“I bought a cradle cap shampoo today and then washed my almost 4-month-old daughter’s hair that night, when I dried her hair I didn’t put any oil on her scalp, normally I put Vaseline and baby oil mixed together which was recommended by my midwife, I am a west Indian women, would this increase the problem of dry scalp? And if so could you recommend hair oil to use?”
Usually, a baby’s natural oils should be enough to keep her scalp from getting too dried out. Reasons for dry scalp are:
- Shampooing too often: when my kids were this age, they got their hair washed only about once a week… whether they needed it or not (sorry, couldn’t resist). Many parents are washing their baby’s hair every day, and this often leads to dry scalp.
- Putting oil in the hair: baby’s sensitive skin can be easily irritated by oil that is left in the hair. This can start a vicious cycle: the scalp is dry, so parents start putting in moisturizing oil, which causes the scalp to get more irritated and dry, so they use more oil… and so on. Any treatment oils you use in the hair should be washed out.
- Click here for more info on cradle cap.
I would suggest not washing too often, and let baby’s natural oils do the trick.
Dr. Jim