Hair and scalp help

[forthisthreadonlystepmum]

Sorry if this is long. My hair is naturally curly/kinky and I air dry and scrunch using curly girl friendly products. I colour it every 6 weeks or so. Since the menopause (about 10 years ago) my scalp has become progressively worse with serious scaling so I have tried numerous products - tgel, capascan, nizoral. Aveeno - you name it! I've tried coconut oil, olive oil etc. Suddenly my hair has become so thin and my scalp is still dreadful. I haven't been to a hairdresser for years as I'm so embarrassed hence I cut and colour myself. Any advice? Any products I haven't tried? Thanks

I also have curly hair and have been doing CG for nearly 10 years. I always occasionally got a dry scalp, but it got worse with pregnancies - the hormones seemed to do something to it, and my hair got drier as well.

First, in terms of products I’ve found Jason dandruff relief really helpful. It’s CG-friendly, and contains salicylic acid and sulphur I think, which seem to be very helpful for scalp problems. I use it as a scalp treatment, as in I just wash my scalp and roots with it; I co-wash the length of my hair as usual. This has worked very well for me, so might be worth trying if you haven’t already. It smells quite clinical (makes me think of the pink Germolene from when I was a child!), but the smell doesn’t linger once your hair has dried.

The other thing I found is I have become sensitive to products on my scalp, I think it’s something to do with protein (?). Whatever the reason, I don’t use any products on my scalp apart from the dandruff shampoo. I co-wash and deep condition the length of my hair and not the scalp/roots, and also my leave-in and any styling products I am the same. I find the easiest way is to have my head upside down and work products upwards with scrunching, much easier for me to avoid my scalp that way (and helps refresh my curls too so that’s a winner!).

I hope it gets better soon, it may be worth seeing the GP if not

PS I also used loads of products for my scalp before finding Jason, eg aloe vera gel, apple cider vinegar, oils, various shampoos, so it’s taken me a while to find something but so far this is working well for me. Has reduced the flaking a lot.

Thanks cubes. I agree it's hormonal and have other patches on my body which I treat with alternate hydrocortisone/zinc (good old sudocreme) creams. I also try to keep any products off my scalp. Will order the Jason stuff thank you - am willing to try anything! Have noticed though that the treatment shampoos strip the colour out of my hair.

After you shampoo and condition massage white or apple cider vinegar on your scalp leave 5 mins. Then pour half cup vinegar half water for the rest of thel hair and rinse. If you have cuts from scratching it will sting but verrrry effective. Careful not to get into eyes!

Thanks mummy will give this a go too!

Hi op I had similar problem and it also was hormonal. My hair actually came out in handfuls one day in the shower trying to wash away the huge flakes. In the end Apple cider vinegar massaged into scalp and left on for about 20 minutes before washing, followed by a SLS free dry scalp shampoo- ie moogoo- did the trick. Sometimes I rinse with ACV diluted with water when flakes are reallly bad. I’ve since found that’s the ordinary scalp serum also helps with flakes and, I think, with hair thickness.

@Ohee I am suffering hair loss too. I've not heard of moogoo? I'll have a look at them. What is the scalp serum you use? I'm definitely going to give the vinegar a go - I've been using coconut and olive oil to loosen the scales but there doesn't seem to be any lasting benefit.

Monoi gardenia is really good

Smells gorgeous too

you may wish to try baby shampoo for cradle cap and don’t put anything else on your scalp. Try and let your hair dry naturally as much as possible to reduce the heat exposure and put the hairdryer on a cooler setting when you do dry it. Have you had any allergy testing?

I've tried detinox for cradle cap unsuccessfully and I don't use a hairdryer :(

Hi op, the best vinegar is unfiltered Apple cider. The serum I use is from The Ordinary. Will post a link

Op here’s the serum: theordinary.com/product/rdn-multi-peptide-serum-for-hair-density-60ml?ccm=6afb414ca0a748bd85ed7ead6c4e6729f133993f2fd49d2697d9aa1f3700dc05f70102cb1d00da802a8fe86a4f7a904b2cc58b019d79610ab89b7e00b33f328bc753a4096d6833cfdfd104393f7b6d2e0752540fd7a9aa2230de66a09e0eeb78a3db214e2da2b3778793a3e137cae2d85b78bd942b52a93ee48e55ec255905f23f71df57ef99caa556f7807fcc269e78

And moogoo: moogooskincare.co.uk/scalp-friendly-milk-shampoo
Also as soon as I realised the link between the flakes and hair loss and got my scalp healthy again, my hair got thicker. Btw the dermatologist said it was dandruff - which it wasn’t, it was like cradle cap. and he said it hadn’t caused my hair loss, that it was just normal aging - which is rubbish!

Sounds like you need to ask for a referral to a specialist dermatologist. My hair went to crap with perimenopause. It had been dry all my life, became mega greasy and I developed seborreic dermatitis and it began to thin over time, when menopause kicked in it began to fall out in clumps. Specialist derm (took a while to find one because “hysterical women syndrome”) prescribed a combined medication of spironolactone and minoxidil which I take daily and it’s SOOOOOOO much better!!!!

@ohee thank you

@justlou1 that is interesting. I did try a dermatologist and they prescribed some tablets (which i had to take in the morning and they made me sick) and suggested some shampoos. This was some years ago, overseas though. I wonder if my go would be any help?

Just want to say thanks to everyone for so many suggestions! I thought I had tried everything but obviously not, so it's given me hope

@forthisthreadonlystepmum I went to one derm who took a biopsy and prescribed topical minoxidil, which irritated my scalp. She admitted that hair wasn’t her specialty and referred me to another derm who had just moved to my city from elsewhere who was a specialist scalp dermatologist. She REALLY heard me when I told her that I suspected that my personal issues were hormonal as my hair began to thin at the same time as it became greasy (hormonal involvement) and seborrheic dermatitis kicked in, etc. She confidently prescribed a combined spironolactone & minoxidil pill. Spironolactone has helped sort out the hormones and minoxidil has helped the hair. It’s coming back!!!

In my case the grease is decreased. The shampoos did nothing prior to this and now even my skin is better!!!

@justilou1 can only dream of grease! Always had dry hair and now ultra dry scalp. Very thankful for your advice will definitely do some research on this thank you

@forthisthreadonlystepmum- ironically, chronically dry, scaly scalps are also symptomatic of similar issues. Still definitely worth chasing up with Dr and asking for referral. Basically what I was trying to impress upon you was that you shouldn’t let your feelings be minimised because doctors have a habit of viewing this as a “vanity” thing not a “health” thing. Well, it’s both. It’s a symptomatic of your physical and mental health and it does affect your vanity (and mental health).

I've had this for a couple of years now, just around the base of my hair line. After my 3rd visit to our (skin specialist) GP, she's recommend this www.amazon.co.uk/Alphosyl-798627860168-2-in-1-Medicated-Shampoo/dp/B006EHYRK2?tag=mumsnetforu03-21 Said to use to remove the flakes & has given me a steroid scalp treatment to reduce the scalp inflammation. So far so good & what a relief!

You could try massaging and exfoliating your scalp hair with one of those massage brushes

www.amazon.co.uk/s?ref=nb_sb_ss_sc_4_14&crid=3TZW14KS481RC&sprefix=sclap+massager%2Caps%2C149&k=scalp+massager+shampoo+brush&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I also rate these products

www.amazon.co.uk/stores/node/1726868031?encoding=UTF8&ref=bl_dp_s_web_1726868031&productGridPageIndex=2&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&field-lbr_brands_browse-bin=New%20Dawn

I got the moogoo shampoo and went back for the conditioner. You need to use both.

Boots do an itchy flaky scalp leave in spray.
I use it on my scalp overnight and then wash & condition in the morning. I use a tangle tamer brush in the shower with the conditioner.

I’m doing this two weeks and it’s definitely improved.

Good luck