Help with oiliness in my husband's hair

[Symphony]

My husband has long mid-back black hair. It's about 2a, and pretty sure it is low porosity.

His hair is almost always oily. Sometimes even immediately after a wash. This isn't a new thing really... Back in the day he use to use suave shampoo, and I would still catch myself asking when the last time he washed his hair was. He also has a tendency towards dandruff.

I have curly hair, so sulfate shampoo has largely been eliminated. He is free to buy his own shampoo if he wants, but he just sticks to what I buy. I bought him Jason Dandruff Relief shampoo that he uses from time to time, and it really seemed to cut down on his dandruff. When he was using suave, flakes were always falling out of his hair. Then from time to time, he will use my Shea Moisture (coconut/hibiscus) sulfate-free shampoo. He washes maybe 2-3x per week, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. Sometimes as his hair is drying from the shower, I can already tell it is still oily because the pieces near his ears/scalp stick together and his babyhairs will plaster against his forehead.

The strangest thing, though, is that sometimes the condition of his hair changes day by day. Sometimes he is oily right after a wash, and then the next day his hair is flowing and beautiful, and then the next day it is all oily again. I can't make sense of it!! Whenever his hair looks nice, I ask him "What did you do differently??" but he swears he didn't do a thing!

I advised him not to use my conditioner... but I just don't know what else to do for him!

[florenonite]

Is all his hair oily, or just bits of it? Especially if his hair is thick, or you have a low-flow showerhead, he might not be washing all his scalp in the shower.

Another possibility is that he's overconditioning his hair. Even if he's not using conditioner, the sulfate-free shampoos might have moisturising ingredients. This might also explain why his hair can look nicer on day 2; sometimes I find if I overcondition it just takes a bit longer to absorb everything, and then my hair's nice and soft.

I'd encourage him to get the cause of his dandruff identified. There are A LOT of things that cause dandruff, but they basically fit into one of two extremes: not washing (harshly) enough and overwashing. Without knowing what causes his dandruff, it'll be very difficult to work out which it is.