How to stop Dandruff
Dandruff is a condition that causes oily white flakes of skin around your scalp and they appear after you get itchy and scratch your head. Unfortunately dandruff can be embarrassing especially for dark haired people. There is hope though, there are effective natural ways you can treat dandruff and cure it so that you don’t have to deal with those white flakes again. First I’ll talk about the cause of dandruff and then ways you can treat it at home.
Dandruff is the condition of skin where your skin cells grow and die too fast and it is the most common skin problem afflicting people. It’s believed that fungus called malassezia can cause dandruff because it feeds off of the oils around hair follicles. When this fungus grows out of control, the scalp gets irritated and grows extra skin cells at an increased rate which die off and mix with the oils that turn into dandruff.
Dandruff is more common in people who have oily skin, or people who are sensitive to yeast which is another fungus. For people that have their dandruff caused by yeast, they find that the summer makes their dandruff better because the UVA light from the sun can prevent yeast from growing.
Treating dandruff –
Use a shampoo that is natural containing either of these ingredients:
Tea Tree Oil – Also a good acne fighting ingredient, tea tree oil has anti-fungal properties so that it can help limit and kill off the growth of malassezia fungi. 5% tea tree oil concentration is all you need for it to be effective against fungi.
Organic Apple Cider Vinegar-
Apple cider vinegar is just the right pH for your skin and it can help control your dandruff because it gets rid of excess oils, plus it’s anti-fungal. You can either mix a cup of apple cider into your shampoo to create your own dandruff shampoo if you have pretty bad dandruff, or you can do weekly rinses of your hair with equal parts vinegar and water and rub it in for a few minutes, then use water to rinse the mixture out.
Baking Soda –
Baking soda can also reduce the presence of fungi on your scalp. Wet hair and massage a handful of baking soda to your scalp then rinse it all off.
Coconut Oil
Some shampoos already contain coconut oil, but you can always buy some organic coconut oil to and apply on your scalp and leave it on for at least 10 minutes. Coconut oil can treat dandruff because it’s another natural anti-fungal and it doubles as a hair conditioner too.
If your dandruff is really out of control use a shampoo containing 2.5% selenium sulfide.
Selenium sulfide is used to kill the fungus on your scalp that causes the dandruff, but it isn’t advised to use it very often. Try to limit the usage of this ingredient to only when you need it like maybe 2-3 times a month until your scalp gets better so you can use something more natural instead.
These are all great ways to treat dandruff and hopefully cure it by eliminating the fungus that causes it. Hopefully within a couple days your dandruff will go away and you can once again wear all the black clothing you want without constantly checking your shoulders and back to make sure it isn’t covered in flakes.