05 November 2012

The Unfortunate Vaseline Incident

It all started when Nate decided that he wanted to take care of the kids' cradle cap. Personally, cradle cap doesn't bother me. Both kids have enough hair to cover it up and it comes and goes on its own. It bothers Nate though and he decided to take matters into his own hands. He'd heard that Vaseline can help. So, he lathered both scalps (and hair) with Vaseline.


After a bath with two hair washings, it was clear that the Vaseline is not an easy foe. We put the kids to bed with greasy heads and vowed to take up the fight in the morning. A morning bath turned into two hair washings with adult shampoo and two hair washings with dish soap. Much to our dismay, the Vaseline remained in Lila's hair. Benny's hair, on the other hand, cleared up with dish soap.

Lila got another bath after her nap with more dish soap. Still nothing. After that many attempts, it was clear that we didn't know what we were doing. I took to Facebook for advice. From the advice I gathered on Facebook, Dawn is the way to go with Vaseline. We didn't have any Dawn in the house, but we did have Joy. After two rounds of suds, Lila's hair is nominally better. She's not a complete grease ball now - only a partial grease ball. She is also completely opposed to having her hair washed now. After at least seven washings in the past 36 hours, she has a right to be a bit peeved.

Consequently, I also received some good advice about how to get rid of cradle cap - none of which included Vaseline!!!
  1. Apply diluted tea tree oil directly to the scalp with a Q-tip and then use a comb to remove the cradle cap.
  2. Apply baby oil directly to the scalp with a Q-tip and then use a comb to remove the cradle cap.
  3. Apply coconut oil directly to the scalp with a Q-tip and then use a comb to remove the cradle cap.
Lesson learned: Used in moderation, oil will remove cradle cap (probably including Vaseline). Second lesson learned: Never, ever apply Vaseline to hair. Ever.

I'll be experimenting with the Dawn tonight. If that doesn't work, I guess I should be prepared to deal with greasy hair until Christmas or so...

4 comments:

Simply Bike said...

Oh no, poor Lila! I feel bad saying this but this post made me laugh so hard! It's totally something we would have done only to bitterly regret it later.

What a trooper, letting you wash her hair that many times in that short a time! Hope she degreases soon :)

S.

life's a bear said...

I think a lot of people laughed at this story! We did too. I think we finally have the hair under control after some stronger dish soap. Now, I've managed to strip her hair of any good oil she had in there!

Jessica said...

Thanks for your comment! We can't keep our little one out of the Vaseline! My husband is bald so he sees daddy put lotion on his head and then mimics and puts everything on his hair!!! We have invested in multiple hats to cover his Vaseline hair because it happens at least once a week now and nothing we tried really got it out, but I will take some of your suggestions.

Jolly Green Mama said...

Honora slathered her head in Vaseline when she was 3 because she thought it was the stuff I put in my hair to make it curly :) Dawn was all that worked for me, too!