How to get rid of dandruff?

5 tips: How to Prevent and Treat Dandruff

Dandruff is not discriminate (mostly). Whether you’re young or mature, have curly hair or straight, use the cheapest or most expensive haircare, dandruff doesn’t care.

Dandruff is a scalp condition that if left untreated can recuurent at any given time. In no time white-yellowish flakes of dry skin, often causing irritation, scaliness and redness can appear.

It’s no wonder you’re here reading this, wondering exactly how to get rid of it – which you can, with the right treatment. After reading and acting on some or several of the steps in this article, no one need know you have dandruff… ever again.

Read more about: What Causes Dandurff?

1) Stop your dandruff with a tea tree oil shampoo or treatment…

There are no natural treatments for dandruff more effective than tea tree oil. If dandruff fighting malassezia yeast active shampoos aren’t what you’re looking for, a natural tea tree oil shampoo could be.

Tea tree oil is a natural antiseptic and helpfully scientists have proven a 5% dose has the power to resolve troublesome dandruff symptoms.

Tea tree oil is a blend of several natural ingredients and it’s one in particular, Terpinen-4-ol which is responsible for tea tree oils anti-dandruff efficacy.

If you find a tea tree oil or tea tree oil containing shampoo claiming to be high in Terpinen-4-ol, snap it up. It helps put an end to itchy dandruff scalp.

Read More About: Is Tea Tree Oil Good For Spots?

2) Stop dandruff with an anti-dandruff shampoo containing one or more dandruff fighting actives

You have dandruff because your scalp is home to the malassezia yeast. All scalps have a small population of the malassezia yeast, however, if you have dandruff it is likely you have an overgrowth of this yeast. Scientists are not yet sure what causes it, but they are sure how to reverse it.

Anti-dandruff shampoos containing ingredients which make it hard for malassezia yeast to breed, control, halt and reverse growth of the malassezia yeast. When malassezia yeast populations fall, dandruff becomes dormant.

There may not be many anti-dandruff shampoos at your local supermarket, but search online and you’ll find 100’s. The best have a combination of malassezia pacifying actives.

Imagine having just one cookie or the option of 2. Which would you choose? Which would satisfy your sweet tooth most appropriately? One may do the job, but 2 is guaranteed.

Extremely effective anti-dandruff shampoos follow the same rule, especially those successful in treating severe dandruff. Which is why the best anti-dandruff shampoos contain a combination of 2 or more malassezia pacifying actives. Ingredients like;

• Climbazole
• Piroctone olamine
• Ketoconazole
• Zinc pyrithione

Gold standard anti-dandruff shampoos use a combination of 2 malassezia pacifying actives alongside ingredients which soften and dissolve existing dandruff flakes.

3) Treat your dandruff with salicylic acid

In your search for effective dandruff remedies you might have stumbled upon this. Thus, it is not a dandruff remedy to recommend prior to consultation with your doctor. As effective home remedy for dandruff Aspirin tablets are recommended – more specifically an Aspirin tablet ground up, and dosed onto your scalp.

The reason this home remedy has potential to resolve your dandruff is salicylic acid.

Sensitive scalp tip: Salicylic acid can sometimes irritate sensitive scalps. If your scalp is dry or particularly sensitive, avoid salicylic acid in preference of other anti-dandruff remedies.

Remember to consult with your doctor prior to follow this.

4) Treat your dandruff with coal tar

while it doesn’t sound glamorous, coal tar is an age proven remedy for dandruff afflicted scalps. Yes it’s made from coal. Yes it is kind of natural. Yes it works.

For best results be sure to use a premade coal tar anti-dandruff shampoo. Buying pre-made guarantees you a formula which works, which is safe, and which won’t aggravate your sensitive scalp.

Coal tar, like tea tree oil is a mixture of ingredients which are known to reverse the symptoms of not only dandruff, but also psoriasis. Two conditions made obvious by scaly collections of dry flaky skin.

For this reason, it is thought coal tar helps normalize skins exfoliation rate, it works like salicylic acid.

What is dandruff?

Dandruff is a form of dermatitis. Just like eczema. Its signs and symptoms are similar, however instead of afflicting the entire body, dandruff, also clinically known as seborrheic dermatitis usually makes its home on your scalp. You can find dandruff in areas of skin which are hairy, or areas of skin which are often oily. This means your eyebrows, the folds next to your nose, your face and yes, ‘down there’ in pubic hair.

If you have diagnosable dandruff, you will be experiencing these symptoms;

• Large flakes of dry white-yellow skin
• Red, itchy, inflamed and scaly skin
• Sometimes/often oily scalp

To diagnose dandruff, skin must have an increased presence of a yeast called the malassezia yeast. Although not thought to be the root cause of dandruff, controlling this yeast overgrowth controls dandruff. The initial cause and trigger of dandruff is still to be discovered, which is why currently there is no known cure for it.

What does this mean for you? The great new is this. You can successfully treat your dandruff. The white – yellow flakes can disappear, and your dandruff be minimized. You can resolve red, itchy, scaly skin. You can prevent dandruff from reoccurring.

However, all this is only possible with ongoing treatment. This means steps 1 to 6 from above will need to be a consistent feature of your scalp care routine.

Causes

Dandruff stems from within your hair follicles, which is why it often presents in areas of skin which are hairy or oily. Hair follicles also known and seen as pores, excrete sebum, an oily mixture of skin lipids, the Malassezia yeast, thrive in oil.

All areas of skin have a complex microbiome home to billions of yeasts, fungi and bacteria. This is normal and natural. As a carefully balanced population, the microbiome helps keep skin healthy. However, when specific strains of bacteria or yeast grow pathogenically, conditions like acne or dandruff begin.

Larger than normal excretions of sebum help make hair follicles an attractive home for the malassezia yeast. Controlling both of these causes helps relieve and resolve the symptoms of dandruff.

Symptoms

How do you know if you’re experiencing dandruff or dry scalp? When do a few white specks on your shoulders turn into clinically diagnosable dandruff? The difference between dandruff and dry scalp is important, because the treatment of each is distinct. With dandruff thriving in oily conditions, dry scalp treatments are likely to make your dandruff worse.

The difference between the 2 is very easy to tell. If you have dandruff you will have large flakes and/or clumps of white-yellow skin. If you have dry scalp you will have small white flakes of dead skin. Alongside this, dandruff is most comfortable on an oily scalp, whereas dry scalp… is dry.