It is a funny thing how sometimes the obvious eludes us.  It was not until I was reading about it today that it registered that the scalp and the hair should be treated differently.  Heck, one is living skin and one is not.

So, I got to thinking that I don't remember reading anything about scalp care on this forum.  I mean, we exfoliate, we moisturize, etc our skin so why is the scalp different!!!

I have seen on some sites there are massage brushes for the scalp.  They remind me of the brushes we use on horses (I have no idea how to spell 'curry' brush so bare with me).  We rub in a circular motion to stimulate the skin.  I wonder how this would work on our hair though...would it damage it, pull it out, knot it...?  Anyone know?

I saw a recipe for exfoliating the scalp today, using conditioner combined with brown sugar and moisturizing using whipped cream or aloe vera.  Anyone got any scalp care tips other than the basic massage when washing hair?

JD

I'm not sure about scalp care... I'd never thought of that. It will be interesting to see what comes up in this discussion! (btw, curry is right, i believe)

The curry was right.  However, if we were to "bare" with you, instead of "bear" with you, we would all get naked together!  

But then, do you really know if I'm not naked while typing this?   ;D  

Hmmm.  The Naked Typist.  

Maybe I'll change my handle.

Ok, so far I have heard this would be an interesting topic and had a spelling error brought to my attention.  I am guessing that with the lack of response...I am not the first not to think about this aspect of hair growth.  Realistically, if the skin at the root of our hair is not cared for...how can we expect the sebum to be there to take care of our hair.

Soooo,  I challenge everyone (including myself) to research this and try things.  I am going to start trying the brown sugar exfoliant and the whipped cream this weekend.  I will do it for 2 weeks.  I will then report...and for those who don't know...I have serious problems with my scalp...psoriasis.  I will also look into 'curry' brushes for we humans and see what I can find out.  

I hope you will all take my challenge and see what you can find, try it and report on it.  I too will research things other than what I have told you so far.  Folks (as in Ladies and Gentleman) lets start 'taking care of our roots"!!!!!

JD

BTW Tex, you were right about 'bare' but 'curry' brushes are spelt 'currie'.  I looked it up today.

JD

not to be difficult, but... where on earth did you get THAT spelling from? :P
Tis typically called a 'currycomb', 'curry comb', occasionally 'curry brush', etc.  :D

yipe, yipe.  Google...but maybe I did not look far enough.  LOL, not really yipping...but maybe I should look further...

JD

I have tried the brown sugar scalp scrub.  I have very dry skin naturally (yes, that does include my scalp) so I think I'd need to do the scrub on several consecutive days to exfoliate off all the dead skin.
I tried the whip cream-made my hair stink.  Won't be doing that one again.

The one I've found most effective, although it can be a bit too much is scritching with a horn comb.  I think I have less flakiness when I don't use too hot temp. water in the shower.

However, this is just me-I have to exfoliate my face practically everyother day to keep the dead skin off.  Kinda sucks.

I would be interested in finding out more about using a curryie whatever brush.  With my hair texture (loosley curly) I'd be concerned that my hair would knot.  It knots up just on itself.   ::)

oh, yes. knots. *shudder* today a friend gave me several (think 6) necklaces... and as I had nowhere else to put them, I simply added them to my neck...

my hair being down, and doing various weird stretches, leans, bends etc. to help her put her stuff away in the new house... that means six necklaces somehow intertwined into one giant knot of hair. Jdog, you're not the only one yipping!

Ok, K, I got currie from google.   Could be wrong...net is not always right.

Sakina, you know where I got this info from...and after I did the brown sugar exfoliant I did the whipping cream and then a recipe to to moisturize the hair instead of the scalp (from the same source).  OMG, my hair was like sheer grease.   I had to shampoo, do an  ACV and then I did the Aloe massage (I like that) and then condition.... Actually, at the end of all that..my hair has just dried and it looks GREAT. LOL, maybe all that work is worth it since I have had frizzy hair for days until now!!!  Different hair needs different things!!

Ok, so my update...the brown sugar and whipping cream did not seem to hurt me... will try again in a few days to let you know...
Sakina mentioned a stink with the whipped cream.  What I saw in the book I read was to rinse it completely after 5-10 minutes.  Sakina, is this what you did and you still got the stink?  Too soon for me to tell, only been an hour or so.  The thing that made my hair like grease was not for the scalp (was for hair) so all I can say is so far so good with the scalp stuff.  Dying for lots more input.  Will tell you if my hair stinks tomorrow afer I get out there and cut the grass when it is hot an humid!!!


JD

LMAO, K I posted about 1 sec after you and then read yours...hilarious...knots suck, don't they!!!!!!  God should forbid knots in beautiful hair...or that is my little opinion anyway.

JD

LOL

after sitting there with my comb for two hours, I agree. It's doing fine today though, not more than three or four broken hairs out of that entire mess, which is why it took so long.

Okay, you guys have persuaded me that waist length hair is not in my future.  I encountered a horrible snarl the other day, worked on it for about five minutes or so, then reached for the scissors!

(And now you know the other reason I don't post pictures.)

I've not heard about whipped cream in the brown sugar scrub.  I usually do it with just water instead of conditioner.  I have an oily scalp so I'm not sure about using conditioner on my scalp.  I mix equal parts salt and brown sugar with some water.  The salt disolves and makes it a bit more liquidy.

I'd like to know more about scalp care.  I'm sure it would help the overall health of my hair.   I sometimes get pimples on my scalp.  Be nice to not get breakouts on my scalp.  When I used to use plastic combs sometimes the combs would pop the pimple when I combed.   :o  Ouch!

(^_^)/
BEM

Sorry Bugeyed, perhaps I was not clear.  The whipped cream is used alone to moisturize, the brown sugar/condition (or in your case water) is to exfoliate.  Sorry I was not clear.

They say with skin that you should moisturize to stop pimples...the principle being that you wash out the infected pore...the thing is though, that you have to use a moisturizer suited to your skin type.  Clearly the water/brown sugar sounds best for you (with my limited experience) but maybe the whipped cream would help....might be too oily for you though.  I am not an expert...what do I know about scalp care?  If I knew it...I would not have started this thread.

I did not stink after the whipped cream by the way, despite doing the lawn on a humid day.  

I have not had a chance to look at "curry/currie" brushes yet.  I did a quick google but discounted most of them because they were made of metal.  I will look on.

JD

Oops, I sorta screwed up the experiment with my scalp.  I washed today and it wasn't until I was in the shower that I remembered I was supposed to do the whipped cream moisturize for 5-10 minutes before my shower.  I had not planned on exfoliating, since I do not exfoliate every 3 days on my normal skin so why would I my scalp.  I do moisturize each time I was though.  Oh well.  On the bright side, the aloe vera as on the side of the shower so I did do that.  At least that stands as a moisturizer and it reminds me to massage my scalp for 5 minutes.  Okay, going 'curry/currie' brush searching now.  Know I saw some somewhere that were not metal!!

JD

Okay, I found a scalp massager that sounds friendly to hair.  You use it when hair is dry, just put in on a spot on the scalp and do tiny circles that should not damage hair.  It is made of wood (with the exception of one part that should not touch the hair much).  I have purchased it and will let you all know.  Here is the link to see about it.

http://www.jashbotanicals.com/products/natural-scalp-massager-invigorator-p-27.html

JD

If you want a good currycomb, you could look at any horse tack shop... I don't imagine that anything made for people would be much different except in price.  Try State line tack (http://www.statelinetack.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=SLT055209%20BLU)

K, I admit, I have not looked at the site...but I think of curry combs as being metal.  Obviously, we do not want to use metal on our hair!!!!  This little sucker (see my previous post) has wood tips and is not used in the rather large circular motion we would use on a horse (having short hair) but rather just a couple of mm size circle.

Now, I will tell you when I first looked at this $6.95 US comb, they told me $53 US for shipping!!!!!!!!!!!  I sent them an email telling them that it was crazy and there was not a chance.  They sent me that there was 'a glitch" (ok) and that they would send me up to 9 lbs of stuff for $14 shipping.  Ok, so sinced I am on the scalp thing...I bought a couple of other scalp things to make it work.  (Sakina, remind me to freak on Devacurl about the $45 shipping charge and see what happens-both California addresses!!).  So I wont bore you with the hair follicle stuff...unless it is earth shattering...

I have seen from the limited poll in which some people think scalp and hair care are the same.  As a scientist...this baffles me. One is living tissue and one is dead...how can the care be the same?  Do you use shampoo and conditioner on your skin?   Do you not wash your skin with something different (possibly tone) and moisutize every time with different good conditioners for night and day when you wash your skin? As a scientist though, I  would love to hear a good rational.  Can/will one of you that polled that way give me one?  Truly, I am open to it, even if you chose to do it on PM and not in public.  Anything said to me on PM is personal and will not be repeated here without your explicited permission.  If you are not sure about my word, ask Lisabelle if I explicitedly asked her if I could say her name when I did "pay it forward'.

To move on, I screwed up not doing the moisturizing the other night...but tonight I got quite hot and sweaty so I am going to moisturize with the whipped cream and then just rinse and moisturize...maybe it will be smelly without the shampoo as Sakina said happened to her.  I will let you know.

JD

FYI.  I told you that I sent an email about the price for shipping.  Tonight one of the owners of the company called me to apologze for the shipping price error..  We got into a big talk about scalp care.  What blew me away over and above that, was that he got to talking to me about scalp care specific for my psoriasis.  He not only suggested a book the company does not sell but also suggested a particular product from Morrocaco (sp?) rather than them in addition to the massage brush.  Maybe it is just me...but I like a company that can say that they can offer me certain things...but I should also look at other companies...

BTW, while I am not suggesting that the recipes I am trying are right...after googling scalp vs hair care, I found that all the big companies I know also advocate scalp care as well as hair care. Again I say it makes sense to me...living vs dead cells...

JD

Not much to tell.  I continue with the whipped cream and the aloe massage.  My psoriasis seems to appreciate it.  I still have not gotten the scalp massager so I cannot say much on that note.  That said, I need to do a few more jobs around here so I can then shower and then laundry (want to wash my towels).  I have left it late today ... I hope my towels will dry quickly as I want to put a turbie twist in my gym bag...but at 1:30 I had only just eaten breakfast (got too busy this morning) and need to digest before I can run and shower!

JD