Reader Vivian emailed me to ask me about oily hair, and I was at a bit of a loss as to how to respond because I don’t have oily hair. So, I thought we could all chip in with some bits of advice 🙂 Here’s her query:
I have really really oily hair. Currently using schwarzkopf deep cleansing shampoo but my hair still oily as ever. Really have no idea what to do with it. Do u have any suggestion?
Well, here’s what I suggested to Vivian to do, based on what little I know about managing oily hair.
Wash your hair everyday
We live in the tropics where its hot and humid and the weather can exacerbate a oily hair condition. I’d suggest washing your hair everyday with a shampoo meant for oily hair. Make sure you get the shampoo right onto your scalp to properly clean it because sometimes we sweat and the sebum can make hair look greasy and lank. Also, always make sure that you rinse out shampoo properly so there’s no build up. I wash my hair everyday but thats from choice and personal comfort 🙂
Only condition the ends of the hair
This applies for everyone really. Conditioner or hair treatments should only be applied to the ends of the hair about halfway from the root. If you apply it too near the root, limp hair can fall flat because it makes the hair heavier at the root. If you have an oily scalp applying treatments or conditioner near the root will make your scalp oilier. If you have oily hair, don’t use deep oil treatments or anything for damaged hair because they tend to be heavy. Look for a light conditioner.
If your scalp is seriously oily then you might want to skip conditioner every time you wash your hair and only use it every other day.
Don’t comb or brush your hair too much
When combing or brushing your hair, don’t comb or brush too close to the scalp. This will reduce the contact of the oil from the scalp to your hair. Also, the more you brush your hair and stimulate your scalp, the more oil your scalp will produce and therefore the oilier your hair feels.
If you do have oily hair yourself or know someone who has oily hair and have found a way to combat it or make it easier to live with, please share in the comments below. I’m sure many readers will find it very useful 🙂
How do you deal with very oily hair?
Stay beautiful,
Paris B
I’ve got normal to oily roots, and slightly dry ends.
i find that if i wash my hair everyday with moisturizing shampoo, my hair goes oily even faster! if i wash everyday with shampoo for oily hair, my ends get dry and brittle.
so i wash my hair every other day, alternating between a very drying shampoo (Dove)/ baby shampoo and using a ultra rich mask (Tsubaki) for my ends, and when I use moisturizing shampoo, I use a conditioner only, without a mask.
So far, my hair has been happy 🙂 Not as oily as before on the roots at least!
Hair is dead, scalp is alive. Oily hair starts from oily scalp. Oily scalp = imbalance.
I would say to treat the root of the problem (pun intended) would be re-balance the scalp.
I used to have ultra oily hair and would need to wash my hair (with shampoo) twice a day. Mukti Botanique Shampoo worked for me.
After about 2 weeks, my scalp normalised and now I only need to wash once a day, at the end of the day. And I don’t have that embarassing brylcream look by middle of day 🙂
(and yes, wash only the scalp, condition only the ends… good advice Paris!)
ok…i am a master of oily hair. i have tried SO MANY BRANDS out there and finally found a better one. ^_^
now i shampoo my hair 2x a day, the brand is Hairback. ( can only get in those distributor saloon). a 350ml is about RM40+-. It is colorless and scentless. And ever since i started using it, my scalp is not as greasy as before and no more itchy scalp. I guess i will be sticking to it for a long time till it does not work on me anymore.
Hmm… I had very oily scalp with lead to my hair being quite limp and that’ saying alot as my hair is also quite thick. This is how I have learnt to control it:
I don’t use conditioner at night. Oil production seems to be higher when I sleep ^^;
I use a clarifying shampoo once a week to avoid any build up.
I use a treatment mask (tsubaki-red) about once a week or when the weather is particularly dry. Keeps the ends looking healthy.
Maybe Vivian can try dry shampoos? This seems most effective on people with oily scalp and hair. I’ve seen a couple of brands in Sg.Wang but never really picked them up as I didn’t need them.
Hi Paris,I don’t usually have oily scalp, but sometimes when I don’t use the right shampoo my scalp goes oily, as if it’s a build up of wrong products, I don’t have a special trick but what I do is NOT WASHING MY HAIR FOR 5 DAYS, cos my usual shampoo routine is every 2 days so I skip one shampoo, I’m not sure why it worked maybe (????), not sure if you read Chinese but it just meant using one poison to over come another poison but I’ve done that a few times now, it all worked for me.
Another quick fix is to use Baby Powder, if you’re going out at night but didn’t want to wash your hair and it’s oily just dust some Baby Powder on your hair and brush through it, make sure you do brush through it cos it’s kinda white if you don’t. 🙂
TRUE>>TRUE>>>TRUE!
I can’t agree more on your tips! I know other people would say washing your hair everyday is bad, with our humid, warm weather, it just can’t happen that way! I do alternate regular shampoo with “light cleansing shampoo” on days and so true on conditioning at the “end” of your hair ONLY 😀
If I’m not wrong, an oily scalp is also too acidic. Find something neutralising. Don’t use formulations with too much Sodium Laureth Sulfate — though alkaline, it only incites skin (scalp) to produce even more sebum to repair the acid mantle. Don’t use moisturizing shampoos with oils either. Find something that replaces Sodium Laureth Sulfate with replacement chemicals that are less harsh like coconut alcohol derivatives. (They have a prefix of “coco-” on the chemical names.)
I have oily hair so i like to wash it every day. Why don’t you try using Johnson&Johnson Baby Shampoo? Because they are not so strong to suit the gentle hair of baby then you can used it everyday. On the plus side, since Malaysia has hot weather that make you drenched with sweat (even your hair too!) so you can clean the oil on hair gently and refresh your scalp after a busy day.
actually its not oily hair, its oily scalp. i have been losing a lot of hair and the middle section of my hair is thinning because I can’t control the oil production of my scalp. My hairdresser suggested I use a oil control shampoo. He said a good shampoo can keep your scalp oil free for 6 to 8 hours. but as you know using deep cleansing shampoo tends to make your hair ends very dry, but he told me that anything that saves your scalp will damage your hair ends but that is the sacrifice. he also asked me not to use creamy conditioner that much as it will worsen the condition. I should only use it once a week. if i wan to keep my hair conditioned, he said to use a watery leave-in conditioner. He said to keep changing the shampoo until you find a right one. so lucky for me my old shampoo finish and I bought a bottle of SEBAMED oily hair shampoo. and it did wonders for me. I have only been using it for one week and results are showing that my scalp is much cleaner and minimal oil secretion for up to 12 hours.
I will suggest that you try this shampoo, maybe it might suit you too.
I have oily hair and I use the same deep cleansing shampoo from Schwarzkopf. XD I only wash my hair every night and don’t condition my hair at all since its only shoulder-length. I think you should only condition with hair longer than shoulder-length since any hair shorter than that is already receiving all it needs from the scalp. Any more is excess and makes the hair heavier.
I also agree on the baby powder advice someone mentioned.
I have super oily hair as well. Used to be like Michelle, if my hair was shorter I wash them everytime I bathe coz I sweat so easily. I have been using Deep Cleanse from Lakme and it works for me. I shampoo my hair every single day and it’s a must or else O’ll get dandruff. I only wash my scalp. I think it’s best that you don’t shampoo your hair too long so you don’t strip off the healthy oil from the scalp as this will lead to over dryness and your scalp would secrete more oil. My shampoo time is max 5 mins.
It’s good also to mix your shampoo with water first so that it will not be too harsh on your scalp. I like Lakme Deep Cleanse a lot coz it has menthol and it’s quite soothing after shampooing and a little tingling sensation. You can get them at SHINS.
After this bottle I would love to try Mukti’s shampoo as well. I hope it works for me too 🙂
hey ppl. it’s me, vivian. haha. i was at guardian the other day and saw ‘clear’ has released the new range of anti dandruff shampoo. i just wanted to try my luck and bought a bottle. and hey. miracle does happen. my hair is not tat oily as before. but my fringe would still get oily especially during hot weather. can’t believe tat at the end of the day, cheap shampoos work best for me.
Oily hair huh? Well, I combat with this matter since school and after many many soul..-errr, shampoo searching, eureka! I’ve found a solution!! After washing my hair with lukewarm water and the application of conditioner, I rinse off with COLD water. It leaves my scalp fresh and keep those oilies at bay!
I have experiencing hair fall for the past years. My hair stands use to fall and it use to grow but no at the same quantity of drops. However, lately i notice that the growth has reduced and my hair scalp is obvious to be seen. I’m a female aged 34 and not suffering from any sickness or on medication. I try oiling my hair once a week and wash my hair 2/3 times a week. I tried cutting my hair short, applied various hair tonics and nothing seems to work. I also notice that before my next wash, my scalp produces dandruff which are obvious. Hair analysis in centre also showed such scalp condition. Need your advice on this. Thanks.