Does your hair look like a grease ball by 5:00 in the afternoon? Can't go a day without shampooing your hair? Oily hair is one of most common complaints from my guests that step into the salon. So what's the solution you ask? Let's start with where that oily matter comes from.

Your body is completely covered in microscopic glands, called Sebaceous Glands. Although you won't find any on your palms or soles, there is an exceptionally larger amount on the scalp and the face than anywhere else on the body. The sebaceous glands produce oily/waxy matter, called Sebum. Sebum is responsible for making your skin and hair moisturized, waterproof and supple.

5 tips to help fight oily hair

1.) Washing your hair less, not more

Sounds like a funny concept, I know. The fact of the matter is, the more you wash, the harder your scalp works. The natural oils of your scalp are stripped away when washed too frequently causing an overproduction of sebum. Try washing every other day and transition into every few days. The more you scale back, the less oil that will be produced.

Can't handle the in between days? Try dry shampoo or a hair refresher. All dry shampoos and hair refreshers are different. What works for one person may not work for another and when you find one you like, you will never look back. These are two that I use and love. Bumble and Bumble dry Shampoo and Davines’s hair refresher. You can use both of these products together or separately. After application, run your freshly washed hands through your hair and lightly scrub your scalp.

"What if I get my hair wet in the shower without shampooing?". I do not recommend this. If anything, the water on your oily scalp will make it worse. It will actually help the oil move down your hair shaft causing your entire head to become oily and reproduce more oil. Unwashed hair and a warm shower normally do not mix without shampoo. The only time I have recommended this is for curly hair.

Curly hair tends to be a dryer hair type. Run only conditioner through your hair and rinse with cool water. You could possibly get one more day of not shampooing before it appeared to look oily.

Keep in mind; you will have an adjustment period. Your hair is not going to be oil free within the first day. Give it a few weeks; I know you will love the results.

2.) Applying Shampoo and Conditioner the right way

The right way you say? Yes, there is a right and a wrong way.

Shampoo needs to be worked into your scalp to cleanse and help rid the oils and build up in the hair, where as your ends need little to no shampoo. Be sure to leave no traces of shampoo in your hair. This will not help with conditioning. Prepping your hair for conditioner is very important.

Once a month to once a week, you should be using a clarifying shampoo. Over time, your hair gets oil and product build up. Clarifying shampoo will help eliminate the oil in one clean sweep. This helps your shampoo do its specific job without extra hard work.

The clarifying shampoo that I use at home and in the salon is Bumble and Bumble's Sunday Shampoo.

Conditioners are vital to your hair and help keep it moisturized, beautiful, healthy and shiny. Most people think that conditioner is the big reason why their hair is so oily. DO NOT skip this step. Conditioner can actually play a factor into why your scalp is so oily and you shouldn't punish your ends by not using it. Start from your ends and work your way up. It's made to moisturize and nourish.

When a guest talks about their ends feeling dry the minute they get out of the shower or that their conditioner is "just not doing its job", I typically ask them how long they stay under the water while rising. Normally, the response is, "Until it's all out". Exactly. You're rinsing it all out. When you’re under the water the conditioner makes your hair extremely soft and you typically keep rinsing until you do not feel anymore product. At this point, you have completely washed all the conditioner out of you hair. You only need to rinse your conditioner between 5-15 seconds. When you start rinsing your hair, rinse for 5 seconds at a time, move your head out of the water and feel your hair. If you still have conditioner in your hair, rinse your head for another 5 seconds. It should feel soft like it did under the water but with no conditioner left in it. Pin your hair in a clip so the water does not hit your ends. This will continue to wash out more conditioner, leaving your ends dehydrated and brittle.

3.) Product

Choosing the right products is essential to the oily hair you may be experiencing, Try and stay away from any gloppy gels or any heavy product in general. They will weigh your hair down and make you look like you have instant grease head. Be careful of shine products as well. Keep the shine products around the ends of your hair and DO NOT put them anywhere near your scalp. You will look oily within seconds.

When in doubt, use fewer products if you want your hair to be oil free for a few days. Typically when I plan on not washing my hair for a few days, I use a light styling product before I blow dry and maybe some pomade or hairspray after styling. As the days go by, I end up piling more products each day so my hair can always look nice and refreshed even on the third or fourth day.

My favorite light styling product to use before blow-drying is Davines’s relaxing moisturizing fluid.

4.) Styling

Styling your hair plays a factor in how greasy your hair is. Only brush your hair when it is needed. Over brushing will stimulate the oils on your scalp and the brush can actually aid in bringing the oils down your hair shaft, making your entire head a big, oily mess.

Styling your hair in curls or waves can keep the oily scalp to a minimum. When your hair has any sort of wave in it, it tends to be drier. Having a curl or bend in your hair can actually stop oil from going down your hair shaft. When your hair is straight there is nothing to stop it from travelling down.

5.) Avoid touching your hair

The oils from your hands will make your hair turn oily in a second. Every time you touch your hair, you're putting the oils into your hair. Anytime you plan to touch your hair, wash your hands first. I can not tell you how many times that I have applied my make up and decided to touch my hair afterwards without washing them. Game over! Wash your hands and then touch your hair.

If none of these techniques work for you, hormones, family genetics, diet, etc. could all play a factor into your oily hair. This post is just the basics and work for most anyone. I will touch base in a future post about products and home remedies to try.

I hope you found this helpful. Have you found any remedies to keep your hair from becoming oily?

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