Dandruff Prevention

You can help prevent dandruff by:

Regular daily brushing of your hair.

Make sure you wash your hair at least three times a week.

Using a specially medicated shampoo every 1-2 weeks to prevent recurrence.

Thoroughly rinse your hair thoroughly after shampooing.

Try to avoid the use of chemicals on the scalp such as those used in hair colouring

Making sure that you have enough vitamins such as zinc, beta-carotene, B6, B12, F and seleniumin in your diet.

Dandruff may begin in infancy as cradle cap, then disappear until adolescence when oil glands become active. It can persist into old age on and off.

Tips on getting rid of dandruff

If your dandruff is mild, try shampooing your hair twice a week using any shampoo labelled 'frequent use, for dry hair' (not an ordinary 'anti-dandruff' shampoo). This will remove the flakes that are being shed, and the moisturizer in the shampoo will protect the scalp.

Avoid dyeing your hair (unless you absolutely must). We all have bacteria on our scalp, some of which are beneficial. These 'good' bacteria prevent dandruff yeast, and hair dyes reduce their numbers.

If you want to try a natural remedy, boil four heaped tablespoons of dried thyme in half a litre of water for 10 minutes. Let it cool and strain it through a sieve into a jar. Massage some of the liquid onto your scalp three times a week. Don't rinse it out.

Look for a shampoo containing tea tree oil. Research from Australia (published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in 2002) showed that a 5% tea tree oil shampoo improved dandruff by 41%, which means that although it did not get rid of the dandruff completely, there was a noticeable improvement.

For more severe dandruff, you need to deal with the yeast. You could try a shampoo, such as Selsun, containing selenium sulphide, which has an anti-yeast effect and is available without a prescription. Wet your hair, rub the shampoo onto your scalp and rinse off. Repeat, leaving the shampoo for 3-5 minutes before rinsing off.

Don't use selenium sulphide within 48 hours of applying a hair colorant or a perm lotion. (Selegel and Lenium are similar shampoos. Lenium was discontinued in the UK in July 2000.

The most effective treatment is an anti-yeast shampoo containing ketoconazole (Nizoral), which you can buy from a chemist without a doctor's prescription. Again, wet your hair, rub the shampoo onto your scalp and rinse off. Repeat, leaving the shampoo for 3-5 minutes before rinsing off.

Use it twice a week for 2-4 weeks to clear the dandruff, and then once every 2 weeks, using a normal shampoo in between times.

Anti-dandruff conditioners are also available.

 

Dandruff Prevention