Monday, November 24, 2008
Advice?
In light of the recent head lice conversations, I naturally cringed this morning when I noticed H was aggressively scratching her head. Upon close inspection, she is vermin-free but has extremely dry scalp. Any tips as to what to do about this? We are still using Johnson's All Over Baby Wash on all of our children, but for winter we probably need to do something more moisturizing.
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13 comments:
I'm not sure how old H is but I think the first step is to not use any shampoo/baby wash on her head at all. Sometimes that stuff can strip their heads of natural oils, well, for all of us really, but it seems worse for the little ones.
Hi Mary Alice,
Our doc recommends the Kiss my Face brand for the whole family. My four hear old had painful cradle cap and it cleared it right up. You might try it for H, too. Apparently the secret is olive oil.
Back on the lice subject - I hope (!) someone ever read my comment about solving lice...I think I was the last remark and wonder if anyone even heard me...
Katie,
I read it and thought it was a good solution for a family having great difficulty getting rid of the lice. Like chemical shampoos, antibiotics have negative side effects too!
We rid our home of lice (3 weeks now) w a just a serious combing regiment. I think some families might have a more difficult time than we did, and that is when the shampoos or anti-biotic treatments can be life-saving. Like many things though, I wouldn't resort to chemicals/drugs until more natural remedies have failed.
Thanks for the tip! If the critters resurface around here, I just might be willing to try it. How long did your family go in-between treatments before you realized they were back?
Oh and I meant to say - I used a comb on my little Maria's cradle cap, just sort of scratching and lifting the junk off. It really helped her cradle cap but also I made her hair into a very cute fauxhawk for a while. :)
I am using a combination shampoo/conditioner product marketed for children and made by Suave for my preschoolers. I am also using the Suave detangler. I have no idea whether it is any different from the adult products, but it says "no tears" and has been really good at keeping their hair shiny and tamped-down. My kids have wiry hair and amazing cowlicks.
I started using this regimen just a few weeks ago after a visit to my older child's preschool class. The main thing I got from the visit was that his cowlick made him look like the class hayseed.
Olive oil has worked really well for my 3 month-old daughter. It got rid of a nasty outbreak of cradle cap, and I am still using it to treat her dry scalp. I just massage it in her hair before her bath, leave it for a minute and then shampoo it out. (Burts Bees Baby bar shampoo - love it!)
Hi Mary Alice,
I really like the California Baby products for my kids skin/hair. My children have always had very dry skin. These products have made a difference right away. they have all natural bath products, shampoos conditioners and creams. I love their calendula cream for my infants scalp. I started using it the moment he was born and he has not had a bit of cradle cap, my 3 older children had it terribly, that is why i started to be proactive this time around with the California Baby products and they have made a huge difference. You can get these products at Whole foods, but i was also surprised to see that my Local Target has started to carry some of the California baby products. you can also check out their website www.californiababy.com as a side note, these products are all botanically based and were developed by a mom :)
My advice would be to wash hair every other day, if it's not necessary to wash every day. Frequent washing can dry out the scalp, as someone else already mentioned.
We had the same issue with our 5 y.o. daughter. She actually came home from school thinking that the nurse had told her that she had head lice. Upon further inspection I discovered that what looked like a dry scalp was actually residue from shampoo. Daddy (who is completely unused to how much rinsing long hair needs) had failed to completley rinse her hair after bathtime. The result: a very itchy scalp and flakiness. The solution: Mommy gave her head a very thorough wash and rinse.
Ok, we are super sensitive over here, and here are some thoughts and agreements with other posters.
1: Ditto the extra rinsing, it is key.
2: I like the California Baby products, some work great for us, other's not as great, I would do trial and error.
3: All of the Aveeno products work really well on our super dry kin, the ones with colloidal oatmeal especially. Their regular lotion (not diaper cream) is the only thing that clears up my sons diaper rash.
4: And ditto the every other day washing, or every 2 days.
5: Some natural products make things worse for us, we are allergic to a lot of Burt's Bees...a big bummer because I LOVE the way it smells...and he seems to be allergic to calendula which is in a lot of natural baby products.
Whew, that's all from the itchy scratch house.
not rinsing seems like a strong possibility since she is washing her own hair these days...
I did an olive oil treatment on both girls yesterday, and their hair is still greasy, hoping to have it nice and shiny by thanksgiving, though.
Coconut oil is wonderful for dry scalp/ skin. Dr. Bronner's all-natural soap (in the natural section of your grocery store, look for the large container of liquid soap with thousands of words in tiny print on the label!) is also great for kids' hair. I use it on all my children's hair and it moisturizes without looking greasy (though it makes my hair feel too heavy).
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