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Hi Hairy People,
When I was a teenager and into my early 20s, I had some problems with occasional dandruff coming from my scalp; but that ended a long, loooooooong time ago -- I haven't had dandruff problems coming from the top of my head in I don't know how long...
But oddly enough, I do occasionally have flaking skin coming from my chin now -- how weird!!
Anybody else here have this odd problem? Or am I the only freak of Mother Nature in this beard dandruff department?
Sorry, no pictures (and you should be HAPPY about that fact, too - LOL)!!
- Ken in San Francisco
Hello Ken,
I have dandruff all over my scalp and sometime also in my beard...
For the scalp problem i still don't have a solution for my scalp but i have one for my beard.
- I make sure i wash my beard every morning with an anti dandruff shampoo
- I comb my beard to massage the skin and remove dead skin
- When my skin is irritated i put some cream to hydrate the skin, it prevent the itching
Do you beard itch ?
Hope this will help !
François
Thanks, Francois -- yes, I will try your suggestions, above, as it sounds like it would make a big improvement! (And yes, my chin under my beard does itch sometimes!)
- Ken
Two things I can suggest for the itching. Use a menthol dandruff shampoo. The menthol really soothes the itch. The other is hydrocortisone creme. Massage it into your skin. It takes a few minutes to be fully absorbed, so while the excess may look unappealing when first applied it will soon vanish.
Hi Ken,
It is great to see you posting again, and it has been quite some time since I have seen you around the hyperboard.
I haven't noticed any beard dandruff in mine, but I don't keep my beard that long at the current time anyway.(trim it every 10 days or so to one length) Perhaps other members with longer beards than me might stop and by and have some answers for you.
Take care,
David
Hi David,
Yes, it's definitely been awhile since I've posted much on MLHH. I try to at least keep up with lurking here, though -- although at times I've gotten so busy as to not even check in to see what's going on here for weeks at a time... maybe even for almost as long as a month!!
It's always great to hear from you, too, David. I miss our days of being on the Moderating Crew together!
Hope all is well with you, and I will try to post here more often!
Long Lox 4ever.
Ken
PS - Your hair and beard are looking more spectacular than ever!!!
Hi Ken,
Thank you for your kind words, as always!
Take care,
David
Ken,
I've been having that very problem, along with flaking from the scalp, to the point that I've started avoiding dark-colored shirts and I've switched to an anti-dandruff shampoo/conditioner. So far it has slowed down, but hasn't gone away yet.
And in regards to David's comment, my beard isn't any longer than it is in my avatar, although I'm wearing a full beard now instead of just the goatee.
Frodo
Jim,
You should post an update and show us the beard :-)
Cheers,
John.B
Yes, I agree with you that I don't think it's usually an issue of beard length that causes the chin dandruff problem -- I occasionally trim my shaggy full beard back to a short goatee now & then, for example (and yet still have beard dandruff even when it's shorter).
I'll give the anti-dandruff shampoo & conditioner a try in my beard hair, though, and see if that helps...
Off to the shower!
- Ken
I don't get any scalp dandruff, but when I grow a beard I can create a snowstorm of dandruff sometimes. I don't know why, but the skin under my beard gets really really dry and itchy, but my head never seems to. Don't know what it is, but you certainly aren't alone in your beard dandruf problem.
LOL, that's quite a scary image you've painted in my mind there, Garth!
I just read what Daniel said in his comment above about drying the beard with a blow-dryer -- and if anyone here knows a thing or two about beards, it has to be him (since he has competed in Beard competitions)!!
Thanks again for the reply, Garth!
- Ken
I used to get scalp dandruff until I grew my hair long, when the dandruff mostly quit. I still got lots of dandruff in my beard. Then I grew my beard out, and I got very little dandruff from it, too. In my case, I think dandruff happened in a place because hair growing there was not long enough to continually soak up the oil.
Garth, have you grown your beard out to see if you still get all that dandruff in it when you do?
Bill
Bill, Beautiful photograph! Gandalf in jeans!
peace, jonalbear
I've never seen you post this pic before, Bill -- it is hands-down SPECTACULAR!!! Where was it taken? And WHEN was it taken?? Curious minds want to know (LOL)....
This would be an awesome avatar pic (not that your other pic isn't also awesome).
OK, time for me to get off the computer & get ready for work...
Back to the salt mines!
- Ken
Glad you liked it!
It was taken in May 2009 among a field of wildflowers (lupine) that we saw by the road. They were in the Gold Country, but I don't remember exactly where.
Bill
I have had this problem also and have never really worried about it to much. Just try to not itch the chin and it seems to not be an issue then...
Corbin
MGCtBY
Hi Draco,
Easier said than done -- whenever I have an itch, the normal human reaction is that I usually also have a need to scratch! Maybe I should try out some of that poison ivy medicine on my chin then to help me keep my fingers away -- either that, or force myself to stay away by maybe asking someone to tie my hands behind my back (LOL)....
- Ken
Hi Ken,
Here is what I learned about this very thing, and it has worked.
I think that this kind of dandruff is a kind of fungus. That means getting your beard actually dry after a shower is really important.
Comb through before the shower, but use a blow dryer after the shower to really dry the skin under the beard to end the fungus. No need to get it really hot or anything, just dry.
Fall and winter are tough, in the Bay Area, as it will be on the humid side, so all the more reason to dry the skin area.
No need for "Head & Shoulders"; this is a fungus that can be eradicated with dry air flow. You will be able to wear dark clothes before you know it!!!
That is my hot-tip for today. Check it out yourself, and see if it does work for you as well.
-Dan
WOW, what an excellent answer, Dan -- and if anyone here should know a thing or two about beards, my bet is that it's YOU!!!!
I will definitely give your suggestion a serious try-out, as it makes a lot of sense to me. I also might invest in some dandruff shampoo for my chin area. And since my partner has quite a powerful blow-dryer, I imagine I'll be burrowing it a lot this winter (although I rarely use one of those machines on my head hair)...
Thanks again, Daniel -- and great to hear from you!!
- Ken
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I have a lot of beard dandruff and it gets all over my keyboard. It is annoying, but I just live with it. It gets this way very fast, maybe in 2 or 3 weeks. I just wipe it off the best that I can. Someone here is going to say eeeeyww for sure, and that is OK, but remember, well over half of all house dust is in fact skin flakes.
Scott
[sigh...]
Scott, I admire you to pieces, and have always considered it to be an honor to have met you several times in-person, and enjoyed many of the times we've spent together at various local longhair meet-ups... BUT....
This pic of your dandruff on your computer's keyboard DOES make me just want to say,
"EEEEYWW!!!!"
(But, I guess I brought this on myself by posting a thread on this very topic!!)
- Ken (who thankfully has no pic of his own dandruff to "share" here!)
Even my keyboard is alot cleaner than that!
Drink milk? Dribble any?
It may not be dandruff, but dried milk or other substances.
I have a hard time eating breakfast cereal without dribbling a little milk into the beard. I try to wipe it immediately, but it's hard to get it all.
LOL, yes, that can and does indeed happen...
Whenever some food is in my beard and I'm unaware of it, whoever it is that decides to be brave enough to tell me, my response is usually something like this: "Oh, that must be from breakfast -- I must have been saving that for a late afternoon snack!"
The ironic thing about me saying things like that is that if I think about it too much, it will actually gross me out; but yet I pretend to be "tough" and not care - LOL....
Thanks for the fun reply, Pat!
- Ken
Yes, I have "beard dandruff" too.
There is something about dandruff that I don't understand. Isn't just skin? It's the same stuff that covers the hands we shake and the cheeks we kiss. If we remember that, then why be grossed out about dandruff?