Help! Oily hair!

IrishPhoenix

Hi. My sister has quite thick, used to be perfect dark hair but for the last while, it's looked like she's upended an oil barrel over it. She's been using Kerastase Bain Divalent for oily roots for the last few weeks but no joy.

So it's time for drastic measures.

Does anyone know of anything that will remove the build-up? She's really desperate.

sudzs

I'm no expert but I know the more you wash hair, the more oil it will produce to compensate for the detergent stripping it away.

How often does she wash it? If she can bear it, try going several days without washing it... and then use a mild shampoo. And never apply conditioner near the roots!

IrishPhoenix

She's cut down to three times a week and stopped using conditioner. Still, no help.

chuci

my hair did that for awhile when i was younger i used the neutrogena balancing shampoo i think it was called found it brilliant anyway. worth a try

KyussBishop

It's probably not caused by oil/sebum at the roots but by build up from the shampoo/conditioner itself; check the ingredients on the bottles and look for Dimethicone (or, any other ingredient ending in -cone).

If you see anything like that, then that's probably what's building up in her hair; she could try looking for a shampoo/conditioner without that stuff (best results looking in health food type shops) and her hair should gradually clear up over a couple of weeks, or she could try a clarifying shampoo (but she would probably need to use that semi-regularly, and those shampoo's will damage your hair more quickly over time).

Stargal

The exact same thing happened to me over the past few weeks (even down to the hair type - if you weren't in Cork, I'd think that you were one of my sisters writing about it!). I started this thread about it and got some good advice from a lot of people.

A lot of the same tips came up repeatedly - change shampoo and conditioner, don't condition the roots, use a clarifying shampoo, check the ingredients, take more vitamins, get outside more during the day, etc.

I tried a lot of the things that were suggested. None of them alone worked the miracle that I wanted but things did get a lot better - just not up to the exact way that my hair used to be. My hair stopped looking so greasy and got a lot of its shine back. Earlier this week I went to my hairdresser and got a haircut and conditioning treatment, which seems to have done the trick and it now seems back to its usual self (fingers and follicles crossed!).

So basically, if the Bain Divant isn't working then maybe she should just go along to her hairdresser and ask for some help and suggestions. They'll probably say some of the things suggested in this thread and the other one, but they might have more to say too; plus the right conditioning treatment could make a big difference.

Hope this is some help; I know how nasty it is when good hair suddenly turns bad

IrishPhoenix

thanks!