Waxy, greasy hair immediately after washing.

DuchessduJour

Hey everyone,

So I've been having this problem to a lesser or greater extent for almost two years now and it's really starting to get me down.

I have really thick hair that's about shoulder length. Generally it's fairly dry, and my routine is to wash it about 3 times a week on average. I used to straighten it after every wash but haven't straightened it in weeks because it's so much effort.

So I was on Erasmus a few years ago and one evening after washing my hair, I noticed that it felt like I hadn't rinsed either the shampoo or conditioner out. It felt mostly like there was a waxy, sticky residue on the top of my head and it looked incredibly greasy. My hair has blonde highlights and the bits that looked greasy looked absolutely disgusting! So I washed it again the next day and took special care to make sure it was properly rinsed out, but the same thing happened. It was kind of matted and tangled too, I couldn't comb through it properly at all!

I googled it anyway and at first I thought it sounded like a product build up, so I invested in some clarifying shampoo but it didn't work. I tried adding a little baking soda to my shampoo, and that kind of helped initially but eventually stopped working completely. I had hoped that maybe it had something to do with the water or the hair products in the country I was living in, but the problem has persisted ever since I moved back to Ireland.

I always take extra care to make sure that I'm washing my scalp properly and giving it a good scrub, and yet it always happens and it feels like it's getting worse. I guess the main reason I don't bother straightening my hair now is because I never feel like I can wear it down, I just always tie it back and pray it doesn't look as greasy as it feels! I'm getting increasingly self conscious about it, but I don't know what to do. Should I go to a hairdresser and ask for an opinion, or would it be better to go to a doctor or even someone else? I'm at the end of my tether

Stench Blossoms

Does it happen when you get a wash and blowdry in a hairdressers?

DuchessduJour

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Does it happen when you get a wash and blowdry in a hairdressers?

I've only had two trips to the hairdressers since it started happening, and both times were at points where it had improved dramatically for a bit. That was when using some baking soda with my shampoo had worked, and another time when I stopped using conditioner for a few weeks. I badly need to get my highlights done again and at this point the waxiness is worse than it's ever been, so I'll be interested to see what the story is when I go in a few weeks!

jokettle

This happened to me once, about 2 years ago or so. It started with one clump of grease near the back of my head, and this was a year or two after I started dyeing my hair. My solution was to wash it with Fairy liquid. This broke up the clump of grease so that all of my hair was then covered in a layer of grease :mad: So I washed it with Fairy one more time, and that did the trick.

It's worth a try, but bear in mind Fairy can strip colour from the hair. It also leaves your hair the consistency of straw, so have a deep conditioner handy for after.

charlietheminxx

I would think the water where you live could be the problem? This happens if I wash my hair at my boyfriends, he lives in a hard water area. I normally get 2 days out of my hair, but if i do it in his it's far more knotty and raggy and looks greasy the next day, no matter what products I use. I don't even get the "squeak" when I rinse it, if that makes sense.

Stench Blossoms

charlietheminxx wrote: »

I would think the water where you live could be the problem? This happens if I wash my hair at my boyfriends, he lives in a hard water area. I normally get 2 days out of my hair, but if i do it in his it's far more knotty and raggy and looks greasy the next day, no matter what products I use. I don't even get the "squeak" when I rinse it, if that makes sense.

Yeh I would think this as well. If it doesn't happen when you go to the hairdressers it's either a water issue or you're using the wrong products.

When I was full blonde my highlights would turn a slight shade of green because of the hard water in my area which I didn't even notice but a hairdresser did.

notabasicb

This happens to me sometimes - I had a bad patch of it a while ago. Things I did to get rid of it (not is which worked or whether it was a combo of all)

(i) Changed shampoo;

(ii) Was super careful to only use condition on ends of my hair. If it gets anywhere near my roots I turn into a grease ball;

(iii) Brush my hair in the shower when washing conditioner out - great way to get any knots out too, and

(iv) Thoroughly washed the crown of my head where my hair was getting greasy.

After a few days it cleared up! I suppose also worth bearing in mind if you wear your hair down - running your hands through your hair will just make it worse. Maybe tie it up for the time being until the other sorts itself out.

Tayla

I had this exact problem all last year and it was horrible. I tried everything, expensive shampoos, cheap shampoos, washing with conditioner, washing with baking soda, using kids shampoos at my roots and conditioner only on the ends but nothing worked, it was really getting me down because my hair always looked crap and had that horrible waxy feeling. I don't use styling products really so I knew it wasn't product build up.

After googling I found lots of people had this problem and Listerine were recommended along with tea tree shampoo so I bought the cheap tea tree shampoo and conditioner that is always on sale in Tesco and is often €2.50 for 2 (that special offer is on at the moment).

I also bought the original Listerine (apparently that's the only one that works for this problem).

I washed and conditioned with the tea tree shampoo and conditioner then poured around 5 capfuls of listerine on to my head, mostly onto my scalp...I gave my head a scalp massage for around 5 minutes and then rinsed it off. Some people shampoo and then apply listerine and then condition after that but I didn't need conditioner after the listerine rinse.

Anyway, it completely solved the problem and gave me my healthy, clean looking hair back.