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Oily Hair Home Remedies
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Blondes may have more fun, but they also have more oily hair. And those with silky, baby-fine hair tend to have the worst problems with oiliness.
The reason is that those with finer hair have more hair per square inch of scalp. At the base of each hair shaft are sebaceous glands, which produce sebum, the fatty "oil" in oily hair. The more hair, the more oil glands. And the more oil glands, the more oil.
Blondes with fine hair have as many as 140,000 oil glands on their scalps, according to hair-care specialist Philip Kingsley. Compare that with redheads, who average 80,000 to 90,000 hairs per head. They rarely have oily hair, he says. Brunettes typically fall somewhere in the middle.
The texture of your hair also makes a difference, says Thomas Goodman Jr., M.D. Oil wicks onto fine, straight hair very easily. Wiry hair doesn't seem to get as oily.
Intense heat and humidity can also accelerate oil production. So can hormonal changes. For instance, androgen, a male hormone, can activate the sebaceous glands. Stress boosts bloodstream levels of androgen in women as well as in men.
Because they have more androgen than women, men tend to have oilier hair. Another reason is that men tend to have finer hair than women, says Kingsley. Men average 311 hairs per square centimeter of scalp, compared with 278 for the average woman. "That's a significant 10 to 15 percent difference," he says.
Since you're stuck with the type of hair Mother Nature gave you (if not the color), here's how to combat oily hair.
Panel of Advisors
Lowell Goldsmith, M.D., is a professor of dermatology and chairman of the department of dermatology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York. He specializes in hair disorders.
Thomas Goodman Jr., M.D., was formerly an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He is the author of Smart Face.
Philip Kingsley is the author of Hair: An Owner's Handbook.
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Test for oil after shampooing
"Each amount of shampoo can only take away so much oil," says Dr. Goldsmith. "So don't skimp on the shampoo." Test yourself. After you shampoo and dry your hair, does it still feel oily?
Give yourself a scalp massage
This should be done right before the shampoo, never between shampoos, says Kingsley. That little bit of extra oil expressed during a scalp massage would make your hair feel even more oily.
Consider your birth control pill
Birth control pills have a decided effect on a woman's hormone balance.
Switch to beer
"Mousse dries the hair too much and clogs the pores," says Daines. He favors fresh beer as a setting lotion for oily hair.
Dry hair in the opposite direction from which it grows
Left on its own, oily hair tends to be limp and lank. To coax more fullness into it, be creative with your blow-drying technique, says Kingsley.
Try an apple cider vinegar rinse
Put a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a pint of water and use as your final rinse.
Freshen up with lemon
Squeeze the juice of two lemons into a quart of the best water you can find, says hairstylist David Daines. Distilled water is a great choice.
Shampoo frequently
The most important thing you can do to combat an excessively oily scalp is to shampoo once a day, particularly if you live in a city.
Shampoo, rinse, repeat
Excessively oily hair may need to be shampooed twice, says Dr. Goldsmith.
Get out of condition
If you have oily hair that tends to flatten out as the day goes on, the last thing you want to do is coat it with more oil. Try going without a conditioner, suggests Dr. Goodman.