Dandruff and shampooing

There is some fantastic knowledge shared in these posts. Thanks adam for asking and thanks SE for the helpful wisdom!

updated by @dreadson-malock: 07/22/15 05:31:28AM

Also, this is probably a fitting question for this topic

how much should one dilute the vickis dreadlock shampoo

I have Patchouli, Dragons Blood, Tea Tree, in the liquid form (dreads are about 9 months old) and I was getting dandruff, at least I thought it was dandruff but I'm being told it's my scalp or scalp dryness - so I bought the others and now I have 3 different kinds, but neither of them makes the white flakey dryness go away. Thankfully I came across this thread and will try the cold water, but recently I was told to attempt diluting my current shampoo.

Questions:

Any advice on how much water I should add?

P.S. approximately how long do those shampoos last?

@dreadson - I don't know about your particular shampoo, but I use dr. B's and when I found it was contributing to my dry scalp I started keeping a small cup in my shower (my kid's plastic cup, probably 6 oz) and put maybe a teaspoon or less soap in it, then full it up with water and pour it over my head. It helped quite a bit. 

To the original poster (sorry, forgot your name already, I'm burnt and I work too much for normal brain functions like memory lol) and also in reference to a comment made by SE, I am not African or anything of the sort, I'm a pale northern Italian Scottish girl and my hair always got greasy pretty quick before I had locs, but I've had wicked problems with dry flaky scalp business in the past year or so and here's what helped me. Trying to keep the water as cool as possible in the shower (which sucks cuz I love boiling in there, but I also have keratosis so it helps that too) and always rinsing in cold at the end (easy, I run out of hot water every time lol) - the cold rinse closes your hair follicles and the (I forget what they're called- like the equivalent of pores on your hair shaft) and keeps the moisture from the shower from drying out. I also use virgin coconut oil on my scalp whenever needed, so pretty often, by just taking little bits melted on my fingertips and rubbing it in really well. Once or twice a month I even put some in the length of my locs (they're five years old, wouldn't recommend that for locs that aren't fully matured) and it's never made my head look or feel greasy at all. I think coconut oil works differently than other oils in that way, you can smear it all over your face and you won't break out, it actually helps with acne. Aaaaand, if you're feeling crafty, you can always try a homemade hair tea! Rosemary is awesome for dandruff and dryness, and being a full time McDonald's employee with a child and bills to pay I usually can't afford a $15 bottle of essential oil so instead I make a tea by boiling the leaves for 15-20 minutes then straining it into a spray bottle and keeping it in the fridge, and I soak my scalp with it almost daily. I add some tea tree too but I've heard others say it dried them out a bit so I'd be wary and experiment cautiously with that.

i know that was a super long rant, but I used to have a really persistent issue with dry scalp and flakes, and keeping up on those three things has made all the difference for me so hopefully my advice can help you or someone else reading this. And the last thing that I almost forgot, which might help with your need for frequent washes, is when I feel like I could use a wash but don't have time to get in the shower or for whatever reason don't want to, I just stick my head under the faucet and rinse really well in cool water. It gives my hair and scalp a little bit of cleaning and a moisture boost and seems to help keep me flake free. 

Good luck!!

Not a rant at all. Thank you so very much for this wisdom. Burnt, overworked, whatever, still very helpful. 

I have so much in common with your post that I needed to read this months ago. Your solutions will be a salvation. I'm already optimistic about dry scalp again. I too always wanted the shower temp as hot as I could bear it. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why both of our scalps were always so oily?

I use the dreadlockshampoo found through links on this site. One time at a meditation retreat, I used a new friends Dr.B's (which was probably far less diluted than it should have been) and it dried me out so terribly that -- now that I think about it -- that could have been around the time all of this dry scalp started.

I don't yet have the confidence to make my own hair tea yet -- I haven't even done an acv wash yet -- but I am curious about this virgin coconut oil. My locs are young, about 9 months and some change, so do you think I should avoid using it? If not, then is there any particular kinds I should get or avoid?

Regardless, thanks for all the hope up there^