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Yeah, it's that time of year. Well, to be honest, I was going to post a book review on a book that I ordered a few days ago. Although the tracking said the book was delivered today at 2:05pm, I have yet to receive it. I can't tell you how bummed I am, I was really looking forward to reading this children's book and sharing my thoughts. But alas, I guess that will have to wait until I find out where the book went. In the meantime, I think it's equally (if not more so) important to talk about the itchy winter scalp with which we've been dealing.
Boo is really good about not rolling around on the floor, mopping up dust bunnies with her hair. She knows that her hair is "pretty" and does a really good job of protecting her styles. That is, unless her scalp itches. Then all caution is thrown to the wind and she digs in as much as possible to get that itch scratched. When she has cornrows in (as she does now), ugh, this is awful. Fuzzies will pop up in all the spots where she scratches. I never knew how much damage a little itching could do! Boo goes to scratch an itch and I just see myself (in slow-motion, of course) rushing to her yelling a prolonged, "Nooooooooo."
Okay, I'm being overly dramatic. But seriously, dry scalp is something that we often battle in this house, and that's not exclusive to Boo. But then, when Daddy has dry scalp, he doesn't have to worry about pulling out his cornrows when scratching! So we have started to teach Boo to "pat" her itchy spots instead of scratch them. Yeah, sounds weird, but just like scratching scabs on a scratch that's recovering, it's much better for her skin if she takes three fingers and pats the area (sometimes emphatically if it really itches) to get the desired effect. At three-years-old I wasn't sure if she'd get the idea of "patting" a scratch, but sure enough she's got the idea down. She pats very well, unless it's a really bad itch, and then she totally forgets. But it's a start.
When dealing with the dry climate of the indoors during the winter months (due to running the heater) we make sure that we always have our humidifiers on, as discussed in Helping Hair With Humidifiers . Another thing that we do is check often for dry scalp and add jojoba oil as necessary. I will just apply a little bit to my fingertips, rub it on both hands, and then apply to the scalp along her partlines and hairline.
Fingernails can do the biggest damage when scratching the scalp, so we make a special effort to make sure that Boo's fingernails are clipped very short so that they can't dig in too deeply if she does scratch. Seems logical, but just thought I'd mention it since it's part of our routine.
Lastly, the sleep cap is our last defense against itching. We can't catch her in the middle of the night or during naps, so her sleep cap is the extra layer of defense against scratching when not supervised. It's hard for her to do any real damage to her hairstyle (or scalp) with a layer of satin or nylon in her way. So it sort of functions as the "parent" in the room when we're not there. Yet another benefit to wearing a sleep cap.
So that's what we've been dealing with lately. Of course, we've ruled out any medical issues with the scalp such as eczema or ringworm. And we gave her scalp a really good scrub this last washing to make sure that her pores were not clogged so we are certain that all we're dealing with is dry scalp, probably from being stuck indoors due to excessive rain these last several days. When it comes down to it, though, things could be worse. At least she's not digging into her scalp with the toes of one of her dolls! I've yet to see her use a "tool" to scratch her head. "Yet" being the operative word, of course.
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