DRY, ITCHY SCALP AND YOUR SHAMPOO - 3 THINGS TO KNOW
If your scalp is itching and you've tried every shampoo imaginable, there are 3 things you might want to know.
1. It might be over-shampooing... Behold the care of a surgeon's hands
Bear with us - this parallel applies directly to your scalp.
Hand washing for hospital staff may be one of the biggest advances in medicine, right up there with antibiotics and vaccines. But too much washing leaves hands dry and cracked, ironically enabling the very bacteria and fungus we’re trying to avoid by washing. Doctors and hospital staff interested in protecting their patients from infection must first and foremost make sure their skin is healthy - not just scrubbed. They often use moisturizers and avoid overly aggressive soaps.
The same reality holds with our scalps. Over-shampooing leads to the same problem as doctors who over-scrub their hands. It actually can worsen the problem.
Instead of eliminating itching, the scalp becomes sensitive and inflamed - actually injured.
Think about so many of the scalp treatments available today such as shampoos, tar, alcohol-based steroids, salicylic acid, etc. – they all strip the scalp of key oils and defenses against the environment and sun. As we hear over and over again from our customers, these interventions often lead to scalp sensitivity and more itching rather than improvement. It’s all quite backwards.
HARMFUL INTERVENTIONS (INCLUDING OVER-SHAMPOOING) LEAD TO SCALP SENSITIVITY AND MORE ITCHING. IT'S ALL QUITE BACKWARDS.
2. Think contact time
Shampoo has a big challenge. It gets a few seconds of contact with our hair and scalp, and it’s supposed to clean, sometimes medicate, and of course leave our hair like a TV commercial. Perhaps we’re asking too much.
However, if we just ask shampoo to do the cleaning, we can use a more nourishing and gentle approach to overall scalp health by using a formula we can leave on – a “leave in” formula. Then it has hours to calm the scalp, rather than seconds. It’s no surprise there is a relationship between the amount of time that healthy ingredients contact your scalp and how much they penetrate. If you have ever spilled coffee on a rug, you know that the longer the coffee sits on the rug, the deeper it penetrates.
Same with scalp care. Cleaning might be quick, but scalp health is a relationship.
...THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT hEALTHY INGREDIENTS ARE CONTACTING YOUR SCALP AND HOW MUCH THEY WILL BE ABSORBED AND/OR EFFECTIVE.
3. Convenience
One of the things we’ve realized about itching is that we can’t predict when it will occur, so we need something we can use anytime. If we feel a mid-day irritation, what will we do? Shampooing or putting on a thick scalp formula probably isn’t an option.
One solution is a leave-in formula we can carry around and use any time, that doesn’t leave hair looking greasy. Alas, Alón Scalp Calming Day Formula, formulated with extra urea as a calming agent that we can use even during the day.
ONE SOLUTIONS IS A LEAVE-IN FORMULA WE CAN CARRY AROUND AND USE ANY TIME OF DAY.
In summary, we no longer have to compromise between overall scalp health and sensitivity, itching or redness. We can nourish our scalps to a more comfortable and vibrant place.