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From the time we are little kids, our mom’s would have us sit down so she could “grease our scalp” but is this actually healthy for our hair or is this an old tradition carried down from our ancestors to our own children?
I remember, as a child, my mother would grease our scalps and we ALWAYS had that Dax Pressing Grease under our bathroom sink. I remember getting teased at school from leaving grease marks on all my papers after scratching my head. I remember my mother being proud that “Black folks” didn’t get lice because of the grease in our hair. But again, is grease really healthy for our scalps???
Most hair professionals would say “No” because the petrolatum tends to clog our pores and stunt the hair growth or even cause hair to fall out. “But I have a very dry scalp and I need grease”. My only reply to that is that perhaps the grease is making your scalp dry. I realize this does not make sense initially but let me explain a bit further. Just as it applies to our faces, if we over dry our oily skin, our skin will only then start to over produce oil, right? Well, if we over oil our scalps, won’t our skin ultimately slow down or stop producing it’s own oils, causing dandruff?
Greases were not made for our scalps, rather for our hair. Perms dry our hair out so we need to put oil back into it to prevent breaking. Oiling our hair is different than oiling our scalps and most hair professionals would agree that if the first 3 ingredients of your hair products contain “petrolatum”, then it should not be used on your scalp.
So, then why would “medicated” hair products for dandruff contain petrolatum as their very FIRST ingredient? Perhaps the same reason why "medicated" lip balms contain petrolatum and "menthol”,...which is a drying agent. The more you use it, the dryer your skin, the more you HAVE to use it.
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