any products after she washes her hair? Does it help if she blow dries her hair versus letting it air dry?

[Anonymous]

Also, would she consider cutting it shorter? Easier to wash effectively.

[Anonymous]

PS - the no-poo method that uses baking soda and apple cider vinegar (diluted) really helps with smell. She can't use it all the time, but once a week, sure. About a tablespoon of BS in a cup of water, squirt right onto the scalp, rub with fingertips, leave on a few minutes, then rinse with a tablespoon of ACV in water. rinse with plain water, then rinse with another tablespoon of acv in water. the acv smell will dissipate.

[Anonymous]

I have an oily scalp. It's very important to really scrub and massage the shampoo into the scalp during washes. Sometimes I shampoo twice is my scalp is particularly oily. One of my problems has been that my ends get dry, so I first protect the ends with a little conditioner before going to town with the two shampoos.

Also, like a PP suggested, be sure she is using a high-quality sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner.

If she washes at night, get a good dry shampoo for the a.m. that can be sprinkled near the scalp. I really like Jonathan Products dry shampoo powder - it's organic and not as messy as some others. Don't get the dry shampoo sprays, they don't work as well.

[Anonymous]

Dry shampoo I like
http://www.jonathanproduct.com/home.php?cat=288

[Anonymous]

There was a shampoo that I used a few years ago which suddenly started leaving my hair limp, greasy, and just plain nasty. I thought I had some medical condition, it was that bad. I tried using several different shampoos and a clarifying shampoo to help get all the build-up off of my scalp and out of my hair, but nothing worked. It took a few days of washing with baking soda and the clarifying shampoo together to get all the gunk outta there and get my hair back to normal. Have her try that.

[Anonymous]

Ok, I missed this article in my teen magazines. DD won't let me near her scalp or blow it out for her. Please tell me this phase will pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washing too much, and with the wrong shampoo, can actually cause the scalp to produce excess oil (the body thinks the scalp is too dry and produces more oil to compensate). I would try a sulfate-free shampoo. Does she use any products after she washes her hair? Does it help if she blow dries her hair versus letting it air dry?

This.

This this this this this, for real.

As someone with a formerly oily scalp, once I started shampooing with sulfate-, paraben- and polyethylene glycol-free shampoo, the oilyness went away completely.

My hair is so much better now, I no longer have to shampoo morning and evening like I did at its worst. In fact, I can shampoo every other day now.

Seriously, she is washing TOO MUCH with TOO HARSH of shampoos.

[Anonymous]

If you want to dry the hair out a bit, use some home hair coloring to lighten it. If you pick a shade or two lighter, it won't be too noticeable and it will get rid of some of he oil.

[Anonymous]

When I don't blow dry my hair it looks greasy and awful. I'm blonde and highlight my hair every 3 months because the bleach helps kill the grease. Until I started highlighting my halter it was awful. Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

*hair, not halter!

[Anonymous]

Organic sulfate free blah blah hippie hair products make my hair so greasy and awful!! I recommend highlights and normal shampoo! Also wear hair in a sleep bun and up whenever possible.