My First Scalp Treatment
Hi my lovelies, I’m feeling a lot more human today. I’m not sure if it’s the Arizona sun and air, but I thought I would grab this window period of alertness to blog happily away. Sorry for the radio silence but hopefully all would be back to normal soon.
I wanted to share my first experience undergoing a scalp therapy treatment at a hair salon in Singapore. You guys know I’m big on clarifying shampoos and de-clogging of the skin so I was very intrigued when my sister waxed lyrical about this series of scalp therapy sessions she had been going to.
When we were talking about it, my scalp was extremely greasy and had quite a few bumps (sorry, TMI! – but this is a beauty blog not just about pretty makeup but skincare as well). I was on the tail-end of a month-long holiday away from my regular haircare and was dying to clarify the heck outta my scalp. So off I went.
My scalp was “photographed” by a L’Oreal Professional hair camera. I do not know the proper name for this gadget so please enlighten us all if you do. I tried to Google it but to no avail but basically how it works is that this thingamabob is pressed against your scalp and it takes a microscopic image of your scalp – pores, dandruff, follicles and all that yucky stuff that would make you go, “Ew, that’s on my head?”
Uh huh. It turns out that I had dandruff caused by oiliness – does that even make sense? Again, I’m not an expert and this was my first time at this hair salon so I can’t claim that this is all perfectly logical and true. I found an explanation here and it says that too much oil can cause an overgrowth of cells and thus they eventually flake off in clumps. You can get dandruff from dry skin on your scalp as well.
With that image of scalp horror in mind, the hairdresser massaged a minty, slightly burning scalp therapy lotion by Nioxin all over my head and then left it on for about 30 minutes. After that, my hair was washed and conditioned with regular products, I believe. My scalp felt tons lighter and so squeaky clean. It was a relief to be rid of that deep-seated grease!
As an at-home remedy, I bought a set of Nioxin Scalp Therapy For Fine Hair to take home with me.
Now for another kicker: the hairdresser advised me to go back for more intensive scalp therapy sessions to clarify my scalp and to use the above system every two to three days in my haircare regime. He said that if I didn’t deal with the vicious cycle of grease, I would experience thinning hair, especially at the crown of my head. Yikes!
I shared this experience with a Japanese girlfriend and she couldn’t believe that I went to such a session. She said that there was no such scalp therapy in Japan, and only hair clinics that help balding men had such treatments! Interestingly, the hairdresser I went to worked in Tokyo for three years before heading to Singapore and he assured me that I could easily look for a hair salon in Tokyo to continue my scalp therapy. I’m pretty sure Nioxin is used in salons in the Western world since this is under P&G’s umbrella of personal care goods but I’m still left a bit confused.
I like the scalp therapy session I went through and my scalp did feel great and I love the Nioxin products as a clarifying system (shampoo, scalp conditioner, and leave-in scalp treatment; SGD90 – yowzer!), but my ego is left a little bruised as I could possibly be experiencing thinning hair at a fairly young age. For further reading on Nioxin, here’s a review by A Model Recommends.
Have you heard of such scalp therapy treatments before? Do you suffer from oily scalp and dandruff issues? Please share your findings!
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Hello Yuming,
Thanks for sharing your experience. I had similar problem with my scalp. It’s oily and lately I noticed dandruff. I used all kinds of shampoos but they didn’t work well. So, I’ll definitely try this one and let you know the result.
Onon
@Onon: Glad you found this post useful! Do try the Nioxin products and you’ll def feel a difference in your scalp and hair
Interesting, I never knew such a thing as scalp treatments existed.
Hey Jordan! Which part of Arizona do you come from? I’m in Phoenix right now.
I never buy any home kit but I started scalp treatment about 1.5 years ago. I have a greasy scalp and my roots were not strong due to the build up around the hair folicas resulting in hair loss.
I think my salon uses l’oreal kerastase. My scalp has a minty cooling feel to it when they apply the treatment but after the scalp treatment my hair loss minimise and I always leave with a “light” headed feel. I went from monthly treatment for about 6 months and right now I do it every 3-4 months.
I haven’t heard of these before! I always figured scalp problems were a DIY fix type thing, I didn’t know they had treatments for them. Glad your scalp’s feeling better! I did have quite an itchy scalp awhile back, but I realized it was because my shampoo was too harsh. So I switched to sulfate-free shampoo and it’s been smooth sailing since then
@Xuan: Glad to hear that you also went for a similar scalp treatment – you know what I’m talking about! It sounds exactly like what I did and my sister also did a similar course as you and it seems after several months, you can cut back on the treatments.
@Makeup Morsels: Hair health really starts at the roots/scalp eh? I agree – sulphate-free shampoos are the way to go. I try to use non-silicone shampoos as well.
I might have had something similar done back home, but maybe not with Nioxin products! I bought a bottle of Aesop scalp treatment a while ago. My scalp is definitely less oily than before since I started shampooing it twice a week instead of every other day, but I think the weather upset it a little so it was kinda itchy. It definitely does help!
@Sunny: Ooo thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely check out Aesop scalp treatment! I love their soaps and hand lotions.