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.

[whateveryeah]

Happened to me when I went on holiday to a hot and humid country.  I believe it's fungal.  It has a smell to it and your pillow smells funny too   Cured by washing with original listerine and apple cider vinegar.  Not sure which of those did the job but one of them did.  Also you need to chuck your pillow away

[Wendyhair]

Have had this problem on and off for years. Sticky crown, like tree sap on the top of my head. Tried most of the remedies listed here. Would go away after I had my highlights done. This time, it came back just a few days later and I was NOT going to put up with it for another 6-8 weeks till my next hair appointment. Researched some more online today anf shampooed with Neutrogena T-Sal tonight AND THE STICKINESS IS GONE! My hair is soft and silky again. So happy I don’t have to walk around tomorrow looking like I don’t wash my hair!

[greasyhairoutofnowhere]

Hi Wendyhair,  This is happening to me now.  Does it keep coming back and have you figured out what causes it?  I am freaking out because someone else on this thread said it's early signs of hair loss!!!!!

[Spannaworks]

This problem popped up out of the blue for me about 5-6 days ago. Like everyone else, I thought it was a result of not rinsing out my conditioner properly, or overdoing the hair products, but after ditching both of these on the next wash, my hair was greasier than ever. It was literally forming dank strings even before I'd had a chance to dry it!

WHAT WORKED FOR ME...

After a quick search on Goolge, I decided to try a 50/50 mix of apple cider vinegar (ACV) and water in conjunction with a tablespoon of bi-carb soda (BCS) in my regular shampoo.

I spritzed the ACV on the affected area, let sit for 30 minutes, then washed out with the BCS & shampoo mix.

The back of my crown still felt a bit grungy, so I repeated the BCS & shampoo, rinsed again, applied my usual conditioner to the ends of my hair, rinsed, spritzed with ACV for a final time and then a final rinse.

Even while my head was under the shower I could feel the difference in my hair, and upon drying it, the greasiness in the crown had reduced by 90-95%.

I'll repeat this process again tomorrow and hopefully that will be the end of it.  

It's just so nice to be able to run my fingers through my hair again!

[Heyitsleahxox]

Had this!!!! DISHWASHER SOAP AND MOUTHWASH!!!! Mouthwash works the best, and also normal dove soap the bar !!!!! Use those as shampoo and a conditioner on the ends because mouthwash is so drying

[Heyitsleahxox]

Omg lol i mean dish soap so like fairy liquid

[raiinbowlovely]

I got this, and had NO idea it was such a common problem until I went to google! I was so sick of washing my hair and it feeling greasy again as soon as it dried. I did a 50/50 ACV and water (probably about 1/4 of each), with 10 drops of melaleuca (tea tree) essential oil. Sprayed it on the crown of my head (where my greasy spot was) with a little spritz bottle, let it sit for 10 minutes, then washed with clarifying shampoo. BAM- gone! The crown of my head now feels all soft and clean again! Yay!! I'm keeping the spray bottle in my bathroom cabinet in case it sneaks up on me again.

[greasyhairoutofnowhere]

Hi raiinbowlovely,  Did this ever reoccur? and if so, did you figure out what the cause was?

[raiinbowlovely]

It came back here and there. A lot less since I went off one medication that increased sebum on my skin and hair. (That medication made me get cystic acne too.) I still get it a little bit sometimes when I use shampoo with no sulfates in it (since I color my hair) for a few months. Or if I'm in a depressive episode and don't wash my hair often enough. But nothing like it was when I was on that medication (Xyrem). I've found that even the 50/50 water/ACV does fine, and I don't need the tea tree oil for it to be effective in washing out the sebum build up in my hair.

[RobertGoodman]

Wow, this years-long thread is interesting!  Makes me wonder what the "oil" is.  Could it really be just sebum?  Or is it an exudate of either a purulent or serous nature?  The exudate would explain why some describe it as sticky.  A purulent exudate (pus mixed with serous secretion) would almost certainly be from an infection, although conceivably some other inflammatory reaction.  A serous exudate just indicates some kind of injury.  If you let it dry, a serous exudate will become an amber-colored transparent solid.

I sometimes have experienced small areas of serous exudate on my scalp, which I usually assume to be from places I've scratched that haven't fully healed and are still oozing.  However, sometimes the effect occurs in patches in places I doubt I've scratched.  In general my scalp is very dandruffy, usually as dry flakes but with occasional brief seborrheic hypersecretory periods, when it feels greasy or waxy.  However, it's never been in such a condition that ordinary soap wouldn't at least temporarily wash it out.  I don't think even the worst cases of seborrhea could produce the phenomenon described here, which is what makes me think these people are dealing not with sebum but with something that can be secreted much faster, i.e. an exudate.