Please help - washing hair - why does this keep happening?

[WildNorthEast]

Does this happen to anyone else? It seems that every shampoo and conditioner I try, I still end up with that horrible thick grease like residue at the back of my head straight after washing my hair.

My hair is naturally wavy, so more recently I've been trying sulphate free shampoo / conditioners, but this hasn't helped (Tresemme / Herbal Essences are the most recent attempts). I haven't got lots of money to spend on these product's unfortunately, but would possibly spend a bit more if I could get nicer looking hair.

Every so often I use a baby shampoo to strip off through the build up (this works) and then go back to the usual shamp/cond's, but after a wash or two the build up starts up again.

What is it in the ingredients that's doing this?

I tend to wash my hair every 3-4 days depending on gym sessions etc.
I shampoo the roots and middle and let the rest wash off. Then rinse, a lot. I only put conditioner on the ends, leave it in for a couple of minutes and then rinse. I always let the water run over it all for ages, trying to get any excess off.

Would love to know how to resolve this issue.

I can’t even use other herbal essences combos, the worst is the blue one!

What hair type do you have? Mine is 2a and I couldn’t get away with washing it every 3-4 days. I wash it at least every other day. I make sure my scalp and hair are completely soaked, then massage the shampoo into my scalp really thoroughly. I also massage it a good inch below my hairline on the back of my neck. It takes at least 2-3 minutes. Then I lather it though to the ends of my hair and rinse really thoroughly before conditioning.

Redken cleansing cream is brilliant as a once weekly clarifying shampoo. Don’t use a clarifying shampoo more than once a week though or you’ll dry the living heck out of your hair, especially if it is highlighted.

Do you focus the shampoo massage on the roots at the patch of greasiness? Sorry if that’s a really obvious question

I would love to know the answer to this. If I use certain shampoos - head and shoulders is the worst - then my hair is actually greasier than if I hadn’t washed it at all. I have wash on alternate washes with clarifying shampoo, interspersed with John Frieda Defy Grey to deal with my greys!

Actually 3-4 days is quite a long time between washes. I have 2B hair and wash every other day.

I use SLS free stuff too. Unfortunately they’ve stopped selling my favourite product stripping shampoo so I can’t recommend it. I used it to clean my combs and brushes too.

This may sound bizarre but I had this probably suddenly and unexplainably. I posted on here and someone recommended rinsing in Listerine. I happened to have a bottle and one shot completely solved the issue and it never returned. I'm sure there's a scientific answer but no idea what it could be!

Use a shampoo for greasy hair. Try a ‘dry’ shampoo ie - put the shampoo on the root before wetting your hair emulsify as much as you can then rinse off and shampoo as normal. This will aim to lift the oil or product build up off the hair

Clarifying! That sounds much better than stripping.

Ecover washing up liquid. I am serious.

I have 2b/3a curls so only use Alberto Balsam conditioner to wash. Every few weeks I’ll use a clarifying shampoo and that helps it.

It's either silicones in one of your products, you're using something too mild to deal with the natural skin oils you have or you're not hair washing properly.

I don't know how often you wash your hair, it could be that it needs to happen more often. If you're already washing it daily, its not that.

Don't put conditioner on your roots, your hair obviously doesn't need it. Only on the lengths and ends. If you're combing your hair wet, ensure you don't comb the conditioner onto the roots, rinse it out before combing the roots.

Are you washing your hair in the shower? If your hair is plentiful, it could be that you're not getting into the back parts properly with either the shampoo or with the rinsing. Tip your head upside down and work the shampoo in all over properly, including parting your hair to squirt some shampoo on that difficult to get to bit in the middle and rinse for longer than you think you need to.

Google ALL the ingredients in your products. As a general rule silicone is anything ending in "cone", "conal" or "xane" but those aren't the only ones. There may also be other ingredients your hair dislikes. It'll be trial and error finding them. If you're googling ingredients if products that haven't worked, it's worth writing them down so you can check in case there's a pattern, like everything containing a particular ingredient.

Once you've found what works, you'll need to keep an eye on the ingredients because companies have a habit of changing the formula every so often.

You can't use sulfate-free shampoo with any product (including that shampoo, any conditioner, or styling products) which have silicones in. Sulfate is necessary to get rid of silicones.

Baby shampoo will NOT strip your hair, it's formulated for babies hair so is probably one of the gentler shampoos you could use. Whoever told you that baby shampoo strips your hair doesn't know what they are talking about... I have 20+ years experience working with hair

I'd personally go back to the baby shampoo if that's the one that works for you, use 20p size, use fingertips to shampoo roots and let the excess rinse through and cleanse the ends. Rinse thoroughly, do a second shampoo if you think you need it and then condition mid-lengths and ends

Hi,

I get this every 5 years or so. I think it’s a build up of something in your hair. No matter how many times I shampoo’d the part that was greasy it still looked like an oil slick. First time I went back to hairdressers after they used sleek style styling products and they used a clarifying shampoo to get it out. The next few times after googling how to sort it and Google suggested rubbing bicarbonate of soda into wet hair and then rinsing. I’ve done that each time and it’s worked a treat! Worth a shot if you have some in your kitchen cupboards.

"that horrible thick grease like residue at the back of my head straight after washing my hair"

I have no idea what this is - never heard of it. but it doesn't sound great.

<unhelpful>

Abandon shampoo altogether. I only condition, have done for years. Im curly too

Thank you very much for all of your responses. In answer to your questions (working my way down);
I used to shampoo twice, but felt like that was just putting more gunk onto the problem.
It’s hard to describe, but it’s not like the grease I get at the top of my head when I’ve not washed it for a few days (I wouldn’t say I have particularly greasy hair normally). It’s more synthetic than that, if you know what I mean. Some people have mentioned silicone and actually that’s kind of what it feels like. Like there is a plastic film on it almost, and gradually it gets thicker in between the times when I use the baby shampoo.
I have no scalp issues/itching/dandruff/sores/broken skin.
When I say I have wavy hair, I mean more awkward uneven kinks, not beautiful beachy waves unfortunately. I can’t brush it in between washes or it fuzzes up. I just wanted to point out it wasn’t straight.
I always wash my hair standing up, under the shower. Sadly my hair isn’t even that thick, I lift layers up to wash in between, but there’s not even that much there. More recently I tend to massage the shampoo in on the top and sides and put a tiny bit on back to try and avoid the build up, but it still seems to hang on there!
I feel like I spend 5 minutes rinsing my hair to try and get shampoo/cond out, but I can feel the build up in my hair even under the shower.
I have used washing up liquid too (it did the trick) when I had no baby shampoo in the house. After every time I’ve used baby shampoo my hair feels so dry after (used conditioner too), so I wouldn’t want to use that long term.
Thank you so much for the advice on the silicones, that’s so interesting. I will definitely look into that.
I think I will try using apple cider vinegar/clarifying shampoo/Redken and I guess some Listerine haha! Maybe not all at once though.
You’ve all been great, thank you.

If your hair frizzes when you brush or comb it , it's probably curly, not wavy or with funny little bends.

Try the curly girl method and see how it responds.

I think it was vague whispers of the curly girl method got me onto the whole sulphate free thing anyway, but as one poster said, sulphates are needed to get rid of the silicone, so maybe this is why there's such a build up. I will look into this properly. Thank you.

I recommend Head and Shoulders Oil Cleanse deep clean (it's a transparent greeny bottle). It's not expensive, calmed my scalp and grease right down.
Interestingly both tresemme and herbal essences really upset my scalp

I had curly frizzy hair. I only use conditioner now, never shampoo. I try not to use heat too much either. It's so much better. I just twist it up overnight and it's just wavy in the morning.

Are you massaging the shampoo all over your head away from the shower water? I leave the shampoo on while I soap my body

and then rinse it all off

I always shampoo twice scalp only and condition the ends but the more I go gym the build up can make it greasy quicker

I have very thick hair and have a similar issue. Top is washed with Aveeno Apple Cider Shampoo and then I bend over so all the top hair falls forward and wash the back separately. It takes a proper lather to get the underneath clean.

Echoing a PP on the silicone issue. If you use SLS free shampoo and a conditioner containing silicones they will not be removed.

You need sls to remove silicone. So you need to do a clarifying shampoo with SLS shampoo, then find a silicone free conditioner if you use SLS free shampoo.