Thursday, October 27, 2011

Dry Weather, Dry Scalp

I've had majorrrrrr problem with my dry scalp for the past few years. In Indo, I had to use anti-dandruff shampoo after I started my teenage years, but the shampoo worked well (the only thing I needed to do was just switch the brand of anti-dandruff shampoo). The first year of living in Finland, I don't recall any dry scalp problem, but the second year it started bothering me and the past two years it's really bugging me so much. I guess the more I age, the drier my body is, including my scalp.

I've tried different kinds of shampoo (we have maybe 10 different bottles of shampoo in the bathroom), different kinds of conditioner. I've tried combining different kind of conditioner with different kinds of shampoo in different order. I've even tried olive oil on my scalp. It did work, but it was so hard to get all the oil out of the hair, so it's not practical at all. I've even bought a special kind of oil from the supermarket, but it didn't work too well.

I hate the fact that my scalp is flaky and 'coz my hair is black, you can easily see the white flakes on my head and that's just a HUGE no-no 'coz I work in a place where I meet lots of customers. Plus it gets SO itchy every now and then and I don't want to look like someone who has lice problems.



I've browsed online to find homemade recipes to battle dry scalp and the other week I tried "white vinegar + water" combination. Well, the online page told me to shampoo the hair and use conditioner first, then pour out the vinegar + water combo, leave it for 5 minutes, and then rinse well with water.

OK, so I tried that and it did work well to get rid of the itch and the white flakes, but it made my hair so oily (the bottom of the roots especially) and it made my hair look so flat, so the next time I decided to reduce the amount of vinegar...but still it looked so oily and it made my hair lose volume (even though I was using Pantene volume conditioner).

So the next time I tried the other way around. I poured out the vinegar + water combo, leave it for 1-2 minutes only, and then use a little shampoo and conditioner. And it worked!!! :-D I know I've only been trying this tactic three times, but so far it's given me the result that I've wanted.



Note: The first time I tried this liquid combo, I think it was 1:6 (vinegar:water), but I've reduced it to 1:12 (vinegar: water).

7 comments:

  1. Have you talked to a cosmetologist about your scalp? I'm still learning but they might be able to help you with a scalp treatment with a special product or even just condtioner to get moisture back into your hair without losing the volume.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Michelle: Ummm...no actually I haven't he he he...I'm afraid if the stuff they're selling will be expensive ha ha...

    ReplyDelete
  3. use mild shampoo :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Orville: I've tried using different kinds of shampoo, even children's shampoo and conditioner and mild shampoo but it didn't work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I believe you have a sensitive scalp. I suggest you go to a trichologist on that one. Just to make sure :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. @Orville: Trichologist? I don't know if there's such a thing here in this small village, but thanks for your advice. So far the vinegar trick has helped, so I'm gonna stick with it for a while until I find a better solution he he...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ahh .. I have the same problem! Thanks, Mel!!! =)

    ReplyDelete