Excess Sebum on Top of Scalp
Hi,
My scalp produces too much sebum and there is a wax like build up around the hair follicles. As a result I am losing hair. My hair roots are not nourished properly and then fall out very easily. Surprisingly there is no sebum or wax build up on the sides and rear of the head and the hair is perfectly healthy in that area. Its the vertex part that is effected. Nothing seems to help. I am writing with a lot of hope…please suggest me something. I have started taking zinc sulphate and B6 and sebum production have reduced a bit. Thank you.
Sebum does not cause hair loss, contrary to what many people say, but the things we do to keep it down, does often cause hair loss. Shampoo regularly, possibly twice a day to keep the sebum down. Have your scalp mapped out to determine if your have miniaturization and genetic hair loss. Let’s be smart about how this is approached. Get a good doctor and get a diagnosis in your hand so that you know what has to be done.
Funny but the more sebum I have, the more hair I lose and also the diameter of the hair decreases. I use a vinegar rinse on my hair and eat homemade yogurt which I thought was helping but then it came back..and my hair started falling out in chunks.
I suffered from a persistent, waxy build up on my scalp for some years. It got so bad a couple of years ago that I just couldn’t clean it from my scalp. It was particularly bad above my ears. I would scratch my scalp and be left with a thick, greasy wax that was a white/yellow colour under my nail. It was horrible. I tried natural remedies which I picked up from forums, including washing my hair with vinegar, bicarbonate soda powder mixed with Johnson’s baby shampoo, and lemon juice. This gave me some temporary relief but I smelt like a fish and chip shop! I was at my wits end and was just about to spend a significant amount of money visiting a private dermatologist when I walked into a pharmacy and noticed a shelf of ‘medicated’ shampoos. By this point I had worked out from the internet that I was probably suffering from seborrheic dermatitis. I bought every medicated shampoo for oily dandruff on that shelf and alternated them every day, massaging thoroughly into the scalp and sometimes doing two lots (I have to wash my hair every day). I have been able to control the condition ever since. My hair is a lot better than it used to be – not perfect but a LOT better. The ones I buy are:
Alphosyl
Oilatum
Ceanel
Polytar
Discovering these shampoos changed my life overnight. They can dry hair out so use a good conditioner on the tips. I wish I had found out how to treat this problem earlier as I suffered for years, totally baffled about what I was suffering from and how to treat it. This is why I am posting this information now on any forum where people are talking about ‘waxy dandruff’.
My son gets a build up of waxy stuff on the top of his head. He is only 11 and does not like to take the time to shower until I make him. We have cut his hair very short to try and help control it. I was thinking it was just a build up of shampoo or conditioner that never got rinsed out. Then I was thinking it was lice eggs, but he does not have lice and they rub off and flake away sometimes. Should he see a doctor to verify that it is seborrheic dermatatitis? It sound like that might be what is going on.
I too had the waxy stuff on the crown of my head. I found that using shampoo and conditioner that are sulfate free eliminated the problem immediately. I started using sulfate free products about six months ago and have not had the waxy scalp at all.