[jennygirl]

Hi everyone!! I have been a lunker for about 2 years - which is a little creapy if you think about it Anyway, I'm now taking the brave step of posting a question -since everyone here seens to know so much about all sorts of things

My dd is 17 months old and is biracial. I have been trying to keep her hair as nice a possible, but it's face it, I can barely make mine look half way decent The issue I'm dealing with is her scalp, it seems to be peeling -a lot. I feel like I burnt her scalp with the detangler I was using. Is that possible? I believe it's was the detangler I was using because this brown flacky skin was not only on her whole head but also on the tops of her ears and on her neck. It has gotten much better but not 100%. I brought her to the dr about 4 weeks ago and she is checking to see if it's a fungus.

Any suggustions - I hate to think I'm causing my daughter more harm then good.
~jenny

[OakShannon]

Welcome!

My son is 19 months old and I had the same problem with his scalp. It peeled something awful. Sometimes when I would comb his hair out after a bath, it seemed like a whole layer of skin was peeling off. He always had flakes of dry skin in his hair. That was after a couple of months of using Carol's Daughter conditioners with no problem. His hair looked great! But his scalp was SO dry.

So I asked his barber and his pediatrician. (Both African American.) They both gave me the same answer. Olive oil. And it worked, too. That's all I use in his hair and his scalp cleared up immediately.

I don't know how well straight olive oil would work on longer hair. I know some people who say it's all their moms ever used in their hair and it worked fine. But I think it depends. You might try Jojoba oil, too. But for David, I think the key was using something natural with no scents, no chemicals, just simple oil.

[aclee]

I agree with oakshannon, you could try straight olive oil, and if it's too "much" then put it in a spray bottle with some water and maybe a drop or two of tea tree oil (if you are concerned about an fungus). Coconut oil is also an oil that I think works nicely and seems to blend a little better with water.

Good Luck

[jennygirl]

Thanks OakShannon. I've read a lot on this forum about olive oil, I guess it's time to give it a try. I think you're right about scents in products. When DD was a baby I couldn't even use scented wipes on her skin without her breaking out in a rash.

[ocracoke]

I think the others have given you great advice but I also wanted to suggest another possibility -- maybe you are using too much product. Not sure how much you are using. I had that happen to me. I was following the instructions I got from everybody but every time I took her hair out of braids I could spend hours scratching off this brown flaky stuff from her scalp. And she itched. I was beginning to think my child had leprosy because it happened all the time. It turned out just to be product build-up between washings because my daughter needed less product then what every one was telling me. I cut way back on product and I have not had the problem since. But olive oil is a great option for scalp and skin.

Samantha

[jennygirl]

I'm going to start using the olive oil with water this weekend. I probably should've started using it awhile ago - I guess the thought to using olive oil on hair made me nervous. I'm CC so using oil as a hair product is a foriegn concept

Thanks for all the advice!!
~jenny