Greasy hair help needed

[dontdarepokethebear]

DD is soon to turn 14 and thanks to the hormones, her long, fine hair has become very greasy. It is really getting her down.

We're at a loss how to improve it. She washes it daily. If she washes her hair in the morning it is greasy by the end of the day. More often, due to timings she washes it at night but by the morning it greasy again, so she uses volumes of dry shampoo on it.

She has tried oil control shampoo but the only impact seems to be drying out the ends of her hair.

If she uses conditioner, it's only on the ends.

Can anyone suggest products she can use to improve it?

Do silk pillowcases work?

I thought about getting her a heated brush or curling wand for her birthday so she style it out.

Any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Stop washing it daily.

I had greasy hair for years, I would wash it in the morning and it would be greasy by the end of the afternoon. Washing it strips it if it’s natural oils, which it then ramps up production to replace. I broke the cycle by not washing it for a week (it was grim, but also lockdown so I just hid indoors), I now wash it twice a week. Dry shampoo is also your friend here! I now use the same products I did before, just less often!

I suspect it's being over washed.
Also, consider shampoos with zero silicone, which can build up on the hair and weigh it down.

Stop the daily washing. I was just like your dd pre lockdown and couldn't understand people who didn't wash daily. Now I'm every 3-4 days. Lockdown broke the cycle because I could leave it greasy for days and no one cared.

Use a school holiday to put it up and not wash for 3-4 days. Then keep doing it.

Stop washing daily! Use dry shampoo and plait it up for a couple of days to break the cycle

I agree - don’t wash it daily! Don’t use conditioner unless it is really really dry. Minimise dry shampoo use it wreaks havoc with your scalp.
Can it be tied back on the days it’s most greasy/French plait etc? Make it look less obvious. Hormones will play a huge part and it will get better.

I also have very greasy hair. I have done since my teens. I was also told to stop washing as much, but it honestly had no effect!
I persevered with the not washing regularly during lockdown, when I could spend days in the house, so didn't care as much about how it looked. I tried only washing a few times a week for months. It did nothing. I also ended up with a spotty itchy scalp from the oils.
I have found washing in the morning, using the loreal elvive rebalancing shampoo, them the same conditioner just on the ends works best for me.
It gets a lot worse if I touch it or play with it too much, so I try and avoid this.
I will tie it up when I can to avoid me running my fingers through it, and I keep it fairly short.
I can't wash my hair in the evenings, as it just won't last looking good till the next night. I've just had to adjust my routine to early morning showers!

How does she dry her hair? My hair hair definitely goes flatter and greasy if I leave it to dry naturally. Even if she blitzed the roots with a hair dryer and left the ends to dry naturally, it might help.

If its long it may well need a cut so the weight of it isn't pulling it down. It might be limp rather than greasy.

Make sure she is rinsing her hair properly if she's washing it everyday.

Also find a way for her to tie her hair back to hide greasy roots. That means she doesn't need to wash it everyday.

Make sure shampoos and conditioners are silicone/dimethicone free to avoid coating the hair with silicone which makes it greasier.
the ultimate blends range has several silicone free ooptions

I have very greasy hair and agree with pp that not washing it so frequently has no effect other than an irritated scalp. What has worked for me... (so two days of decent hair)
I use herbal essences strawberry and mint shampoo and conditioner (after trying many different brands).
Shampoo twice, making sure to massage the shampoo into my scalp and not just my hair, particularly around the crown. Condition just the ends and rinse really thoroughly.
Blow dry straight away (don't sit with wet hair or hair in a turban)
I only brush my hair from scalp to ends when it's wet. When it's dry, I try not to brush at all, or just brush the ends.

The best product I found is Elvive shampoo, either the Clay one (blue-ish bottle) or the Dream-length one (orange bottle).

She needs to stop washing it daily! She's washing away all the natural oils in her hair.

Use a shampoo bar. I have greasy hair and they’ve made a massive difference. I can get to three days. I’ve used soul and soap but the new Alberto bsalm ones are cheaper and seem to work as well. Sls apparently makes hair greasy.

I tried leaving mine, it looked wet it was so bad. Didn't make any difference except make my head spotty.

Mine is fine too. I switched to Johnson's Baby Shampoo (it's silicon and sulphate free) and can now wash every 2/3 days.

Best tip is to not have it loose on day one, the more it moves around/is messed with/ brushed/ touched the more oil will be produced.

Faith in Nature shampoo and conditioner! I've had greasy hair all my life and this is the only thing that works for me. Other brands leave a 'coating' on the hair that weighs it down and looks oily.

Trying to reduce the frequency I wash mine had no effect. It made my scalp a mess, it would be like someone with greasy, spotty skin not washing it.

The only things that have marginally helped me are:

1. Ageing
2. Bleaching my hair
3. Having it shorter so it doesn’t look so lank
4. L’Oréal clay shampoo

I second the suggestion of a having a couple of French/Dutch plaits done.

I leave mine in for a week although I have a few stray hairs/flyaways by the end of the week (which I don't actually mind, to be quite honest), it still looks nice and you can't really tell if it's greasy.

So that break might well break the cycle of your daughter having to wash her hair every day, and more importantly, not feeling as self conscious.

I also have an oily scalp. My skin is naturally oily, washing it less frequently did absolutely nothing.

How is her skin generally, is it just her scalp that is oily or are other areas (face, back etc) oily and/or spotty?

Another one for faith in nature. Currently enjoying lemon and tea tree, I have oily hair and I'm sure it is allowing me longer between washes. I do wonder if its to do with the build up of ordinary shampoos. I'm bamboozled with it all though.

Really interested in trying a bar though too. Which alberto balsam did you use @JS87 ?

I also have very greasy hair and have to wash it daily. If I don't wash it it is greasy, itchy and very uncomfortable and I can't stand it.
When I was in my teens I used to find it would feel greasy after 12/ 14 hours. I had highlights which really helped to dry it out and washing it twice rather than just once helps too but I still have to wash and dry it every morning.

I think a gentler shampoo which strips less oil might stop the scalp going into to overdrive to replace the oil.

Or, a t section of highlights might dry out the hair so oiliness is less obvious?

Stop washing it so much but also the shampoo you use makes a huge difference. I use a bar shampoo from KinKind. You don't want to strip the oils from the hair, just balance it out.

I agree. I stopped washing mine daily after doing it since my teens and now wash every other day and find it doesn't really need washing as much. I use dry shampoo to freshen it up.

I disagree that washing it less will magically cure it. When greasy hair is hormonal, it doesn't necessarily respond to being washed less. Believe me, I tried during lockdown, ended up with hair so lank I looked like a balding male. It definitely didn't stop being greasy.
As a teen my parents didn't allow me to wash my hair every day and I was picked on at school. Please don't do that to your DD.

I echo dry shampoo, also shampoo on roots and conditioner on ends.
My hair has become slightly less greasy with age, my crown is now less oily, but on day 2 it still looks shit.

Going to try the Faith in Nature shampoo, that makes sense with it being less harsh and stripping. Thank you pp's!

We use the Elvive Clay shampoo, definitely the best one we've found so far. Definitely stop the daily washing, that won't help long term.

Other than that, best thing has been having roots coloured (blonde in my case) as it dries the roots out... Really stops the greasiness until the roots grow out again 🙄😅

Hair is dead. Washing it often or not makes no difference. The only difference is people get used to having greasy hair. If she is 14 not washing is not an option. She is probably quite self conscious. Only on mumsnet do people think that hair can be trained and respond to behavioural training 😂. Her hair is greasy because she Is14 and hormonal. If I were her I would buy some of the shampoos recommended and wash twice a day until it settles down so she can feel she has nice clean hair.