Common Illness - Dandruff


What is Dandruff and what causes Dandruff?

Dandruff is a common skin condition that results in the itching and flaking of the skin on your scalp. Skin is constantly renewing itself and dead cells from the scalp fall off as new cells form beneath them. Everyone loses skin this way, but dandruff occurs when the scaling of the dead skin is exessive. When the scaling  of the skin is exessive, often in large clumps, dandruff becomes a noticeable commodity on the tips of your hair, and on the top of your shoulders.

Dandruff can be a hereditary condition, where it will affect people on and off for their life time. It can be caused by stress and anxiety and can sometimes be a symptom of eczema.

Who does Dandruff affect?

Dandruff affects mainly teenangers and adults, but can also affect children and babies. The type of dandruff that affects infants is known as cradle cap. Cradle cap causes yellow flaking skin to appear on a babies scalp. Most common in newborns, it can be quiet alarming for the parents, but cradle cap is not a big issue and will usually clear up by the time the baby is one.

What are the symptoms of Dandruff?

Symptoms of dandruff include an itching scalp, and white, oily looking flakes of skin that you will see on your shoulders and in your hair. Excessively greasy skin and hair is another sign that you are suffering from dandruff. If you are still uncertain, a good way to check for dandruff is to scruff up your hair with your hands. If you have dandruff a large amount of white flakes will be seen floating out of your hair.

In babies, or anyone with a shaved head for that matter, signs of dandruff will include yellow crusts, reddening of the scalp, itchyness and greasiness.

How can Dandruff be treated?

There are a range of treatment options for people suffering from dandruff. For people with sever dandruff, these treatments may not work and it is important to consult their doctor.

Convential Medicine - Shampoos and Steroid Cream: Many over the counter shampoos and solve your dandruff problem. All these shampoos contain selenium sulfide, a prescription medicine that is used to prevent dandruff. Head and Shoulders is a good product to use, as it also contains pyrithione zinc. You should use these shampoos twice a week for prevention and daily for an active case of dandruff.

In the rare case that these shampoos fail to work, a 2% Steroid cream should be used twice a day for 7-10 days. It is to be used in conjunction with the shampoo treatment.

Diet: By improving your diet, you can help avoid dandruff. Eliminating gluten and dairy products such as eggs, can be helpful, as can taking a daily zinc supplement of 40 mg for adults. You should ensure that your diet includes adequate amounts of vitamin E, A and C by eating a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and foods such as pears, celery, spinach, carrots, fish, oysters, mussels, brown rice and nuts.

Traditional Chinese Medicine used to treat dandruff: Traditional Chinese Medicine recommends the washing of your hair with fresh mulberry leaves to prevent and cure dandruff. Gather 600 g of fresh white mulberry leaves from a tree (in most cases there are no fresh mulberry leaves in Chinese herbalists.) Rinse the leaves in cold, clean water and mash them up. Press the leaves and gather the juice - or try using a juicer. Add the juice to warm water and wash the hair once a week, for three weeks. your scalp should become less itchy and the amount of dandruff should be reduced significantly.

Herbalism- Tea tree oil: Some practitioners recommend using a tea tree oil as a 5% shampoo daily for several weks.

Supplements: There are supplements available at your local pharmacy that will help with dandruff. Take omega fatty acids, especially omega-6, such as primrose oil and borage oil, will relieve inflammation. Take 30 mg of zinc to support skin function and the immune system. Zinc can deplete the body's store of copper, so 3 mg of copper should be taken in conjuction with this supplement.

 

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