is it normal for hair (scalp) to smell bad after not washing it?

I wash my hair every 3- 4 days and on the 3rd or so day, my scalp doesn't smell that nice. It doesn't smell disgusting (unless you smell my scalp right up close), but...unpleasant? Idk it smells like scalp and sometimes like sweat. Does this happen to anyone else? How can I stop it????

Also I have a problem with dandruff - anti-dandruff shampoo doesn't help, washing hair more often doesn't help (just means I get dandruff quicker and my hair gets greasy quicker which is why I don't wash it as much). Sometimes when I wash my hair in the evening, the next morning there is already a bit of dandruff. It's really annoying me and I don't know what to do about it.

That means you probably have an oily scalp which requires frequent washing.

If you can smell your own scalp, it must smell really bad.

I wash my hair every 3- 4 days and on the 3rd or so day, my scalp doesn't smell that nice. It doesn't smell disgusting (unless you smell my scalp right up close), but...unpleasant? Idk it smells like scalp and sometimes like sweat. Does this happen to anyone else? How can I stop it????

Also I have a problem with dandruff - anti-dandruff shampoo doesn't help, washing hair more often doesn't help (just means I get dandruff quicker and my hair gets greasy quicker which is why I don't wash it as much). Sometimes when I wash my hair in the evening, the next morning there is already a bit of dandruff. It's really annoying me and I don't know what to do about it.

Think of your scalp as an ecosystem. Bacteria on your scalp feeds off the sebum (oil on your scalp) enabling them to grow and makes it smell. Just means your scalp is more oily then others. Wash it more frequently especially with dandruff to deal with the smell and dandruff.

To sort out the dandruff there are plenty of shampoos to help with it so Shampoos with the active ingredients 'Coal tar' or 'Zinc Pyrithione' will help with dandruff

probably I do have an oily scalp but if I wash my hair more often, it gets greasy more often which is really annoying. Any suggestions on how to stop it from getting greasy so quickly?

How do you smell your own scalp? Especially up close, or did you invite someone give you a whiff?

How do you smell your own scalp? Especially up close, or did you invite someone give you a whiff?

In my experience, its not unwashed hair, but damp hair that smells - and then not really the hair itself. Girls leave their hair wet and put in hair bands or scrunchies that get all damp and stay damp for ages - and they end up with a stinky hair accessory which they never clean and keep putting on clean hair afterwards.

With dudes, it might be the same thing. Short hair is so unlkely to be smelly if its just a few days. Much more likely to be a pillow or a hat or something that is getting damp and then coming into contact with the head and making it smell.

I can literally just smell it by not doing anything. I could be sat down and be on my laptop and I could smell my own scalp. Especially when there's a little bit of wind, I can smell my own scalp even more. If I can smell it by not doing anyrhing I can't imagine how bad it smells up close. But this only really happens after 3/4 days of not washing my hair.

If you can smell your own hair, people around you will be able to smell it even more. It sounds like you need to be washing your hair more often. If it gets greasy more quickly, it doesn't matter because you will washing it more often anyway.