my scalp smells bad after just 1 day of not washing

lolitaaaa · 01-30-2013, 11:00 AM

which is annoying because I try not to wash it everyday because supposedly that's bad for your hair. But at this rate, I feel obligated to do so.

let me describe my hair a little bit.
On a good day (which consists of much preparation), my curls can be very well defined, voluminous,and shiny, but on a regular day they're big to small loose curls, some straighter than others, and often very frizzy. This is why I apply extra oils to my ends but never my roots. My hair products consist of Moose, either tresume or dove, and I also use some gooey like substance from garne (w.e.it's called) or bed head. I combine the Moose with the gooey stuff for control because alone they aren't strong enough to prevent my hair from looking like a nappyheaded witch.

On the first day, my hair looks fairly decent and bouncy and curly. On the second day, the day that I have skipped a wash, my hair loses its volume, looks very dry and nappy, almost like a bird's nest.lol

the fact that my hair seems to be extremely dry confuses me with the smell it lets off, which kind of like a naturally oily, bodily scalp odor.... when I wash my hair the first day it smells delicious throughout the entire days, I wake up in the morning and it reeks and so does my pillow

why? I feel like the smell is consuming my entire room and it makes me self conscious when I go to school early in the morning because I can smell it....subconsciously maybe, Idk?

ninfee · 01-30-2013, 11:17 AM

are you using coconut oil by any chance? coconut oil goes rancid really fast imo. i have to use minimal amounts in my hair. and make sure that my jar of coconut oil is well kept. if coconut oil isn't in your regimen you may also just want to do a quick check to your oils to see if any of them have gone rancid.

when you're first weening off of sulfates sometimes your scalp does take a little while to calm itself down and will over produce oil for a while. but i find it hard to believe that the 'reeking' can be from just that. maybe you have a scalp condition?

lolitaaaa · 01-30-2013, 01:24 PM

Omg, scalp condition!? D:
Well I used coconut oil like twice, mostly on the tips, but I stopped because it made my hair feel and look a little ugly. To be honest, I believe the smell might of happened way before that. It's not that it smells repulsive like death or anything, but it smells like, you know, you need to shower.

btwitsnatasha · 01-30-2013, 01:58 PM

Try peppermint oil and jojoba (or any oil like sweet almond or grapeseed) and massage ur scalp with it. I heard its good for post workout hair. It breaks up the salt and odor. Might help with ur hair

dusalocks · 01-30-2013, 02:22 PM

Hmmm. It may be that your scalp is just fighting back against the sulfates you're using in your shampoo and, because of that, it's overproducing sebum to compensate. You could try switching to a gentler poo with low sulfates or none. . . Oh and my cousin uses a dry poo on 2nd day hair and 3rd day hair. Have you ever tried them? They're supposed to refresh the scalp and soak up the oil. I've never tried one myself but she likes Renee Furterer Dry Shampoo.

Ericachristina · 01-30-2013, 02:33 PM

Maybe you should try co-washing your hair every day. I find that my hair loves conditioner and daily co-washing after my workouts even a light conditioner really helps combat dryness. You can wash your scalp with the conditioner and scrub lightly with the pads of your finger tips, what I like to do when rinsing the conditioner out is to stand directly under the water and lightly scrub and massage my scalp while the water is running through my hair and rinsing away the conditioner.
Try this for a while until your hair adjusts and then maybe you won't need to co wash as often.

Ml001 · 01-30-2013, 02:46 PM

Are you using sulfates? My scalp does this with sulfates. Two of my kids have the problem, too. One is an adult and won't listen to me about it but the 12 yr old still does what I say and he now uses sulfate free shampoo as well. Problem solved. I have noticed it very slightly on a rare occasion with non-sulfate 'poo as well if it is too harsh but it is really bad with sulfate stuff. I would wash in the morning and it would stink by evening. Now I can easily go for a few days without washing my scalp. You might consider using baking soda/acv to help clarify and remove the odor. Then consider cowashing or at least using a sulfate free shampoo.

lolitaaaa · 01-30-2013, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by btwitsnatasha

Try peppermint oil and jojoba (or any oil like sweet almond or grapeseed) and massage ur scalp with it. I heard its good for post workout hair. It breaks up the salt and odor. Might help with ur hair

where can I purchase purchase peppermint oil? I have a jojoba spray that I bought at Target for curls, or regular hair, supposedly to thicken it but it just ways my hair down and doesn't really make it smells great.
I was also thinking of using tea tree oil, but the smell is a bit strong and not very pleasant..... when using peppermint oil, shouldn it be used at night and then rinsed out in the morning? Or is it to walk around smelling like a candy canes

lolitaaaa · 01-30-2013, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ml001

Are you using sulfates? My scalp does this with sulfates. Two of my kids have the problem, too. One is an adult and won't listen to me about it but the 12 yr old still does what I say and he now uses sulfate free shampoo as well. Problem solved. I have noticed it very slightly on a rare occasion with non-sulfate 'poo as well if it is too harsh but it is really bad with sulfate stuff. I would wash in the morning and it would stink by evening. Now I can easily go for a few days without washing my scalp. You might consider using baking soda/acv to help clarify and remove the odor. Then consider cowashing or at least using a sulfate free shampoo.

what is Cowashing? and it could be the shampoos, it feels get you when I'm in the shower. It makes my hair hard and then feels a little thick after. where can I get some cheap sulfate free shampoo? I use to buy the L'Oreal 1 but it got really expensive

lolitaaaa · 01-30-2013, 03:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dusalocks

Hmmm. It may be that your scalp is just fighting back against the sulfates you're using in your shampoo and, because of that, it's overproducing sebum to compensate. You could try switching to a gentler poo with low sulfates or none. . . Oh and my cousin uses a dry poo on 2nd day hair and 3rd day hair. Have you ever tried them? They're supposed to refresh the scalp and soak up the oil. I've never tried one myself but she likes Renee Furterer Dry Shampoo.

yes I have tried a suave 1 and 1 from tresume. it works fine when my hair is straight but when it's curly and oily just at the top I feel like you can kind of see the white stuff looks a little like dandruff, after I comb it out of course...

lolitaaaa · 01-30-2013, 03:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ericachristina

Maybe you should try co-washing your hair every day. I find that my hair loves conditioner and daily co-washing after my workouts even a light conditioner really helps combat dryness. You can wash your scalp with the conditioner and scrub lightly with the pads of your finger tips, what I like to do when rinsing the conditioner out is to stand directly under the water and lightly scrub and massage my scalp while the water is running through my hair and rinsing away the conditioner.
Try this for a while until your hair adjusts and then maybe you won't need to co wash as often.

Co-washing means skipping the shampooing process every other day? I use very minimal shampoo when I do wash, just on the roots. I don't think I use to use shampoo but I felt maybe I had a little greasy chunkiness on the top and dryness on the bottom.... my hair is super annoying, sometimes things work wonderfully for the first few days and then it's like my hair becomes resistant to everything

dusalocks · 01-30-2013, 03:44 PM

Cowashing is washing only with conditioner.

Scroll down to item #5:

How to Follow the Curly Girl Method for Curly Hair: 15 steps

Sounds crazy if you have an oily scalp but a lot of people who used to have oily scalps say their scalp calmed down once they cut out the sulfates. (Sames goes for people who had dry scalps. . . ) Which Suave did you use by the way? I didn't know they made a low poo. I thought they just made shampoos without silicones. For what it's worth, tea tree oil is supposed to be very good at regulating sebum. I do a diluted tea tree treatment once a week in place of co-washing or low-pooing. It just feels very invigorating. Trader Joe's makes a low poo called Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle if you want to try that. It has cocobetaine and olefin sulfoconate 12-14, two ingredients that aren't sulfates and yet still remove silicones if you don't want to change your styling products or do the CG method. If you do decide to cowash, I am in love with Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle conditioner and that might be good for the scalp too. A lot of people like As I Am coconut Co-wash (you can buy at Sally's) for cowashing the scalp but it turns out it has a preservative my scalp doesn't agree with. I still use it for my hair though. It's a five star product.

You should try out various things and keep us posted.

rainboe · 01-30-2013, 11:07 PM

How well do you scrub your scalp? I use the pads of my fingers in a circular motion along my whole scalp to work the shampoo in. It takes like at least a minute or two for me to thoroughly clean my head. Also, it could be some kind of build up, so maybe you could try a clarifying shampoo?

My scalp use to smell bad, too, after a while without washing. I use a shampoo with tea tree oil, and it helps a lot with both flaky scalp and smell.

lolitaaaa · 01-30-2013, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dusalocks

Cowashing is washing only with conditioner.

Scroll down to item #5:

How to Follow the Curly Girl Method for Curly Hair: 15 steps

Sounds crazy if you have an oily scalp but a lot of people who used to have oily scalps say their scalp calmed down once they cut out the sulfates. (Sames goes for people who had dry scalps. . . ) Which Suave did you use by the way? I didn't know they made a low poo. I thought they just made shampoos without silicones. For what it's worth, tea tree oil is supposed to be very good at regulating sebum. I do a diluted tea tree treatment once a week in place of co-washing or low-pooing. It just feels very invigorating. Trader Joe's makes a low poo called Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle if you want to try that. It has cocobetaine and olefin sulfoconate 12-14, two ingredients that aren't sulfates and yet still remove silicones if you don't want to change your styling products or do the CG method. If you do decide to cowash, I am in love with Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle conditioner and that might be good for the scalp too. A lot of people like As I Am coconut Co-wash (you can buy at Sally's) for cowashing the scalp but it turns out it has a preservative my scalp doesn't agree with. I still use it for my hair though. It's a five star product.

You should try out various things and keep us posted.

Oo thanks for all of the information. The suave was actually a dry shampoo that I found at a super 99 cent store... it leaked all over the place so I only used it once but it smelled like lemons.
I am hesitant not to use shampoo because I did the whole baking soda shampoo replacement thing, and it just didn't work out well for me. Do you suggest I put the tea tree oil in the shower or the day my hair is dirty? It's oder is pretty strong and my mom hates it lol

dusalocks · 01-31-2013, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lolitaaaa

Quote:

Originally Posted by dusalocks

Cowashing is washing only with conditioner.

Scroll down to item #5:

How to Follow the Curly Girl Method for Curly Hair: 15 steps

Sounds crazy if you have an oily scalp but a lot of people who used to have oily scalps say their scalp calmed down once they cut out the sulfates. (Sames goes for people who had dry scalps. . . ) Which Suave did you use by the way? I didn't know they made a low poo. I thought they just made shampoos without silicones. For what it's worth, tea tree oil is supposed to be very good at regulating sebum. I do a diluted tea tree treatment once a week in place of co-washing or low-pooing. It just feels very invigorating. Trader Joe's makes a low poo called Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle if you want to try that. It has cocobetaine and olefin sulfoconate 12-14, two ingredients that aren't sulfates and yet still remove silicones if you don't want to change your styling products or do the CG method. If you do decide to cowash, I am in love with Trader Joe's Tea Tree Tingle conditioner and that might be good for the scalp too. A lot of people like As I Am coconut Co-wash (you can buy at Sally's) for cowashing the scalp but it turns out it has a preservative my scalp doesn't agree with. I still use it for my hair though. It's a five star product.

You should try out various things and keep us posted.

Oo thanks for all of the information. The suave was actually a dry shampoo that I found at a super 99 cent store... it leaked all over the place so I only used it once but it smelled like lemons.
I am hesitant not to use shampoo because I did the whole baking soda shampoo replacement thing, and it just didn't work out well for me. Do you suggest I put the tea tree oil in the shower or the day my hair is dirty? It's oder is pretty strong and my mom hates it lol

Huh. So suave makes a dry shampoo. . . good to know there are drug store alternatives.

Oh, I'm staying away from the baking soda clarifying thing. The ph level is pretty vicious for your hair even if you follow with an acv rinse. Some women swear by it but for me it doesn't compute.

So the tea tree oil. . . I take a few q-tips, dip them in pure tea tree oil (which I get from trader joe's), dip them again really fast in a glass of water to dilute and then massage my scalp with the ends of the q-tips. I'd say I use maybe ten q-tips (both sides) for the whole head. I gently massage my scalp (which is dry, my hair is dry-I do this pre shower) for a few minutes and try to be thorough. Then I get in the shower and rinse before applying my conditioner. You're right. The smell of tea tree oil is very medicinal and since it's rather astringent, I don't want to leave it on my head for any period of time. But once the hot water hits the scalp and opens up my pores, there's an invigorating sensation I've grown quite addicted to. It's pleasant.

I got the idea in my head because my scalp was getting quite itchy and flaky. I thought it was just "dry scalp" and that my scalp was healing before I realized, "hey, I never had dry scalp before. . . I never had any scalp problems before!" So it was just product buildup from conditioner washing and my scalp reacting to that preservative I believe. Must've been because my scalp hasn't itched/flaked since. And I knew that tea tree oil is good for skin whether it's oily or dry (my brother used it to clear up his combination type skin which was dry/oily and caused acne) and could set things straight again. So far it's been working out for me. You could always give it a go! It might help.