Forum Activity for @mg1134

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

Alright, thank you all for any help. I'll get in touch with her.

A little update: Nothing has really changed. I went to the doctor and they did some blood tests and gave me an anti-fungal pill prescription. Dr said he didn't see anything that looked like fungus on my scalp but to try it anyway. All my blood tests came back negative for everything they were looking for so they have no idea. Basically told me to try the pill and come back if nothing changes. 
I took my last pill yesterday and nothing has changed. I'm going to give it a couple more washes and see what my scalp does before I make another appointment.

@daiana-nathalie Thank you.

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

Alright, how do I get in touch with her?

For some reason the last three times Ive tried to respond here there wasn't a text box for a response.

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

Also, to thedread, washing with just water isn't an option for me. This grease is insanely thick. It's like crisco seeping out of my pores. Sometimes, when it's really bad even shampoo will not get it out I've tried washing with just water and it does absolutely nothing but run the grease through my dreads which is destroying them.

Also, I said in an earlier post that your guy's and knotty boy's shampoos wouldn't wash out for me. I've since realized that it's not the shampoo, it's the grease. The grease is building up deep in my dreads and it holds water and shampoo in them. I've noticed that on washes where I manage to actually get the grease out of the dreads the shampoo washes out better and they completely dry up in about 4-5hrs. When the grease is really heavy is when the shampoo stays in them and they take 9+hrs to dry. Thought I'd clarify that.

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

I would just see that message with my shitty luck. I actually just ordered a bar of dragon's blood last week which did me no good. I'm greasier than ever. I can't even go an hour without thick grease seeping out of my pores on my scalp, face, neck and chest. I've been to the doctor and it was a big jerk off like I figured it would be. They don't give a shit.

Anyway, I'm too broke to buy more shampoo. I ordered the dragon's blood because I had good luck with the little sample bottle of dragon's blood liquid. I used that and went 6 days without the grease. That's out now I so I ordered the bar because it's cheaper and I like bars better but didn't know the ingredients were different for the bars until after it got here. The bar version doesn't do anything for me and it's back to grease. My last hope is dermatologist appointment I have coming up which I assume will be a jerk off just like seeing my doctor. After that, if nothing changes, fuck dreadlocks. I'm done and they're getting cut off. They've been nothing but hell for me. 

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

I don't have insurance but I'm trying to raise some cash to get in to see a doctor but at this point I'm nearing the end of my rope and my will to be over this goddamn nightmare is outweighing how badly I want to lock up. It's been three months since the grease became super bad and my dreads are literally as loose and shitty as they were in the first month. All my progress is gone and I look like a complete idiot and smell like stinky hair constantly despite the fact that I wash my hair often. NOTHING works. Not changing diet, shampoos, water, etc.

Yesterday I decided to do a deep cleanse soak and after 2.5 hrs and three bowl changes I got a majority of the grease build up out of the dreads and off my scalp. They felt great and clean and dry and I told myself this is going to work and they're going to be alright now. NOPE! A day later and my scalp is oozing this fucking sebum back out and they're a greasy, soggy mess again. It's even worse now because they were loosened up a lot from the soak and the grease is doing even more unknotting. My scalp smells nasty and it's only been a fucking day. Even normal washing is worthless. This grease is so thick and impossible to rinse out. It swallows up shampoo and I have to use twice as much as I should to even get a lather. I can't deep soak them every day.

Back when they were alright I used to have to separate them every morning from sticking together. None of them have even slightly stuck together in the last three months because they're constantly soggy.
I'm literally at a loss for what to do... I've wanted to lock up so badly for such a long time and don't want to give up but I'm so sick of feeling this nasty and unclean.

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

@p3rmaam I've tried washing with just water but I'm far too greasy for that. All the grease just runs down into my dreads, sticks there and loosens them up.

@j-welsh I have Vicki's shampoo. Tea tree and the dragon's blood. I know for a lot of you it's the holy grail of dread shampoos but for me it's worthless. I can't get it to wash out of my hair fully when I use it for some reason and it's never helped with the grease problem for me.

In fact, I don't think another shampoo is the answer. I have 11 shampoos/ soaps sitting on my desk right now and the result is the same with all of them. Bars, liquid, doesn't matter. It's even the same with just water rinses.
My last wash was a day ago with a tea tree and jojoba oil bar that was recommended to me (desert essence) in just distilled water from the store (no shower water) and I'm sitting here feeling my scalp secrete sebum and scrapping it off after a day.

It's looking like my only options are cut them off or sit and watch this grease unknot them back to normal hair.

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

Believe me, it's not lint. I sleep with them wrapped back in a nylon and on black satin pillowcases. I don't think I even own anything wool.
My scalp isn't flakey, either. I don't have dandruff or anything. I keep a check on my scalp and it looks normal. There's no rash or skin flakes or anything except sebum.

I've never put wax in my dreads.

This is sebum/ grease. Trust me. It's a white greasy paste that seeps out of my scalp. It smells like the white sebum you can squeeze out of piercings and stuff like that, although not as strong but still strong enough that I kind of stink a day or so after a wash. My scalp will not stop secreting this stuff since I got dreads and it gets worse and worse no matter what I do.

I've tried using distilled water but it doesn't seem to do much. I definitely scrub the living hell out of my scalp and i've even tried a baking soda soak that got some of out but not the stuff at the top that's really packed in there.  I've rinsed for as long as 45 minutes once and it doesn't matter. It always comes back. Used to be in days, now it's getting so bad it's in hours.

This is what's packed in there. It's a ton of sebum that collects around the tops of the dreads that rub against my scalp. This is freshly squeezed out of one of the really bad ones.

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

So, things have gotten worse and I think I'm to the point where I just need to accept that I can't have locs and cut them off. My roots have completely unraveled and I have so much sebum in the upper tops each dread that is impossible to get out. 
The photo was just taken after a wash. if I pinch and squeeze them around the top to mid dread this white grease oozes out. I've tried to get it out but the more I mess with it the more they unravel from it. It is insanely thick and never seems to stop.  Is there anything i can do?

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

I live in an apartment in the city so I have city water. Unsure of the water tank set up but pretty sure nothing has changed since I've started dreading.

I've tried both liquid and bar soaps but the Vicki's Tea tree shampoo is the liquid. 

Yeah, I really get in there and scrub the scalp during a wash and I use the handheld showerhead on the highest setting. The problem with washing, though, is I think because there's so much grease/ sebum that it is just running into the dreads and some is staying no matter how much I rinse.

I'm really at a loss for what to do. These have made me happier than I've been in a long time but they're turning into a nightmare. It's such a bummer to watch progress slowly melt away each day and to feel grimy and dirty just hours after a wash.
My face is starting to get really greasy, too, which is annoying as hell. 

Thank you so much for spending so much time trying to figure it out with me, though.

Too much sebum/ scalp grease.

Help! Save My Dreads

Nope, no meds. I rarely even take things like aspirin.

My diet is mostly vegetarian/ vegan foods. I've been reading up on diet a bit but my diet hasn't changed since getting dreads at all.

Haven't gone swimming the whole time I've had locks. I'm unsure of how chlorinated my water is, but again I never had this problem before.

Here are a couple photos:
































My dreads. So much unravelling has happened from all the grease as of late, especially at the roots. They pretty much stay soggy with grease now.




































Greasy sebum scratched off my scalp from just minutes before this post. It's definitely getting worse. This is barely two days after a wash. I usually don't pull chunks this big out until 3-4 days.