New to the forums, advice for the greasies?

[Jeni]

I'm another one with fine hair and an oily scalp. When I first joined I tried spreading out my washes (I was a previous everyday SC), I tried for about 2 or 3 months. Never worked for me. I tried sulphate/ cone free, sulphate and cone free, and sulphate and cones, nothing worked. Sulphate free made my hair greasy by the evening! I have given up, if I want to go somewhere I have to wash my hair. If I am just hanging around the house I will only wash every other day, any longer and my scalp is itchy and I feel yucky. I have often thought that is my hair was dark I could go out with 2nd day hair, the oily roots wouldn't be as noticeable I don't think. As of now the roots and about 3 or 4" get very dark which makes them look even greasier. Oh and BBB don't work for me either when it comes to distributing the oil, it just makes my hair look spot welded to my scalp.

By all means try stretching the washing out, it might work for you, I wished it had worked for me. Just don't get discourage if it doesn't, nothing works for everyone!

[Islandgrrl]

You know, I just did think of something.

What if you were to space your shampoo washes out a little longer and do water-only rinses in between?

Even though I don't have an oily scalp, I could never go more than 3-4 days in between shampoos. I do water-only rinses in between and have gone as long as 2 weeks in between shampoos. It's been 9 days since my last wash - it wasn't looking so hot this morning, but I rinsed it out after my workout and I'm surprised at how good it is. Might be worth a try....

The other thing I though of is how you might be conditioning your hair. Do you use conditioner all the way to your scalp? I only condition from the ears down and use a little leave-in to protect the bottom 2 inches or so. It's helped with scalp itchiness unbelievably, which lets me keep my hands out of my hair.

FWIW, I used to be a daily shampoo/conditioner girl (it's been 10 years, though since I quit shampooing every day) and my scalp was way oilier then than it is now - I HAD to wash daily. I guess I didn't put two and two together until now.

[teela1978]

You might also want to think about diluting your shampoo. I think the concentration of detergents in shampoos is much higher than anyone really needs. I dilute each time I wash my scalp in a separate container, a small glop of shampoo in about a cup of shower water. It seems to help the shampoo get under my hair easier, and uses a LOT less shampoo. I think my ends like it better too.