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Recently I've noticed I got dandruff. I used to have it since I was little, it seemed to have stop 1 year ago but now it's back. It might be the cause of my shedding.
What's the best natural way to get rid of it, without using anti dandruff shampoo? I tried those years ago and they always made my hair dry.
-Andrea
Welcome in the dandruff hell,
You should maybe use the lush anti dandruff shampoo, they are made using natural recipient.
I used one that had a very strong smell, but once the hair are dry, the smell is gone.
I think they are better for hair than standard anti dandruff shampoo. It is expensive but it will last a very very long time.
Hope you will solve your danruff problem soon.
François
I'd use Head and Shoulders!
I might try that one but I had bad experiences with anti dandruff shampoos! But I dunno if I ever tried H&S.
-Andrea
I learned that dandruff is a fungus. Don't feel bad. 75% of the population has this fungus [citation needed], so if you don't have the fungus you are actually abnormal. :)
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandruff
Fungi thrive in dark, damp environments.
I heard you can kill them with something mildly acidic. A mild vinegar solution is generally safe. Keep it out of your eyes of course. Test the end of a lock if you're concerned what it would do to your hair; but I've never heard of vinegar changing anybody's color. I only did this once, it's not something I'd do regularly; but it's worth trying.
You won't kill all the fungi with one vinegar rinse. That's just to knock it down. After that, you focus on keeping your scalp dry. NEVER go to bed with wet hair. Since I've gotten off shampoo and use only castille soap, I've noticed that dandruff comes back if I go to bed with slightly damp hair. Also, if you've been outside and gotten sweaty, rinse ASAP. This isn't just a longhaired problem. Now that I understand that dandruff is a fungus, and that it thrives in the same kind of environment where mold and mushrooms thrive, I understand how to control it--by making the environment of the scalp dry, which is counter-intuitive because many people think dandruff is due to dry skin.
I don't think it can be cured. When I used Head and Shoulders, it would still come back if I didn't wash a couple days. Getting your head dry ASAP turns out to be just as effective as shampoo, if not more.
Hey Steve, thanks for the reply!
I know many people who have at least a bit of dandruff so I'm not too worried, I'm just worried it'll cause always more shedding. (My shedding rate might be on standards but it's hard to tell, it looks excessive to me but maybe it's not. And all hairs have bulbs.)
I thought of trying vinegar but I just hope it won't mess up my hair color since I recently dyed it from red to black, wich is my natural color. (1 month ago). So I might want to look for more infos of vinegar's effects on hair's color.
Thanks a lot!
-Andrea
Dandruff shampoos are highly allergenic and are at least as likely to make it worse as they are to make it better. It's also really common to have dandruff in adolescence that just goes away in your early to mid twenties.
It's also possible that it's an allergy-type symptom rather than real dandruff. You could be sensitive to something that you're putting on your head or even the mineral content of the water where you live. Or it could be a food sensitivity to something like dairy products or caffeine. Or a vitamin/mineral/etc. deficiency.
Personally, I would change my shampoo, etc. and think about diet before I'd put anti-fungals on my head.
Yes, I didn't have it sinces months (almost 1 year!) and it suddenly came back recently. I think it has something to do about the fact I dyed my hair from red to black (my natural color) 1 month ago and I also changed shampoo.
-Andrea
I had a really bad problem with dandruff. Seems to have subsided now, for the most part. If it helps at all I:
* Started Conditioner Only (no shampoo)
* Even with Condition Only I wash my hair ~3x a week (I just rinse otherwise)
Those are the two things I would think helped alleviate the problem. I suppose it could be Olive Oil once a week too (it really does work).
Personally, I tried H&S. Never got much from it, if anything. On the contrary I'm rather certain it exacerbated the problem. Since H&S is designed to counter the yeast form of dandruff, it tends to dry out your scalp and if you have the dry scalp version of dandruff it will make it worse.
Hi, Andrea!
I found the solution to my dandruff problem involved a change in my hair-washing routine. I would have thought that washing my hair more often would get rid of it...but I discovered a couple of years ago that doing just the opposite worked. Someone here once posted their washing routine and said that they only used a very small amount of shampoo (the size of a quarter) and concentrated on the scalp. Also, it was recommended that you leave it in your hair no longer than one minute, and rinse in cool water. Before, I was using practically a handful of shampoo and would wash it for several minutes! More is better, right? Evidently, not! Here's what my routine is now:
I shampoo once every 3-4 days. Originally I used dandruff shampoo, but I found that I could use anything following this regimen.
I use a quarter-size amount of shampoo and apply it to wet hair concentrating on the scalp only for :30. I've found that there was no real need to wash to the ends as the "run-off" from rinsing the scalp removed enough oils.
Once in a while I'll use conditioner, and that's applied to the ends, so it really doesn't affect your scalp.
Again, rinse with cool water.
That's been working for me for a couple of years now. I'd recommend starting with a dandruff shampoo. If you follow the above steps it shouldn't dry your hair much at all...just concentrate on the scalp, and rinse thoroughly. I can pin-point that as my 100% successful solution to dandruff. Never worried about wearing black since.
Take care and keep it growin'!
Brett
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