DANDRUFF DISCUSSION THREAD
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Annoying as FUCK. Has anyone managed to eliminate it?
For starters, here's what I hear is effective:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Calcium
- Riboflavin (B2)
- Thiamine (B1)
Seems like the solution differs depending on personal metabolic insufficiencies, so maybe this thread could be of help to anyone in the future experimenting with their own flaky scalp.
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@albion are you using 'normal' shampoo? Admittedly I never had dandruff very badly but have not had it at all since stopping shampoo and using baking soda instead.
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@jhp No shampoo currently, will try baking soda
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Trybloo I gueess
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Nizoral, ACV, solban, sulfur etc. gives me relief but it comes back. Likely an internal fungal issue.
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@onliest
Have you tried prescription strength antifungals/antibiotics? -
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When I wash my hair I do it first thing when I get in the shower, then I'll shake my head to get surface droplets off and try to avoid getting it wetter for the rest of the shower. Immediately after I finish showering, when the air is still really humid, I'll apply light pressure to my head with my hands and squeeze out some of the water kind of like gently squeezing out a soaked sponge. If your hair is long enough you can also grab a tuft in your hand and gently squeeze to wring it out (but don't twist or pull like you would when wringing out a towel), this is optional and just makes the next parts take less time. Then I rub my scalp vigorously with a towel for ~30sec (I probably worded this part a bit weirdly but I think this is basically the "normal" way most people dry their hair with a towel) to remove surface dampness, then wrap the towel around my head and let it passively soak up moisture. Wrapping a bit tightly so that there's mild pressure/squeezing action helps speed this along. Don't go so tight that it's uncomfortable though. Ideally you would keep the towel on until your hair doesn't feel damp to the touch, but if your hair is long and/or thick this can take quite a while, so realistically you'll probably want to get most of the way to dry this way and then do the "normal" vigorous-rub-dry again to finish up.
Basically the idea behind all of this is to slow down the rate of your hair drying out, so that it doesn't "overshoot" a good moisture equilibrium and dry out. Before I started drying like this I found my hair would usually be a bit thin and brittle for the rest of the day after showering, and it wouldn't look good until the next day after sweating in my sleep would remoisturize it. But once I adopted this drying method it would be right where I wanted it to be right away.
Going strict nopoo (no shampoo, no conditioner, no baking soda, just water) solved most of my dandruff issues on its own. So frankly I can't speak to how effective this drying technique is specifically for addressing dandruff. But for me, my dandruff was a product of the classic overdrying/overproducing vicious cycle that occurs when you strip your scalp of its natural oils with shampoo, and drying this way also helps your hair and scalp retain a healthy amount of moisture, so it stands to reason that it could be useful. Hope it helps a bit.
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Borax works pretty well in my experience, boron is antifungal
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vitamin A by a very long shot
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Enough calcium in th diet fixed dandruff for me. 2g per day from food.
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Also following this thread! Idk what caused me to get dandruff since I had never had it, but it has been odd for sure. Even increasing calcium and Vitamin A don't seem to make a difference. It does some nutrition related bc when. I take something that is pro metabolic it increases my dandruff. Just have not been able to figure out how to correct it. I think I need to try and consistently take liver for a while though I do eat a really high nutrition diet, I also enjoy a lot of pro metabolic stuff like coffee and sugar.
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@albion EMF gives me dandruff.
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My take on Dandruff and related skin issues especially on the head/face is there are two separate things happening:
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Some kind of autoimmune triggered issue, usually gut(food) related, which causes a degradation of the natural skin barrier allowing a fungal or bacteria infection to take root. In the case of scalp and face issues it mostly seems to be fungal.
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The continued infection of the area separate to the cause or fixing of the initial trigger.
Example: You don't tolerate wheat very well, you eat a ton on holiday, you get a reaction which leads to dandruff or eczema on your face, and then despite coming home and cleaning up your diet and gut the problem persists.
So it's worth exploring all the topical solutions like anti-fungal agents Zinc Pyrithione, Sulfur, Salicylic Acid, etc, and even something like Hydrocortisone to help heal the skin barrier if it's quite bad, all whilst working on the root cause at the same time, as the fixing the root cause alone is not always sufficient.
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@NangaParbat Yah, I have been wondering if that is effecting me since I live in dense EMF city.
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Honestly, BLOO. Cleared up my dandruff quickly.
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@santiagotrad oh yah, that is a good idea! Am down to try it.
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@thebodyelectric_ I've been using it almost daily. Completely replaced my shampoo and conditioner. My hair even seems to look better.
