Sudden oily scalp, the crown area. Will not wash out, why? What is it? I am healthy and bath daily.

[roxie05]

The crown area of my scalp suddenly became very oily.  I have washed my hair with every shampoo I thought was strong or harsh.  I have even tried liquid dish detergant.  Nothing works.  I am a healthy woman who baths daily, I say this to offset the idea that maybe I am ill or unclean.  Please tell me what this is, how I can get rid of it and how I might be able to prevent it from coming back.

[Shally64]

Okay, so same as everyone else oily, waxy thick build up at the crown of my head.  It just appeared out of no where...leaving me stressed out.  

My solution was a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar...50/50 solution.  I used a spray bottle to apply to my entire head and left it on for about 20 minutes, then washed it as normal.  Still only using conditioner on the bottom half of my hair.  Wasn't too sure it would work.  Well, it worked amazingly...soft, oil free hair!

Next time I am going to shampoo and condition as normal.  If you normally use lots of product in your hair, it is advised to do the vinegar rinse once a week.  Good luck!

[greasyhairoutofnowhere]

Hi Shally64,  I am suddenly having this issue.  Has your hair remained normal since or have you had relapses of this?  Have you ever discovered what caused it?

[helpergirl10]

This same exact thing just recently happened to me. I would constantly wash it but nothing would happen. Finally I found a SOLUTION. Put baby powder in the affected areas of your hair and let it sit overnight. Have a normal shower the next day and once it's dry you should notice a difference! I hope it helps you just as much as it helped me!
Kisses -A

[cas5090]

The vinegar smell completely disappears as soon as you shampoo your hair.  I am in Leeds, UK and out water is quite soft.

[Coriander39]

Wow, I am so glad I'm not the only one having this problem.

My "patch" of sap-like greasy hair started a little over a month ago. I thought I wasn't rinsing my conditioner thoroughly enough (I try to take quick showers). However, even after thorough rinses, it was still there. I could feel it as I was wrapping my hair after showering. Now, I do have mild psoriasis. I've had it for years, but it has never done this - ever. If anything, I've had dry flaky scalp problems, not grease.

The fungal infection idea makes sense for me. I think I know what caused it for me.

Over two months ago, I started exercising 6 days a week. Because of this, I went from washing my hair every two or three days, to every single day. Two weeks after changing my habits, everything went south. I'm thinking I've been massively over drying my scalp and hair and it has kicked the grease into overdrive, and I developed my patch. To make matters worse (likely), I've switched to cheaper shampoos and conditioners because I'm going through them faster. I just keep stripping and stripping my scalp and hair.

I have a question for others here - is your water softened? I ask this because I live in western Washington, and I do not have softened water. A few weeks ago, I went down to Utah to visit my parents, and they have softened water (almost over-softened). After 5 days and 5 showers, my hair was almost back to normal. After my first shower back home, however, it was back to the patch problem. :(  Moisture is definitely a key here.

I am going switch back to better quality shampoos, including T-gel. I will try to not wash my hair every day...but that's hard with all of the exercise. I would try the apple cider vinegar...but I *really* do not want to smell like vinegar.

Good luck everyone!

[cas5090]

Hair still great today, I repeated the vinegar, baby shampoo+ tea tree oil just to be sure.  Fingers crossed its gone for good!

[cas5090]

Oh my God, it has worked!  It was Tresemme Deep Cleansing shampoo I used first, left it on for 10 minutes.  Then I rinsed it off, added several drops of tea tree oil to Johnsons baby shampoo, applied it and left it on for half an hour, then rinsed well.

I just blow dried my hair and it is back to normal!!

The real test will be to see if it stays away.  In the meantime, I think I will continue using the baby shampoo/tea tree combination for a week or so just in case.

I will post again once I know whether this has shifted it for good.

Huge huge thanks to everyone who took the time to post on here about their own experiences, I was really getting quite low and despairing until I found this topic.

[greasyhairoutofnowhere]

ca5090, did it stay away?? do you still deal with this issue?  did you ever discover the root cause?  I really hope someone from this thread responds as I am desperate and very concerned.