Smelly hair!

[Poppy67]

My dd is 10 had for ages has had smelly hair, it's like she living in a greasy cafe, which she isn't! Even after washing it still smells. Any ideas?

Does she wash it? What shampoo are you using? Maybe you need to get better shampoo or wash it for her and make sure it's fully scrubbed?

Try a tea tree shampoo?

Is she using adult shampoo or children shampoo? Conditioner? Have you supervised her washing - is she rubbing with proper technique and rinsing out properly? How often does she wash her hair?

My 13yo has had adult-smelly hair since about 9. Since then he has shampooed every day with adult shampoo and conditioner. It took a good few months of intermittent supervised showering for him to get into the habit of rubbing his scalp properly and rinsing out properly, which made a signifucant difference. The whole household went fragrance-free a couple of years ago (I have allergies), and I think that has helped, too.

Has she got long hair or a lot of it? I've found dd1's(10) hair can smell like this even after her 16 hour shower! I found she wasn't getting all the product through her mass of hair and onto her scalp, and although she likes to shower independently now I do go and give her hair a good scrub.

I've had to put my kids on to Head 'n Shoulders (11yrs old) for their greasy hair. Sorts it out, but it's getting them to wash their hair more than once a week that's the trial! Oh the joys of hormones...

What type of hair does she have?

I have afro frizzy hair and when I was younger it used to smell awful, like wet dog.

I started using herbal essences (or anything with a nice smell) and blow drying my hair after washing it.

Leaving it to dry naturally still leaves a funny smell

How often does she wash her hair and does she do so morning or evening? Could it be that she's sweating in bed and her pillow's become smelly, particularly when damp?

Possibly try replacing her pillow and buying extra pillow cases so you can change them every couple of days? Maybe even buy an extra pillow so you can wash one weekly and replace it with the other while it dries?

Perhaps try a clarifying shampoo once a week, work it in well and rinse well- I find it removes all the build-up from the hair and leaves it feeling lovely.

I find that my hair, which is thin and short, holds the smell of whatever I cook so if I'm frying or cooking smelly veg or onions or yorkshire pudding I try to hairwash after rather than before. It's worse if my hair is wet when I cook, because the wet hair seems to absorb more of the smells somehow.

Dry shampoo is often nicely scented. If your dd is finding that it's the teenage hormones/ greasy hair within minutes of washing this may work to combat some of the grease and some of the smell.

Head and Shoulders works wonders for this. Really, it's brilliant.

Mine was like this i had very fine hair and over washing and conditioning made it much worse.

I used vosene every day but only conditioned once a week and used a cold rinse instead of conditioner after each wash for shine and it was so much better.

Have you tried a dry shampoo? My hair can still look a bit lank and greasy on occasion and its brilliant for absorbing the excess oil and giving my hair body.

Hope your DD gets sorted soon.

It may be fungal - try Nizoral from phArmacy

Does she get it cut by hairdressersometimes? How does it smell then? If OK, then problem may be that all the shampoo / condition isn't being washed out.

I have this problem with Dd1, we are going to hairdresser tomorrow for this very reason.