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Hello,
I am new to growing my hair long and my hair is about six inches long right now. Anyway, in the passed when I have had shorter hair I could always get rid of dandruff using Head and Shoulders shampoo. Now with my hair being longer the Head and Shoulders no longer really works. I have also tried Nizoral but that doesn't help either. I recently tried using Head and Shoulders daily (which I read as a suggestion on a website) but that certainly doesn't help and might have made things worse.
I am either thinking that with my longer hair the shampoo isn't reaching the scalp and affecting it like it would with shorter hair. I try to really massage the shampoo into the scalp but I haven't had any results.
I was wondering if its possible that my scalp is just dry especially from winter weather and that I don't actually have "dandruff". Everything I read about dandruff says that it is not caused by dry skin, but I think it could be possible that dry skinh could be causing my dandruff like problem.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a "scalp moisturizer" I could try to see if that would help? I did read one thing that said you could try to use regular skin lotion on the scalp to moisturize it but I think that might a little weird.
Thank you.
Hi, i suffered from dandruff for most of my teen years.
For some reason it has miraceously dissapeared!
or atleast i haven't been noticing it that much. I do believe that as my hair has gotten longer than my dandruff problem has diminished. Maybe because my scalp oils(sebum) actually have a place to go rather than just building up on the scalp area(.ie brushing and distributing my oils through my hair to the ends)That, in essence, is all that dandruff is - excess sebum produced by the scalp that is not properly utilised by the hair strands so build up occurs in the scalp area which turns into dandruff once dried.
Things that may alleviate your dandruff problem
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You said that H&S and all those other supposedly 'anti-dandruff' products are not helping at all. Scrap them, they are just milking your cash. Try shampooing only the roots and scalp area every few days, rub thoroughly on the scalp to break off the dandruff. A scalp message every now and then , whilst your hair is dry may help too. Try to avoid excessive use of gels and hairspray, sometimes they can appear to be dandruff but it's not dandruff but may certaintly appear to be.
This one is is the most important. Use a wide-toothed comb to distribute the oils from your scalp to the ends of your hair and along the shaft. That should help. You must have a very over-productive, oil producing scalp and you need to utilise this excess oil away from the roots along the shaft of the hair.
Hope this helps.
From what I hear, the more you use shampoo, the more dry the scalp becomes, the more the scalp will compensate by producing oils (natural oils), and that, when it becomes too much, becomes dandruff.
I suggest simply doing as many longhairs do:
-Wash with shampoo every 3 or even 7 days (some use only water)
-Use conditioner every 1-2 days
You shouldn't even need head and shoulders, plus it's harsh on the hair because of the stronger chemical ingredients in it compared to more natural shampoos.
This is my take on it, just washing less should produce better results with your hair.
Happy growing ^^
Sara
i agree. i don't wash & condition my hair more than twice a week and i don't experience any dandruff. my hair is usually pretty nice (it's not always frizzy like my name implies lol). i use Dove Shampoo and Conditioner: Weightless Moisturizers (not a combination product) and my hair is nice, fluffy (it's naturally curly), shiny, and soft as it should be (but with the nice scent from the shampoo and conditioner lol)
my scalp is has no excess dryness or excess moist
You might want to try (when washing) leaving TONS of conditioner in your hair for about 10 minutes. Then, rinse "almost" all out leaving a bit behind. I cannot stress the utmost importance enough of using conditioner for the best of the health of your hair.
Yeah, dandruff is generally associated with fungus rather than dry skin. Dry skin can flake too, but those flakes are much smaller than dandruff flakes. I think you should see a MD since you mentioned that you tried Nizoral and other OTC dandruff treatments without any success.
You can try putting lotion on your scalp. The only problem is that the oils in the lotion may end up making your roots look greasy. Maybe aloe vera gel would be a better choice since it's not oily. You could also try using a richer conditioner. But if you do have dandruff, I don't think any of these things will work because they don't treat the fungus. Additionly, they could make things worse by helping the dead skin cells clump together and form flakes.
Sorry to be such a downer
xxxooo,
Lipstick
