Combination dry hair/oily scalp - can someone help?

[Guineapig]

I've been told repeatedly that I should not wash my hair every day. Yet if I allow more than 24 hours in between washing, the top of my head looks like someone has poured baby oil on it. But at the same time, I am quite prone to dry, damaged hair, especially at the ends......So I have been trying to just shampoo the scalp region and not the rest of my hair. And using conditioner on a daily basis.

Is there a certain brand of shampoo and conditioner you could recommend? I am on an extremely tight budget though. And any other information for damage control would be appreciated.

Also, I have eczema behind the ears that goes a little ways now up into my hair line. The medicated shampoo my doctor recommended for the eczema killed my hair so I don't use it anymore (it didn't have much effect on the eczema anyway). Is there anyone with eczema (or has experience with it) that could recommend an all-natural, non-hair damaging solution? Thanks

[eiyela]

Well, I can't say anything about the eczema, but how about getting a boar bristle brush for your hair. It'll spread the oil more evenly through your length. For more information, search the forums with the term BBB, or wait for someone who knows more than me.

[Grey_Lady]

I have eczema on my scalp. I also used to have an oily scalp with dry hair.

I don't use all natural products. I usually conditioner only wash with Vo5 or similar, Apple Cider Vinegar rinse, and heavily condition the ends. About once a week I shampoo the scalp. Once every two weeks, shampoo the length as well.

It may take a little bit to get used to CO washing, but I found it really reduced my scalp's oil production. It seemed the more I shampooed my scalp, the oiler it would get. CO washing really seems to soothe the itches on my scalp, as well as the AC Vinegar.

The doctor also gave me some steroid lotion to use when the eczema is really bad. I use it sparingly, though.

Edited to add that for shampoos, Nature's Gate with Lemon Verbena was the gentlest. I've found it at some drugstores as well as health food stores. It's not the cheapest kind, but it's definitely not the most expensive, either.

[rossjen]

Maybe consider C/O washing with a really light or clarifying
conditioner? I was reading up on the C/O threads awhile back and gave it a try with the bit of conditioner I had left (Desert Essence Daily Conditioner-really lightweight and jojoba based) I was really suprised, because it made my length look better and also did not make my scalp oilier. I don't know how this would be for your eczema though. Jojoba is pretty gentle though, so maybe it would help it a bit. If your ends are still a bit dry after that, just a few drops of jojoba oil would smoothe them out.

[Unnamed]

My hair is also an oil slick at the roots, and most of my life I've been a daily washer (presently somewhere between daily and every other day, slowly easing back closer to daily), and I know what what the dry hair but oily scalp is like.

You might try COing (condition-only-washing) as has been mentioned. For me, this was actually too conditioning for my length (but it did clean the oil off my scalp well), but then my ends/length isn't ultra dry anymore, just drier--so it might work really well for you if your length is very dry. Many with dry hair have had good success with this.

A couple/several years ago, I starting CWCing (put conditioner on length, wash scalp w/shampoo, rinse out shampoo and conditioner, then condition the ends again) and avoiding getting much shampoo on the length. CWC helped balance things out a *lot*, and before I started doing this my ends were very dry. So you might want to try this as well.

[Ursula]

I'll second the recommendations for both CWC and CO.

CWC will let you clean your scalp, without shampooing (and drying) your length.

CO will gently clean your scalp and hair, without stripping all the oil from your scalp, so your scalp gets the idea that it doesn't need to produce huge amounts of oil to avoid drying out.

[MaidMarian]

I'm not sure how long your hair is, but have you tried not washing the length as often as your scalp? I wash my scalp area bent over the sink, but let the length of my hair stay dry in a braid down my back. I only wash the length about once a month (or more often if it really needs it for some reason.) This way you get your scalp clean but spare the rest of your hair the stress of being washed so often.

[Niniane]

what kind of shampoo are you using? I've found that certain shampoos (esp. clarifying or ones for oily hair) cause excess oil production because they'll strip your hair and scalp which makes you produce more oil to counteract the dryness from the shampoo that you used to get rid of all the oil in the first place switching to a gentler shampoo helped calm down my oiliness and let me go longer between washes (this was a long time ago, maybe 8 years or so, it's all a little hazy...). But it does take time to re-train your scalp, which means putting up with the greasies for a while.
right now I'm dealing with some persistent dandruff, and I'm doing a CWWC every 3-5 days or so, at least until I run out of my current shampoo as I'm very fickle. I'll slap some conditioner on my ends while I wash scalp only with nutragena t-gel (I normally don't use it cause of the coal tar, but I was needing something strong) followed by nature's gate tea tree oil on scalp only, and then another conditioning on the length. Normally I wouldn't recommend double washing, but it's all about finding what works for you, as everybody's different, and this is working for me right now.
It seems like a lot of people here use drug store/supermarket products, so you don't need to spend a whole lot. I got a huge bottle of tresseme vit. e conditioner on sale at the grocery store, and I'm liking it just fine.
For the dryness, you could try Snowy's moisture treatment (in the "recipes" forum), and you can try oiling the ends. Jojoba oil is popular, but kind of expensive. If you have some olive oil in the kitchen, you can try working a FEW drops into your ends and see if your hair likes it. You might smell a bit olive-y until it soaks in though

[Guineapig]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll take it all into consideration, play around and see what works. Some asked about what shampoo/conditioner I am using: generally whatever grocery store brand I can find. I've generally been partial to Herbal Essences though at the moment I am finishing off a bottle of coconut scented Suave shampoo. My conditioner of the moment is V05's Sun-kissed Raspberry.

As for hair length, don't know the exact measurement but it's about 3 inches short of my waist.

[13bodies]

I have a very oily scalp, and massaging it with aloe/eo's helps keep the oiliness down so I only have to wash every other day instead of every day. It also helps dry up the breakouts I get around my hairline and I understand that aloe is mildly anti-inflammatory, so maybe it would help mild eczema?