Reason #178 – Crusty scalp leprosy
Reason #178 – Crusty scalp leprosy
Aug 11You think the title of this post is disgusting? Wait till you see the photos!
My boy’s hair is something out of a Rubens painting, all sunshiny splendor twinkling on burnished golden curls. Cherubs in Heaven spend fortunes on celestial conditioner to get hair like C’s.
Seriously, my kid’s mane is something right out of a Botticelli:
Don’t you just want to run your fingers through those silky locks, and ruffle them just to watch them drip with light?
Bet you do!
…until you look closely at his scalp.
My son has a case of cradle cap that’s just one flake short of leprosy. (And at nearly 2, isn’t he too old for this? Should I be calling it “senile cradle cap”?)
Clearly my maternal negligence is to blame – Have I been washing his hair wrong for the past year? Does he have an uncharted type of eczema not yet in Google? And why on Earth have I not thought of buying Head And Shoulders?
My poor baby, having his angelic looks spoiled by crusty scalp leprosy.
The cure is worse than the disease, because immobilizing my toddler with judo holds so I can vigorously scrub his scalp with a brush does not make me feel like a particularly good mom.
Then again, neither does gagging whenever I see his head up close.
Help?
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My daughter is just about 2, and she has always had cradle cap. I recommend mineral oil, rubbed into the scalp then comb the stuff out, then wash his hair. The only drawback, is that her hair always looks dirty after I do that.
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ofthesea Reply:
October 25th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
It is indeed the only way! Yucky, but effective. Time to do it again!
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Happy to see this post… really happy to now know my kid’s not the only flake out there. I’ve tried everything, too. We’ve been using conditioner lately, but meh. Maybe I should wash it more often, but flakes OR deafening screaming 4 year old every single night? Let me think about that for all of 1 millisecond. I’ll give the olive oil a try tomorrow! Thx!
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ofthesea Reply:
August 21st, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Let me know how the EVOO worked for you! It’s been a lifesaver here.
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Roxanne D. Reply:
August 27th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
We tried the olive oil at bath time for the past two nights and there are still some crusties. I didn’t want to leave it in his hair overnight and get it all over his crib sheets, but it’s looking like we’ll have to give that a try next. :(
Did you do the overnight soaking and then a comb?
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ofthesea Reply:
August 29th, 2011 at 10:21 pm
Here’s an idea: soak him up in the morning, send him out to play, and hose him down after lunch! Remember to give it a god scraping with a fine-tooth comb before washing. It took us 3 applications before C’s scalp was clean!
My son is 22 months and was the same way…until at his 18 month check up our new ped told me to use Head & Shoulders in the blue bottle, the medicated stuff. It’s amazing! You have to be a little careful cause it’s not baby friendly if it ends up in his eyes, but I haven’t seen a flake or scale since the 3rd shampoo with it.
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ofthesea Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 7:12 am
My first question was gonna be “what about the eyes?” Gotcha!
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Sara Reply:
August 18th, 2011 at 7:56 am
I just do it at the very end of the bath right before I get him out and tell him not to touch. He did get a little in his eye once but now he knows that it will hurt and holds really still.
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At least you can’t see it until you dig!
My poor daughter has thinner light brown hair and has horrible cradle cap. If you’re standing above her its very noticeable.
I’ve done every trick to remove it and it just seems to stay there.
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ofthesea Reply:
August 12th, 2011 at 7:35 pm
Olive oil overnight and a fine-toothed comb in the morning helped us a lot, but I won’t bother you with useless advice.
Just make her wear cute berets! ;)
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My son is 4 and he still has it. We tried everything. I can’t help but pick at it when he comes near enough for me to see the top of his head. He hates it, but I can’t help it. It drives me nuts to see it.
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ofthesea Reply:
August 12th, 2011 at 12:28 pm
Olive oil worked a treat on C last night, but he still needs another does before it clears.
Yucky kids. Ew.
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Don’t feel bad! My 5-year-old is only just seeing the last of the cradle cap she’s had, like, since forever. I tried everything…. everything! Only time really seemed to do the trick. One thing which seemed to help was combing her hair in the bath when it was still quite wet. Rubbing her scalp with a fine-toothed comb loosened a lot of the crust, and we made good inroads that way, but it’s usually my husband who washed her hair, and he’d forget to do the rub-scalp-with-comb thing.
I think some kids are more prone to it, but thank god my youngest daughter doesn’t have it. She did as a little baby – baking soda paste worked on her, but not her big sister (mix baking soda with water, to a ratio of 1:1).
And yes, your son’s hair is to die for.
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ofthesea Reply:
August 12th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
I gave him the olive-oil-and-fine-tooth-comb treatment recommended by many, and it seems to be working.
And now the curls are even goldener and shinier!
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i put vaseline on my daughters head when she was a little over a year old. it was a b@tch to get out, though. tried everything from shampoo for oily hair to dish soap. someone finally recommended putting baking powder on her hair to absorb the oil. that worlked. she looked like a little old man with it in tho lol. the vaseline worked pretty well. my dr had also prescribed something when she was an infant too, but i forget what it was. had to shampoo with it twice a day.
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ofthesea Reply:
August 12th, 2011 at 12:33 pm
Don’t bother to remember – I’m not gonna shampoo twice a day unless someone pays me to!
Also, olive oil seems to be working so far, phew!
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Nah, we used EVOO last year and it took it off – but as you can see, it came back!
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Use baby oil, leave in for 5-10 minutes, comb through with fine-toothed comb. Wash, and repeat if necessary (highly doubtful, it worked with my 2 boys!) Good luck!
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ofthesea Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
What I really need to know is the wrestling grip you used to be able to do all of this to boys!
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Leah Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
lol I tricked them. pretended I was putting something special in their hair. also, it may be good to do it during bath, prior to regular hair washing. bath toys, bubbles, etc.
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I hear that olive oil is supposed to help. My kid never had cradle cap, but he’s 15 months old and just now starting to grow some hair, lol. Good luck!
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ofthesea Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
Awww, I love the baldies!
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My daughter had that once, and I read somewhere to put olive oil on it and use a baby hairbrush to scrape the flakes off. I did it, it worked and she has never had it again. It’s something to try, maybe the olive oil keeps it from coming back. Good luck!
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Hi!
It looks like allergy (Happens to me!)…. Try to change the shampoo, conditioner.
Also, once a month, add a teaspoon of baking soda in the shampoo to exfoliate the scalp.
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ofthesea Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 2:49 pm
Baking soda – good tip!
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Hmmm, could be his shampoo. Email me your address (or an address that will get to you) and I’ll send you some Arbonne ABC Baby Care samples that you can try on him. Sam had terrible cradle cap for a while, but I used Arbonne products and his skin and scalp are great now.
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ofthesea Reply:
August 11th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Emailed!
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