The Oily Hair Series Part One, The Traditional Approach
Oily hair is caused by an over active oil sac (known as a sebaceous gland), that lives in your scalp.
To simplify the process, picture a hair magnified (right to the area underneath the scalp), and then imagine at the base of it a little tiny sac of oil on each side of that hair.
In oily haired people this is the sac of oil that causes all the greasiness in your hair, when its being overactive and having a little party beneath your scalp.
Traditionally the way we deal with this oil, is to find a good quality astringent based shampoo to remove as much of it as possible, and leave your scalp free of oil and therefore with more body and life in it.
If you don’t have a shampoo particularly for your oily hair type, it may be too heavy and not remove as much of that oil as possible.
So once we have removed this oil, how long do you think we can expect to have an oil free scalp for?
For some people like myself, it can be as little as 6 hours until you see that oil start to seep through at the root area. This is because that how long it can take for the body to push more oil out of the sebaceous gland, and then to be released onto the scalp.
This is why some people wash their hair everyday, although a lot of hair professionals will tell you daily is too much.
Being an oily haired individual myself, what do you do on day two when the oils been coming through for hours? You’re feeling better suited to work in a fast food restaurant than an office or like me a hair salon?
Well I for one don’t think daily shampooing is bad. You wash your body at least once a day, well at least I hope you do!
The important thing is what you’re using to cleanse your scalp. Inferior products will potentially take too much oil away leaving your scalp open to irritation.
Another option on day two is a dry shampoo which is a must have in my routine. I have actually been known to shampoo daily AND use dry shampoo. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!
As always my recommendation to you is to speak to your hair professional about what right for you.
If you don’t have one you trust right now, I’m happy to do a consultation for you and I have a trichoscope (microscope for hair and scalp) if we need to get a closer look.
If you’d like to book an appointment to give your hair or scalp some love, I’d be happy to talk through it’s current condition as part of your initial consultation. All the details to make a booking can be found here.