This is kind of gross, but Petra still has cradle cap. For those of you who haven’t had babies, or whose babies were lucky enough not to get it, cradle cap is some icky crusty stuff on a baby’s scalp. It has to do with overproduction of oil or something. Most babies grow out of it by the time they are three months old, but Petra, at eight months, still has it (yuuuuck). It’s harmless, mostly. I think maybe it itches, and it definitely looks like she has dandruff. Someone told me to massage her scalp with coconut oil and gently scratch the scales with my finger nails. I put off doing this, hoping that the cradle cap would just go away. She has such thick, long hair that the idea of putting oil in it seemed complicated.
The other day, I finally decided to go for it. I massaged the oil into her hair, and then covered her head with a bandana to let the oil sit for a bit (she kept rubbing her head on everything and getting oil everywhere).
After a bit, I gave her a bath and washed her hair. Cradle cap–gone! Temporarily?
While we waited for the oil to set, I got out the camera because, really, is there anything cuter than a baby in a bandana? (Hint: No.)
It’s actually a fungus and coconut oil is great for this because it changes the PH of the scalp and hair, making it very unwelcome for the fungus to live. The scalp reacts to the fungus and then overproduces oil and the dead skin cells all stick together.. Yuck! My girls all got it at some point and some had it return as late as 2 or 3 years. Using a vinegar rinse (equal parts vinegar and distilled water–you can make this more dilute if it seems to strong for baby) once a week helps too. 🙂
Gross gross gross…I’ll try the vinegar rinse. Fungus. Ew.