Scalp Odor/ Oily Scalp

I been suffering from oily icthing scalp, ive tried all types of shampoos tea trea nizoral and nothing seems to work to get rid of the bad smell. people notice it when in car  or small space.this stinky smell from my scalp is getting on my nerves i cannot seem to find anything thats gonna knock out the funky smell for good and restore my scalp back to its natural state . Is there any treatment or cure for this scalp odor i need to get rid of it and gain my confidence back.

I'd try diluted vinegar/apple cider vinegar.  Since it's used as a cleaning product I can see it helping with the smell, and dissolving the gunk. And I recommend pouring some green tea on your head as well, that should help reduce sebum.

For the odor, you could also try baking soda (if you haven't already). Google it. Also search this forum, there's heaps of topics on it. Example: https://immortalhair.forumotion.com/t6953-baking-soda

Hope this helps.

I agree with NeonMonk on the baking soda recommendation.  Also OMG recommends a 50/50 mixture of Polysorbate 80/ethanol to help with sebum.

Ive also notice scalp is very oily too what can i try to knock out the oily scalp maybe the smell should fade sum any products out there for oily scalp and im gonna try all the above remedies and see what works thanks

Sebum is oil.  I am going to apply tretinoin to help with hair loss, apparently the levels retinoic acid in the sebaceous gland in mice determines whether the stem cells become hair follicle cells or sebaceous glands. In theory this could reduce the amount of sebum produced, and increase the amount of hair produced.  At least that is what I am hoping. 

If you order tretinoin (all trans retinoic acid) from India its cheap, and the Shalaks brand uses olive oil for its base of the gel.  (There is a gel and a cream.)  The American gel (called Retin-A) uses a lot of alcohol.  I've used the latter and did not like it.  I am awaiting my order of the Indian stuff.

And the precursor to retinoic acid in the body is vitamin A, so I would recommend supplementing with that, and vitamin D as well because you're supposed to take one with the other. 

CS recommends preformed vitamin A (animal source) so that's what I take.  If you are a vegetarian I would take the beta-carotene along side a vitamin E supplement.

(From Wikipedia)

Symmetric and asymmetric cleavage[edit]
In the molecule chain between the two cyclohexyl rings β-carotene cleaves either symmetrically or asymmetrically. Symmetric cleavage with the enzyme beta,beta-carotene-15,15'-dioxygenase requires the antioxidant α-tocopherol.^[10] This symmetric cleavage gives two equivalent retinal molecules and each retinal molecule further reacts to give retinol (vitamin A) and retinoic acid. β-Carotene is also asymmetrically cleaved into two asymmetric products. The product of asymmetric cleavage is β-apocarotenal (8',10',12'). Asymmetric cleavage reduces the level of retinoic acid significantly.^[11]

For the non-meat eaters, Retinyl palmitate. The problem with beta carotene is that up to 50% of people cannot metabolize it into retinoic acid.

Retinyl palmitate, or vitamin A palmitate, is the ester of retinol and palmitic acid

http://hairevo.com/shop/content/13-vitamin-a-and-hair-loss

Thanks to the "Way Back Machine" I went back in time and on my site, when I had a section on "Topicals."

I removed something on there, that I think still has a usefulness for some people.  That is a combination of Lithium salt (Orotate) and DMSO mixed into an organic shampoo.

This will take away the itch and excess sebum. It is a treatment only.

http://web.archive.org/web/20120120051735/http://www.immortalhair.org/topicals.htm

Hey CS is there a reason i can't access your current regimen web page at the moment?

I've been rinsing my scalp with Apple Cider Vinegar for the past 2-3 weeks. This is a great way of dissolving the fatty deposits of sebum that accumulate on the scalp. This is a part of the MPB process and in my case it seems to promote inflammation in my case anyway. This may be through means of causing an infection or by causing the scalp to over-heat due to excess oil. I've cut down the sebum a lot by leaving the ACV on the scalp for about 1 minute before rinsing it off, some days I don't rinse it off at all. 

If you want to see how effective it is then pour some ACV over dried fat and watch it break it down. While I think it's a great way to keep the scalp healthy I don't believe it will effect the MPB process at all even if it does reduce inflammation. At least I haven't seen any reduction in hair loss despite the reduction in inflammation and sebum deposits. 

You should do everything to reduce inflammation and oily scalp anyways as these two tend to cause extra anxiety and are a constant reminder of hair loss. So I fully recommend trying it.

The odor from the ACV will dissipate in minutes so don't worry about that. Also, I don't think that using Natural Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar will really make any difference in the outcome. Normal Store bought ACV will have the same properties as the more expensive "Natural" ACV.

As another user mentioned Baking Soda/Bread Soda/Sodium Bicarbonate will effectively do the same thing as ACV. The objective is to dissolve those fatty deposits on the scalp. Baking Soda is a nice way of doing this, it's cheap, easily dissolves in water and will break up the sebum. Unfortunately the BS tends to be very drying and can aggravate inflammatory conditions by drying out the scalp too much. It's fine to use this every so often but it is too drying to use daily unlike the ACV.

I notice the sebum and inflammation tends to get worse in times of stress, when you have a bad diet and when you are anxious. 

One thing people seem to over look when looking for a "cure" for illnesses is the effectiveness of exercise. It's not hard to get 30 minutes a day of aerobic exercise and to use weights to build muscle in turn boosting self confidence and energy. Exercise will help reduce stress and anxiety which are the biggest factors I believe in accelerating MPB. 

Also, reducing inflammation is very important, Omega-3 fatty acids will have somewhat positive effect. Don't expect too much though.

Anyways.

Exercise.

Decro, but the exercise and the excessive sweating causes extra oil and sebum which is part of the problem!

ghai018 wrote:Decro, but the exercise and the excessive sweating causes extra oil and sebum which is part of the problem!

I have never had this problem. Sweat and Sebum are very different things. I believe sweat is a good thing and will help loosen the sebum. Sweat isn't a problem. Sebum is also a good thing but unfortunately is sent into over drive during the MPB process. You don't want to completely dry your skin out..

If you look at healthy, athletic males.. do they look oily?. No. The sedentary male is the oily one.

Mawson06 wrote:Hey CS is there a reason i can't access your current regimen web page at the moment?

I made some changes recently....but have it all sorted now...

It should work now