You might be sensitive to one of the ingredients in your hair care products. VO5 kiwi-lime makes my scalp break out, but some of their other products don't.

I used to be bothered by a greasy, itchy scalp. I thought the problem was applying conditioner directly to the scalp, but I found that not doing that didn't help.

It turned out that I was having some sort of dandruff buildup. Now I do a vigorous scalp massage when washing, which removes all the gunky buildup, and I have no problem.

First of all, everyone sheds dead skin. My feeling is that there are two different types of skin shedding:

• Shedding in little dustlike flakes that no one can see. Clearly this is the type I forgot to request when orders were going in.
• Shedding where the dead skin builds up on the scalp until it gets itchy, coming off in giant, dandruff flakes (for people with dry hair) or just forming a sticky, greasy layer (for people with oily hair).

Mine is of the second type, but thanks to careful scalp massages during shampooing, it's under control, and nobody would ever guess how long it took me to figure this out.

Do you have dry skin? I do, and that causes me to have dry scalp too. I found that oiling the scalp before washing helped, or using a very moisturizing shampoo...

This is what I wrote once about dry scalp (and why it appears to be oily):

"I don't know who else has dry scalp that gets oily quickly, but this is what I think. When you have dry skin, it produces oil in order to keep it moisturized, so you get pimples. This is why if you have used moisturizer faithfully on your dry skin, you hardly ever get pimples (of course, there are those with naturally oily skin, but I'm talking about the ones on the other side ). I have extremely dry skin and am prone to excema, and I have always applied plenty of moisturizer. I hardly ever get pimples. However, my friends who have dry skin and don't apply moisturizer find that their skin gets oily quickly and they get pimples.

I think hair can be similar to skin (especially the scalp, which is skin!). If you are prone to dry scalp (which I am), your hair probably gets oily quickly. This could be a reason for oily scalp and dry ends - everything is prone to being dry, but your scalp gets oily in order to try and stop the dryness.

I discovered, after using the Body Shop Honey Moisturizing Shampoo, that my hair didn't get greasy for a LOT longer than I am used to. I thought that because it was moisturizing, it would get oily faster. But the moisture was probably massaged into the scalp, which is why the scalp didn't feel the need to produce any sebum. So I think that for those of you who have dry scalp, moisturizing it can do a lot more than just battle the dryness - it keeps your hair from getting oily too fast. CO would probably work very well for those of you who have it, or using a moisturizing shampoo, or massaging your scalp with oil before washing. "

I don't usually oil my scalp, mostly my dry ends. The one time my scalp was all broken out from the failed CO wash with VO5 kiwi-lime I oiled it well with coconut oil. 'Twas very soothing, and the next day it was healed and healthy.

Now I occasionally oil my hair with a mixture of macadamia, jojoba, tea tree oil and orange essential oil to cut the 'cones. I make no effort to keep the oil of the scalp. My scalp is the healthiest it has been, though mostly I attribute that to scalp massages.

The frequency of my CO washes is now about the same as my shampoos used to be. Though I enjoy washing my hair every 2 days, 3 days is fine, too.

Hi Leia,

I've been doing heavy oiling for the past two or so weeks, and I do try to get the scalp oiled too... lately I've also switched shampoos.. not sure which did the deed, but that doesn't matter because the itch is gone!! wooohoo! Now I stick with the heavy oiling and Algae shampoo combo. 8)

Thanks everybody
Anais

I have not tried oiling my scalp, but I have found that switching to a gentle shampoo  lets me wash every other day instead of every day.  And that is a miracle!!!