Sticky / Oily / Greasy scalp?!?

[JerseyGirlNB]

I have an weird sticky substance in my hair that NOTHING will get rid of and it's extremely frustrating.  About a month ago i noticed after i got out of the shower and blow dried my hair that the hair at the crown of my head was very oily and sticky (but ONLY at the crown of my head). At first i thought i forgot to wash the conditioner out so the next night I scrubbed thoroughly, but once again the stickiness was still there.  Then i bought a few different brands of clarifying shampoo (thinking it was build-up) and still the same thing.  The oil is def coming from my scalp because at the same time that this happened I started breaking out with acne really bad.  I'm 27 years old and have not broken out this bad since puberty.  Very strange.  So i went to the extremes of trying baking soda, lemon juice, listerine, medicated shampoos, even dawn (for it's grease cutting abilities) and NOTHING gets this substance out of my hair.  It's driving me crazy to the point that i asked my dermatologist to put me on accutane to stop oil secretions.  Has anyone experienced this problem before, and if so, do you know of anything that will get my scalp back to normal.  PS - it has nothing to do with my diet, because i eat extremely healthy and always have.

[jt188]

I just wanted to say, THANK YOU to all of you who suggested baby shampoo. I read everyone's experiments and solutions and I decided that Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo would be my first attempt at getting rid of the grease. It worked like a charm! One wash, and my hair was back to normal! All I did was lather it in, let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then washed it out and conditioned my hair like usual. Blow dryed my hair like usual and everything was back to normal!  

Here's why:

@shr88 I definitely agree, I think depending on what shampoo you use, and how often you wash your hair, your scalp can start to work over time and oversecrete the natural oils, causing this greasy spot. I had just started using head and shoulders again about a month or so ago (just randomly, I don't even have dandruff or anything), and I've used it plenty before, but I think head and shoulders is actually a very strong shampoo since it's meant for dandruff people, so I think it freaked out my scalp after so many washes. The Johnson&Johnson baby shampoo was really mild and gentle and helped wash away the grease without freaking out my scalp.

For those of you who resorted to dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent, vinegar, etc, those are actually all very harsh, and could just cause your scalp to secrete even more oil in response to you trying to remove the grease with harsh chemicals. I highly recommend baby shampoo first, then tea tree oil, and slowly increasing the strength in the product you might need to remove the grease, but try to keep it on the natural side. I don't think Palmolive was meant for hair...although I was prepared to use it myself, I won't deny that.

But the same thing happened to me that happened to all of you..

I have normal hair, wash it regularly, change shampoos here and there, and never had I ever experienced this greasy crown until one morning. I had showered, and as I was blow drying my hair, I noticed my bangs (crown area only) were super greasy, like I hadn't washed my hair in a week. I immediately thought I hadn't washed out the conditioner, so I dunked my head in the sink, in an attempt to wash the bangs again. After another blow dry, it was still greasy, so I jumped in the shower and shampooed and conditioned all over again, but even after shampooing and rinsing I still felt the grease, even while still IN the shower. I gave up and found this forum, and I feel very lucky to have found you all, because to my surprise the BABY SHAMPOO WORKED!

So please try this first! Before anything! Then add a few drops of tea tree oil to your shampoo if it doesnt work, and then apple cidar vinegar..and THEN maybe resort to those other things people mentioned above...

[Hairy_situation]

I've tried most of the suggested solutions and the only thing that works for me is the Tea Tree Shampoo. I find it interesting that a lot of people have mentioned Nice & Easy Hair Colour - I noticed my problem gets worse every time I Colour my hair. There must be a common ingredient in N&E and other products that is causing the problem.

It's a terrible problem and you would think with all the people on this post with this problem that someone would have figured this out. Anyway, I will be switching hair Colour & I will be more careful not to purchase anymore Clairol related products.

[Spyro182]

Both my daughters have had the greasy crown, back of the head goo!  I found the best thing was to wash hair with Phisohex (Anti-Bacerial Wash) which they both use to wash their faces. I am sure the cause is from putting wet hair in a ponytail, which cause some kind of fungus.  Hope this helps.

[ang888]

Result: I'm happy to report that the greasy spot has been gone for a few days. After Day 4, I did one more time with the tea tree oil, Suave daily cleaning shampoo and brown Listerine.  

Today, almost a week later, I started my normal routine. Using a normal shampoo and tea tree conditional. My hair is back to normal.

I hope that this problem won't come back. And for those of you who is experiencing this. I hope your problem will be soon gone. And many many many thanks to all the previous posts. Thanks you guys for sharing.

[shr88]

I had the same problem of a greasy/sticky crown n i tried this technique n it worked for me....
before shampooing my hair i conditioned my scalp n left it to rest for 7-8 mins....shampooed it with my normal shampoo except i diluted my shampoo n made it really liquidy n washed my hair twice wid it....i let them dry naturally n the end result was soft, conditioned, non-greasy silky hair....oh n make sure the water is not too hot....it'll make ur roots dry....luke warm water would be d best....n i didnt condition them after shampooing...i was afraid they'll become greasy...

My theory behind this was simple....my oil glands were working over time because i feel i stripped them off my natural oil by washing my hair everyday and making them dry....so the more u wash dem with harsh detergents or shampoos you might end up making it worse......

This worked pretty well for me....hope it helps you too....
Good Luck...:)

[ang888]

Day 4: 1.massaged tea tree oil into the problem area when hair is dry, let it sit for 40 minutes. 2. use Palmolive to wash out the area with tea tree oil 3. use suave daily cleaning shampoo wash out the problem area only. I didn't wash the roots of my hair as it feels too dry already. 4. condition the part that wasn't washed, mostly the ends. 5. let hair air dry.

result: the sticky spots are gone for now. Before the above process, there were an area with waxy hair, about 50% the amount stickiness before I started the home remedy from a few days back.