Itchy Scalp

Dandruff?

After you shampoo and towel dry your hair, massage a little olive oil into your scalp . Not too much or it will be oily. It's best not to use a blow dryer, but rather air dry.

Or heat some honey with a bit of water, let it cool down and massage
into your scalp.

Honey and olive oil? All this female know-how on hair is putting back womens rights at lest 20 years!

No coolwhip, we just realized that "we want it all" meant "we do it all".

Even feminists hate itchy scalps.

I mean, honey in my hair? Whats next? Some sort of soap for my hands?

How often are you colouring your hair, how often do you wash it, what kind of conditioner do you use, do you do any hot oil treatments between colourings?

Thanks for the nifty replies all.

How about trying T-Gel?

Funny you should say that as I took the scooter to Costco and bought some Neutrogena T/Gel (against the pharmacist's advice I might add as she thought it was too strong for my needs)

So now I have a bunch of:

Tea Tee Oil
Vinegar
Neutrogena T/Gel
Neutrogena anti-residue shampoo

But I am not sure what will work best or what I need to do. I did read here you can have reactions to hair products and hair dyes and also reactions if you do not rinse your hair really well. I'm not sure how accurate / likely all that is.

Sounds like you need to work on the colour maintenance protocol itself - as well as the taking care of your hair/scalp part.

Condition condition condition.

If you're just shampooing (and I agree that the T-Gel is likely too strong), you need to add conditioner to your regimen. If your hair is a bit dry, you may need to step back the washing regimen a bit - try one morning, then the next evening, then two mornings after. Your scalp needs a chance to redevelop a healthy landscape.

Good luck.

oh - rinse rinse rinse after the shampoo

then rinse rinse after the conditioner

OK!

The "colour maintenance protocol itself" can you explain a bit? The thing is I want to avoid dying my hair more often than three time a year.

Somewhere (I'll try to find it tonight) there's a great thread on hair colouring at A2K.

Bottom line though, you're kinda messing with how good your hair could look by just doing a big dye job a few times a year. Fixing the roots (and conditioning your hair) in between full dye jobs will look better - and be nicer to the balance of your hair.

I'd recommend starting with the anti-buildup shampoo, rinsing rinsing rinsing, doing a vinegar rinse - and heading out to Shoppers for a very lightweight conditioner before you next wash your hair.

Perhaps use it only once or twice per week....?

Chum,

Besides all the good advice so far, if it doesn't go away after all that, you might have the doc look at it quickly during your next visit.

For a short while, my head itched like crazy. Don't know the particulars of it, but was prescribed an anti-fungal type cream. It worked and I have not had problems since.

Especially if you are prone to fungal type fun (I had a lot of feet problems early on), this would be worth looking into.

Ok, I have never had fun with fungi but I have longer hair and I don't use a hair dryer etc, I just tie it back wet and get on with things, so it stays wet for a long time. Maybe keeping my scalp wet for so long each day is a bad thing? Sure is nice in the summer though!

Take a look at what products you use AFTER you wash as well. If you're using a hair spray that has alcohol in it or any other drying agent it'll suck the moisture out of your scalp, leaving it prone to dandruff or itchiness.

Also check how often you shower. If you shower more than once a day you could be washing away essential oils. (that goes for skin in general)

Its probably still a good idea to check with your dermatologist or doc next time you're in for a check up. Mushy is right theres a possibility of a fungal infection if this is chronic. Or it might even be a slight case of psoriasis.