9 year old with greasy hair. Help!

[motheroreily]

Hello I'd really welcome any ideas/suggestions. My daughter has fine wavy hair. She's 9 so I'd expect it to get greasier with hormones. She currently washes her hair twice a week. But her hair is so greasy it looks like it needs washing every day.

She washes her own hair. Which is part of the problem. She doesn't want me in the bathroom (fair enough) but I don't think she washes her hair properly and her hair is still greasy immediately after washing it.

I've bought one of those scalp brushes which you use with shampoo. I've explained conditioner only goes on the ends and I check everything is rinsed out once she gets out the shower. That helps a bit. Could she start washing her hair every other day or is that too much? Are there any shampoos that would be good for fine lank hair?

I only wash my hair once or twice a week so I'm a bit useless!

Thank you

Don't start washing it more often its known the more often you wash your hair the quicker it will get greasy again.

Maybe just ask her if you can show her how you wash your hair and help her a couple of times over the bath maybe whilst she is dressed if she is uncomfortable with you going in whilst in the bath, maybe use dry shampoo a couple of times in the mean time whilst she gets the hang of how to properly wash her hair.

My sister was exactly the same, her hair was always greasy and it was a case she wasn't washing it properly and leaving conditioner in accidentally at the roots. In the end I made her put a youtube tutorial on her ipad on how to wash hair, that way she could follow whilst doing so and it seemed to work.

I have also heard Elvive Clay Oily Roots Shampoo is good for greasy hair.

I think it’s fine to wash hair every other day.

DD has been washing her hair every day since that age, also has fine oily hair. She uses a bog standard ‘normal hair’ shampoo, and the tiniest bit of conditioner on the ends as it’s long now. Shampoos for oily hair left it crispy and did nothing for the oil. If she goes a day without washing (camping, sleepover etc) she uses dry shampoo but then it’s truly manky the next day and needs 2/3 shampoos to get clean. I’d withhold the conditioner if she doesn’t really need it, and tell her how much shampoo she should use each time- and make sure it’s really rinsed out. Maybe give it the ‘you’re body’s changing now you’re growing up’ talk and see if she takes it in.

I have thick hair so wash my hair upside down over the tub, this way it's easier to get to my greasy roots!

I find foaming shampoos make my hair greasier too so I switched to a 'no poo' shampoo that doesn't foam, it has no nasties (my current fave is Curlsmith - curl quenching conditioning wash, my hair is a bit wavy but I dry it straight)

It's like rubbing a cream onto your scalp and roots and leaves hair refreshed and rid of grease, just rinse after and apply a conditioner to the ends only if she still needs to

Thank you so much for all your advice. You've given me a few ideas to try. I think we could cut the conditioner out and I could maybe put in a leave in conditioner or just use detangling spray.

All of mine have needed to wash hair daily through the teenage years, from about this age.

Wash ever other day, and make sure the shampoo is actually cleaning her scalp, not just the ends.
DD is like this and if we leave it longer than every other day it gets dandruffy and very very greasy. Some hair just needs washing more frequently.

my 11 year old is the same so once a week I suggested she puts on her swimming costume just to make her feel more comfortable with mum in the bathroom! and I give her scalp a really good scrub twice, condition the ends and then leave her to the rest of her shower in privacy no matter how many times I show her I don't think she washes it throughly as she can't feel/see any bubbles on herself!

Greasy hair is linked to overactive thyroid - can you get it checked?

its known the more often you wash your hair the quicker it will get greasy again.

And this is rubbish

People with fine hair tend to have more hair follicles so it gets greasy more quickly and they need to wash more regularly. I wash ever other day.

Im jealous of people who can get away with washing a couple of times a week, but I could never do that.

I think twice a week simply isn't enough for fine greasy hair unfortunately. I second the Elvive Oily Roots shampoo suggestion.

My DD is 9 with fine hair and I have similarly been thinking that twice a week isn’t quite enough any more either! She’s still in a stage of hating to have to wash, though (unless I let her go in the bath with her younger brother and then they soak the place). I’m working on it. She claims she can wash her own hair but it doesn’t look properly rinsed when she does it.

It’s fine to wash oily hair daily.

There it’s nothing wrong with washing hair daily, use a shampoo for fine lank hair and no hard scrubbing, minute conditioner on ends only.

Stick to sulfate free shampoo. It really dries out the ends and makes the skin greasy. I used to wash my fine hair every day and it would get greasy again after a few hours.
I went cold turkey and ditched shampoo. Was an awful and greasy few weeks, bit my hair adjusted. Im now back to washing 1-2x a week with sulfate free shampoo and my hair looks better than ever.

My daughter has fine greasy hair too. It’s fine now that she washes it every second day though. We use neutrogena oily scalp shampoo, which is also anti-dandruff. Nothing else worked!

Also, drying hair properly with a hairdryer helps.

I would wash it everyday. I've similar hair.
Always had to wash it daily from a young age. Also she might still need help so i would keep it shorter

DD10 washes her own hair twice a week and I wash it once a week to ensure squeaky clean.
I also find drying hair keeps it cleaner longer than leaving to dry naturally.

All my boys have always washed their hair every day. Of the 2 younger, you probably wouldn't notice if DS9 didn't wash his but DS10 would definitely have a greasy smell about him even if it looked OK. It takes about 5 minutes extra each morning so that's no problem.
I've always washed my hair every day as well, it's past bra strap length and in great condition and it's absolute rubbish that more frequent washing = greasier hair.

Try rubbing shampoo into roots before getting in the shower, as a pre shampoo kickstarter. Agree with the swimming costume suggestion. Correct hygeine can take time and patience to teach, but they get it eventually, and it's so nice when they're through the greasy stinky phase!

Dss hair is like this but I'm pretty sure he's only putting shampoo at the very front of his head and he's not rinsing it properly afterwards because the one time he let me wash it for him it didn't look greasy. Maybe she'd let you wash it for her over the edge of the bath just once so you know what you're dealing with.

No fancy shampoos, use Vosene.

its known it’s a total myth that the more often you wash your hair the quicker it will get greasy again.

Fixed it for you

Every other day is fine OP. Also make sure she’s rinsing it properly!

Vosenes amazing. Cruelty free too. I’m sure I’m peri-menopausal I could probably do with some for the days before my period.