Greasy hair

I am absolutely at the end of my tether over this. Basically, my hair is just getting greasier and greasier. I've never been able to go more than 2 days without washing it, but since moving to London, it starts looking greasy even the same day, I assume because of the water here. I have to use dry shampoo on the days I don't wash it but even that's not working now. I washed my hair yesterday morning, put Batiste on today and there is a noticeable layer of grease. The only thing that worked was when I got my hair cut into a short bob, but I can't afford to keep getting it cut. I'm really trying to resist washing it everyday but I'm very close to it now. It just isn't worth feeling manky all day. I know it sounds silly but I'm so conscious of having dirty hair that it's affecting my confidence - I declined an invitation for drinks this evening as I felt so greasy and crap. At least I feel good when my hair is clean.

Does anyone have this problem? Is there anything I can do? And if I do end up washing it every day, is it really that bad for my hair? It needs to be blow dried each time. And I'm already getting flyaways and stuff from drying it every other day. It's so frustrating.

taram

Agh I feel your pain, I moved to Shropshire a few weeks ago and my normally poker straight hair has started getting frizzy and dirty looking after a few hours. I've cut out conditioner except for the ends, and I use a shampoo for build-up every second day, and rinse my hair with vingear once a week, and I scrub my scalp extra carefully every time. It's a total pain, I've changed my shampoo about 3 times, and it's still not as healthy looking as it was in Cork Hope you get it sorted soon.

Does the vinegar help? I already use conditioner only on the ends and use a build up shampoo and it makes no difference. My hair seems to get used to everything I put on it really fast, even the build up shampoo itself!

eVeNtInE

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taram

[quote=[Deleted User];63123754]Does the vinegar help? I already use conditioner only on the ends and use a build up shampoo and it makes no difference. My hair seems to get used to everything I put on it really fast, even the build up shampoo itself![/quote]
Damn, you're in a bad way so

I definitly think so, but my water is definitly hard, where as you might have a different problem. Smells like hell though, after I'll rinse with bottled water.

fits

just wash it every day. it wont do any harm

jenny2hat

Biolage Normalizing Shampoo is awesome, have a friend who has the same problem and she swears by this

fend

Dry Shampoo.... Its the shiiiizzzz :D:D


Batiste is the business! At about 4 euro a can, and available everywhere, ya can't go wrong!

fend

fend wrote: »

Dry Shampoo.... Its the shiiiizzzz :D:D


Batiste is the business! At about 4 euro a can, and available everywhere, ya can't go wrong!

As I said, it doesn't work for me anymore. Been using it 2-3 years already. I'll try the suggestions on here before I start washing every day. I reallllly don't want to and my hairdresser told me not to (I get a dry scalp and my skin hates shampoo) but I hate feeling manky all the time.
Dunno what's up really, I've always had greasy hair but it was always grand the second day. I remember a year ago I was doing my TEFL course and had no time and could even get a third day out of my hair if I used Batiste. Now even the day after, it's ineffective.

fonpokno

Just wash it every day. I have to wash mine every day and I could never ever go two days without looking like an oil slick. My hair is softer and shinier than a lot of my friends' so it can't be that bad for it really. I also tend to change shampoo all the time. We just have a stash of everything so I'll grab whatever's there. In saying that the best shampoo I've used it this one. So cheap but I always find it brilliant. Leaves my hair really really clean.

I also found dry shampoo never did a thing for me, always felt absolutely disgusting. I also can't leave the house with unwashed hair. It just makes me feel awful, like everyone's staring at my head. Stupid I know but ah well!

insert-gear

fits wrote: »

just wash it every day. it wont do any harm

It actually makes it greasier if you wash it every day. And thats before the blow dry damage

Get a dry shampoo maybe and put that in. Or you could buy those massive 2l bottles of bottled water that are piss cheap and wash ur hair in a basin, if its getting to the stage that its affecting your social life

amdublin

fits wrote: »

just wash it every day. it wont do any harm

Nope because after a few weeks it won't last the day and you'll need to wash it twice a day. It's ironic, the more you wash it the greasier it gets.

Try Dry shampoo.

Or a small amount of talcum in an emergency.

Special K

Talcum powder is grand to cover up the greasy look in an emergency, but it doesn't get the greasy and mouldy feeling away!

I feel sorry for anyone that has to wash their hair every day, I only wash mine every 2 - 4 days!!!

What I could recommend is a good shampoo, like a salon one. I feel with cheaper ones you have to use more product. With a salon one, very little goes a long way. And only put conditioner on the end - don't put it on the roots. Also try not to run your fingers through your hair during the day.

eth0_

OP - have you gone to your doctor about this? It's not normal for your hair to be that greasy within a few hours of washing. It might be a hormonal problem that can be easily resolved.

I ALREADY USE DRY SHAMPOO EVERY SECOND DAY!!!!

eth0_ no I haven't but I've been about my acne and the doc doubts I have a hormonal problem. I think the water here is contributing to it a lot and my hair is just prone to being oily. My mam has washed hers every day for years and so do my dad and brother. I might try a more expensive shampoo and see if that makes any difference. I've noticed that when I go to the hairdressers, it lasts 2 days no bother so whatever they use and the way they wash/dry it must make a difference.

Janey mackers, has nobody actually read the OP - she has tried dry shampoo and it doesn't work :pac:

Izzy Wizzy have you tried using a clarifying shampoo? (is that what a build up shampoo is?). I would do away with the conditioner altogether and maybe just use a mask once a week.

My hairdresser once told me to put a tiny bit of shampoo into the conditioner aswell as it washes out the build up as it's conditioning. Never really gave it much of a chance to be honest!!! Worth a shot I suppose?

eVeNtInE

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barefoot

The old fashioned way to help stop greasy hair was to rinse your hair and scalp in cold water. The cold water closes the pores on the scalp. I am not suggesting you stand under a cold shower....maybe fill the sink with cold water after you have showered and do a final rinse. Also try to let your hair dry naturally if you can as the heat when using a hair dryer only opens the pores again. The cold water also makes your hair shine.

eth0_

eVeNtInE wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Why don't you buy a big bottle of mineral water (not Evian now, aldi/lidl/tesco would do!) and wash your hair with it and see if there's any change in your hair?

But tbh I doubt it's because of hard or soft water. Hard water will make your hair look duller and dry, while with soft water you just have to be careful how much shampoo you use as you need to use much less in soft water areas.

Lia_lia

fonpokno wrote: »

Just wash it every day. I have to wash mine every day and I could never ever go two days without looking like an oil slick. My hair is softer and shinier than a lot of my friends' so it can't be that bad for it really. I also tend to change shampoo all the time.

Yup, same here. The only times I don't wash my hair everyday is at music festivals. I have a shower every morning and wash and blow dry my hair. Even if it means getting up at 6am before work

fits

insert-gear wrote: »

It actually makes it greasier if you wash it every day. And thats before the blow dry damage

amdublin wrote: »

Nope because after a few weeks it won't last the day and you'll need to wash it twice a day. It's ironic, the more you wash it the greasier it gets.
.

Complete poppycock!

I've washed my hair daily since I was 16 and it hasnt got any greasier. Some people just need to wash theirs daily, and some dont.

Oh and also, I'd much prefer to subject my hair to blowdrying than that gawdawful dry shampoo stuff. It feels disgusting in hair.

Semele

I had the same problem when I first moved to London. I used to use dry shampoo a bit but because my hair is curly I cant really brush it out properly so my hair felt dull and cakey.

For a while I finished showers with a jug of lukewarm boiled water and lemon juice and this really helped. Now I've been here over 2 years and either at some point I've just stopped noticing or my hair has actually adjusted, becase either way I haven't thought about it for over a year- this post has reminded me!

iguana

fits wrote: »

Complete poppycock!

I've washed my hair daily since I was 16 and it hasnt got any greasier. Some people just need to wash theirs daily, and some dont.

It's not, it's a biological fact. The more often you wash your hair the more you stimulate the sebaceous glands which produce the oil (sebum) and the oilier your hair gets. The sebum is there to protect your hair and when you wash your hair, especially with detergents, you wash the sebum away and the glands produce more. If you allow the sebum to stay on the hair for longer the glands will adjust and produce less and less. I can go about 8-10 days without my hair needing to be washed. But if I wash it after 4 days by day 3 it's started to get greasy again.

The easiest thing you can do to try slow the oil production down is to only put conditioner into the ends of your hair, never near your scalp. And do a final quick rinse with cold water. Don't brush the hair near your scalp too often or use product on anything but the ends of you hair.

If that doesn't help and you really want to change this you just have to retrain your scalp. Decide how often you want to wash your hair and only wash it that often. It will be excruciating at first but after a while your oil production will slow. You can just wash with water or make up herbal infusions to wash with, which will clean the hair but not interfere with the sebum.

I did quite a bit of experimenting with this when I was in my early 20s. I went from really needing to wash my hair 2/3 times a week, to being able to go 3 weeks before my hair started getting oily. Nowadays my hair just doesn't really get oily, I just wash it when it starts looking dull from pollution, which is about weekly.

akila

I have pretty greasy hair too and have tried and tested most of the clarifying / normalizing / super-duper shampoos to balance out the roots and ends.
Recently tried Head & Shoulders for greasy hair and have gone from washing my hair every day to every second or third day!
Fantastic development!!! And on three for two at the minute in Boots methinks, so even better if you want to try it.

Also - my hairdresser suggested that I leave the shampoo on my hair for a minute or two whilst washing, rather than rinsing it out straight away. It gives it a chance to work a bit more at getting rid of any build up!

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Janey mackers, has nobody actually read the OP - she has tried dry shampoo and it doesn't work :pac:

Izzy Wizzy have you tried using a clarifying shampoo? (is that what a build up shampoo is?). I would do away with the conditioner altogether and maybe just use a mask once a week.

Yep. I only use a tiny bit of conditioner on the ends anyway. If I don't use it, I literally can't comb through my hair and end up with huge knots.

My hairdresser once told me to put a tiny bit of shampoo into the conditioner aswell as it washes out the build up as it's conditioning. Never really gave it much of a chance to be honest!!! Worth a shot I suppose?

Anything is at this stage!

eVeNtInE wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It's more than they are able to really wash and rinse it perfectly. I have a crappy shower at home with crappy pressure which doesn't help matters.

eth0_ wrote: »

Why don't you buy a big bottle of mineral water (not Evian now, aldi/lidl/tesco would do!) and wash your hair with it and see if there's any change in your hair?

But tbh I doubt it's because of hard or soft water. Hard water will make your hair look duller and dry, while with soft water you just have to be careful how much shampoo you use as you need to use much less in soft water areas.

Yeah but the area does seem to make a difference. My hair looked its best in Spain, barely any grease even on the second day. Dublin was so-so, and London is just awful.

Semele wrote: »

I had the same problem when I first moved to London. I used to use dry shampoo a bit but because my hair is curly I cant really brush it out properly so my hair felt dull and cakey.

For a while I finished showers with a jug of lukewarm boiled water and lemon juice and this really helped. Now I've been here over 2 years and either at some point I've just stopped noticing or my hair has actually adjusted, becase either way I haven't thought about it for over a year- this post has reminded me!

Interesting. I'll give that a try as well.

iguana wrote: »

It's not, it's a biological fact. The more often you wash your hair the more you stimulate the sebaceous glands which produce the oil (sebum) and the oilier your hair gets. The sebum is there to protect your hair and when you wash your hair, especially with detergents, you wash the sebum away and the glands produce more. If you allow the sebum to stay on the hair for longer the glands will adjust and produce less and less. I can go about 8-10 days without my hair needing to be washed. But if I wash it after 4 days by day 3 it's started to get greasy again.

I do sort of agree but some people just have greasy hair. When I was younger I only washed my hair twice a week, but in the end I just had to start doing it more often because it looked disgusting.

The easiest thing you can do to try slow the oil production down is to only put conditioner into the ends of your hair, never near your scalp. And do a final quick rinse with cold water. Don't brush the hair near your scalp too often or use product on anything but the ends of you hair.

Already been doing all that all my life. I brush my hair once after blowdrying, and when I get up in the morning, that's it. Sometimes I just put it up without brushing it at all because even one brushing will start the grease.

If that doesn't help and you really want to change this you just have to retrain your scalp. Decide how often you want to wash your hair and only wash it that often. It will be excruciating at first but after a while your oil production will slow. You can just wash with water or make up herbal infusions to wash with, which will clean the hair but not interfere with the sebum.

I've tried it in the past but couldn't stand the oiliness. All well and good if you're at home but I had to go into work every day and I started to get comments! I found washing with water didn't really do anything

I did quite a bit of experimenting with this when I was in my early 20s. I went from really needing to wash my hair 2/3 times a week, to being able to go 3 weeks before my hair started getting oily. Nowadays my hair just doesn't really get oily, I just wash it when it starts looking dull from pollution, which is about weekly.[/QUOTE]

Did you have oily type hair in the first place though? Cos I'm constantly being lectured about washing my hair too often and told to just leave it longer but these people just have a totally different hair texture/type to mine. I have an oily, olive complexion which means my scalp gets oily fast and my hair is poker straight and very fine. I'm starting to wonder if I'm just cursed with crap hair.

s_upergirl

I've been washing my hair every day for a few years and to be honest I agree that this adds to the problem but I can't stand to look at it limp and greasy so its a vicious circle - a few months ago I started using a salon brand shampoo & I never condition - it worked fine but just can't afford it now so back to daily wash :-(

s_upergirl

s_upergirl wrote: »

I've been washing my hair every day for a few years and to be honest I agree that this adds to the problem but I can't stand to look at it limp and greasy so its a vicious circle - a few months ago I started using a salon brand shampoo & I never condition - it worked fine but just can't afford it now so back to daily wash :-(

Which brand?

s_upergirl

Keratasse - can't remember which one specifically but the hairdresser recommended it to me!Good Luck!

mandz

s_upergirl wrote: »

I've been washing my hair every day for a few years and to be honest I agree that this adds to the problem but I can't stand to look at it limp and greasy so its a vicious circle - a few months ago I started using a salon brand shampoo & I never condition - it worked fine but just can't afford it now so back to daily wash :-(

You should have a look on ebay for it. I use tigi dumb blonde shampoo and I got a huge bottle of shampoo and conditioner (which last months) for about 30 yoyos. Definitely worth a search on ebay for that shampoo.

iguana

Have you thought of using a micro-fibre towel instead of a hairdryer? The hair-dryer dries the hair out so your scalp will produce more sebum to protect it. Whereas if you allow it to dry naturally it won't need sebum as soon. Just make sure not to rub at your scalp while drying.

fits

iguana wrote: »

It's not, it's a biological fact. The more often you wash your hair the more you stimulate the sebaceous glands which produce the oil (sebum) and the oilier your hair gets. The sebum is there to protect your hair and when you wash your hair, especially with detergents, you wash the sebum away and the glands produce more. If you allow the sebum to stay on the hair for longer the glands will adjust and produce less and less. I can go about 8-10 days without my hair needing to be washed. But if I wash it after 4 days by day 3 it's started to get greasy again.

The easiest thing you can do to try slow the oil production down is to only put conditioner into the ends of your hair, never near your scalp. And do a final quick rinse with cold water. Don't brush the hair near your scalp too often or use product on anything but the ends of you hair.

If that doesn't help and you really want to change this you just have to retrain your scalp. Decide how often you want to wash your hair and only wash it that often. It will be excruciating at first but after a while your oil production will slow. You can just wash with water or make up herbal infusions to wash with, which will clean the hair but not interfere with the sebum.

I did quite a bit of experimenting with this when I was in my early 20s. I went from really needing to wash my hair 2/3 times a week, to being able to go 3 weeks before my hair started getting oily. Nowadays my hair just doesn't really get oily, I just wash it when it starts looking dull from pollution, which is about weekly.

While there may be an element of truth to this... I'd personally prefer to wash my hair every day rather than 'train' the scalp to produce less sebum, which would take a while, if it would work at all, and you'd have to go around looking skanky half the time. No thanks.

I only have to wash my hair every third day now, but I still prefer to wash every day. My hair is fine and it looks better when freshly washed.

Oh and OP, for all my years of daily washing, I've never had to wash the hair twice a day.

iguana

iguana wrote: »

Have you thought of using a micro-fibre towel instead of a hairdryer? The hair-dryer dries the hair out so your scalp will produce more sebum to protect it. Whereas if you allow it to dry naturally it won't need sebum as soon. Just make sure not to rub at your scalp while drying.

I've used one but didn't find it overly absorbent really. And how could I dry it without rubbing my scalp? I have stayed away from letting my hair air dry is it takes forever, I always get sick from going out with wet hair (yes really)

iguana

[quote=[Deleted User];63154155]I've used one but didn't find it overly absorbent really. And how could I dry it without rubbing my scalp? [/QUOTE]

Whoops, I meant to say don't rub it too much.