DD and her oily hair - any tips?

[cloudywithachanceof]

DD is turning 12 and since the past year, has been having extremely oily hair. I suspect it's her hormones, although she still has clear skin and the odd 1 or 2 pimples every other month, which clears up in no time. She does not have dandruff and her scalp is not itchy.

Shampoos for normal hair don't work on her. Her hair turns really oily at the end of the day, to the point of looking clumpy. And if she skips washing for more than a day, her hair starts to smell rank from a distance and looks stringy and ick. The only shampoo so far that she has tried and worked on her is the Paul Mitchell Shampoo number 2 (it's a clarifying shampoo) and she has to use it every other day in order to keep her hair looking okay. She has long hair and it tangles after shampooing, but she doesn't use conditioner because whenever she does, her hair becomes very oily after just a day. I feel like she should use a conditioner because she's not willing to cut her hair shorter and long hair gets tangley after washing, but don't know what conditioner wouldn't worsen the oiliness.

I wonder what else she can try or do about this?

A spray in no rinse conditioner like Aussie will help.

Using a lot of shampoo makes my hair terribly oily. I have thick hair down to my waist and I use an amount the size of a £2 coin.
It also needs to be rinsed out really well to ensure that there's no soap left - as that can also make the scalp terribly oily.
I'd suggest going for a mild shampoo. I personally don't like the baby shampoos as they don't seem to lather well and I struggle getting it rinsed out of my hair properly.

Conditioner only goes in the ends of the hair, not on the scalp. As a kid, I used loads of conditioner in the roots of the hair - it was not a good look...

There are some protein hair masks that could also to untangle - I like the Schwarzkopf Essence Ultime Omega Repair Intensive Mask (it's from Superdrug, is a white tub with gold and Claudia Schiffer on) - I only use it in the lengths but it seems to not weigh the hair down and make it oily, but ensures it doesn't tangle as much.
I use the hair mask before conditioner or instead of conditioner.

Also, rinsing the hair just before getting out of the shower with cold water can help a bit.

Might also be worth testing having her hair up in some way as touching it a lot (which some people tend to do when they have their hair down) can make it really greasy and horrible.

If the hair tangles a lot, it could help with just trimming the ends a bit.

Have you tried dry shampoo? I have (and had at teenage years, very) greasy roots and dry ends - long dark hair. What i do is wash and dry it, then spray some dry shampoo immediately onto the roots and brush thru. This means the dry shampoo is already there to absorb the oil as it comes out, rather than spraying it on once the hair is coated in oil. Spray a little more every morning to freshen it and sometimes a blast on the hairdryer, and give a brush thru.

2-3 day after washing i wear it up too and that usually gets an extra day out of it. (i wash it every 2-3days but before dry shampoo i washed it every day)

I would also say to use a conditioner but only on the ends/from the nape/jaw line down. Or as someone suggested above a spray/leave in conditioner on the ends after a gentle towel dry (really gentle - just squeeze hair into the towel - don't aggressively rub the roots).

I also would avoid a harsh shampoo as for me they are too drying and your scalp seems to over produce oil to combat it. The shampoo you currently use is great.

I have long fine bra strap length greasy hair!
As a teenager it was worse as was not washing out the shampoo properly and using far too much conditioner.
Usually for a month I buy herbal essences bed string shampoo 400mls and the conditioner 200mls and have conditioner left over.
I have found less is definitely more with conditioner a tiny tiny amount is really all you need.
Also every month a get a large tin of batiste dry shampoo and use the day after washing so I get another day out of my hair. (Often half price in superdrug)
I wear my hair up most days so I don't play with it as much and I find if I wash my hair in the morning I get the full day out of it rather than washing at night as sweating during the night makes my hair greasier.

If your DD has dark hair i would recommend dry shampoo which is specifically coloured for dark/brown hair. I have tried the plain one and it looks very talcish/grey if not coloured. My favourite is Superdrugs own brand brown dry shampoo.

Another dry shampoo recommendation. I have greasy hair and need to wash it every day.

Highlights can help but she's quite young for that. Agree if her hairs being fiddled with it makes it worse.

Thanks for the responses. DD does fiddle with her hair sometimes. Not a lot, but I have told her now that it contributes to the problem. Also I will be buying a dry shampoo as many have suggested. Any particular brand of dry shampoo you would recommend? I already use Label.M haircare products and I know they do a dry shampoo though I've never tried it.

A really good cut woul do a lot for it, pity she doesn't want to

Batiste is as good as any dry shampoo

Has she tried reverse washing? You use conditioner first just on the very ends and then shampoo twice.

The theory is that you can never get all of the conditioner out so by using it first your hair gets the condition it needs but the excess is then shampooed out.

I've got thick, waist length hair that is prone to being greasy, especially after conditioning, and this method has really changed my hair.

Previously I had to wash it every 2/3 three days. Now it looks good for up to a week. I've also got a fringe so towards the end of the week I use a bit of dry shampoo just to give my fringe a boost.

Might be worth a try?

I've not heard of reverse washing but I'll ask her to try it out. Thanks!

Another recommendation for batiste dry shampoo here. DStepSis used to have exactly the same problem when she was younger and it's about the only thing that worked on her.

Try t - gel for greasy hair shampoo, it's a lot stronger then most on the market.

I'm going to try reverse washing. My hair very recently has become like your dd's. previously I could go 3-4 days and then wash as it was greasy on the 3rd day, but I washed my hair yesterday morning without conditioner and it was greasy by bedtime, to the point of being visibly greasy.

I suspect mine has to do with no longer having highlights and just using a semi permanent colour to cover greys (38).

I've tried a few dry shampoos now and the batiste seems to be the only one that actually works, the treseme and the asda own did nothing. Although I didn't use it from the tart only once my hair was already greasy.

I too would recommend Batiste. I'm another who washes, drys and then applies Batistse, it stops the grease in its tracks so to speak.

I second t gel expensive but worth it.

i reverse washed this morning, my hair was harder to comb through. however, now its dry its dryer and not as greasy already, previously despite only putting conditioner on the ends my hair still had that almost greasy look.

I brought batiste dry shampoo on the way into work this morning and saw some new dry shampoos by herbal essence so brought two different types, will report back to let you know if they work.

DD has dark hair and I read reviews of Batiste saying it causes white flakes on the hair. Should I go for a tinted dry shampoo for brunettes? I think I would need a tutorial on using dry shampoo!

She forgot to condition before washing yesterday so I'll have her try that today. She really doesn't like washing her hair in general, especially so often.

i have dark hair and tried the 'original' batiste and i hated it, it made my hair very talcy (i chucked it), As i said upthread, i use the superdrug brown hair dry shampoo and i really like it.

Dd went through this. It was an awful time. We bought Tony & Guy men's clarifying shampoo and rough dried and tied it up so she couldn't fiddle with it.

It took about 6 months for the phase to pass.

Okay thanks Koala, I think we will try the dry shampoo for brunettes. Batiste has a lot more positive reviews and is more popular but the bad ones all say it causes white patches on their hair and I'm concerned about her hair being dark and all making white patches more obvious.

I actually find that the new formula of Batiste makes mine oily the next day :( . I also used to condition first. Made a difference and only the tips, mind.

It might be as simple as her not washing her hair properly? Some people tend to put the conditioner on like shampoo and work down to the end where it should only be put into the ends. I'm brunette and use Baptiste if lazy, never had a problem with white marks but you don't need much, just a spritz onto the crown (work hair up first). Get her to watch Pixie Lott (or someone like that..?!.) advertising Baptiste on YouTube.

Has she tried leaving her hair without washing it for a week? (perhaps when away on holiday as obviously it won't look great).
Washing it every day will make it produce oil like crazy. Perhaps it has to relearn to produce it more slowly (it doesn't take long, I find).
Worth giving it a go if you can persuade her to do the initial horrible bit.

Vosesne shampoo and a very light silicone free conditioner like Tresemme naturals.