You are constantly shedding dead skin cells from all over your body. It's the skin's natural way to rejuvenate itself. In fact, you get a whole new suit of skin about every 27 or 28 days. The old stuff just sort of flakes away. You just don't tend to notice the tiny skin cells dropping off your arms, your legs, and even your scalp. Dandruff results from the same shedding of skin cells. But if the shedding process is normal, what happens to make dandruff so embarrassingly noticeable? Scientists believe that dandruff occurs when a yeast-like fungus called malassezia goes wild on your scalp. The microscopic malassezia fungus, a normal inhabitant on a healthy human head, feeds on the fatty oils secreted by hair follicles in the scalp, which means that people with above average oily scalps are more prone to getting dandruff than those with dry scalps. The irritation caused by the fungus actually speeds up cell turnover on the scalp. As a result, the normal process of cell turnover, which usually takes a month, may take less than two weeks when out-of-control malassezia has irritated the scalp. So many dead cells are shed at the same time that, when they mix with the oil from the hair follicles, they tend to form greasy clumps big enough to be clearly visible to the naked eye. The oil also makes the clumps more likely to get stuck in your hair (and on your shoulders), rather than floating quickly away.
- Wash your hair everyday to eliminate excess oils.
- Cut down on your use of other products in your hair like gel, mousse, hairspray etc. This is just more chemicals and more buildup.
- Don't use dandruff shampoos. They contain harsh chemicals that can irritate the skin and cause more damage (including making your scalp drier), making your dandruff worse. Also, you can build up a resistance to the antidandruff ingredients causing a dandruff shampoo to stop being as efficient.
- A healthy lifestyle, including a balanced diet and exercise will also help ease the dandruff. Eliminating or better managing stress will help ease the dandruff which is known to be exacerbated by stress. Exercise can help ease any stress you may have as well.
Here are a few natural ideas:
- Using proper hair care product that contains jojoba is a good place to start. Jojoba is known to moisturize and advocates good health to the hair and scalp. Jojoba oil works similar to the oils our body excretes. It acts as a natural moisturizer, so there will be no oily build up. Whether you have a oily or dry scalp jojoba oil will balance your scalp to the proper PH.
- Tea tree oil is a fantastic natural treatment for anyone with dandruff and itchy scalp. It helps by balancing the pH levels and helps the hair follicles and cells to be clean and unclogged of debris. It has been used for centuries as an antiseptic and anti-fungal agent. There are many tea tree oil shampoos available in health food stores and some drug stores.
- Coconut oil is another great natural dandruff cure. Unrefined coconut oil is one of the best scalp and hair treatments for eliminating dandruffit, chiness, and dryness. Warm up some coconut oil and massage it into the scalp, leave it on for about 4 hours. It will help normalize the scalp.
- Massage an apple juice tonic into the scalp 3x a week to treat dandruff: Mix 2 Tbsp pure apple juice with 2 Tbsp warm water, apply on hair, rub, leave for 10-15 minutes and rinse.
- Mix 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar with 1/4 cup water. Pour this mixture into a spray bottle and spritz it on to your hair and scalp, being careful to avoid the eye and ear area. Wrap your head in a towel. After 15 minutes to an hour, remove the towel and wash your hair. This is generally done once to twice a week.
- Baking soda's gritty texture grabs and removes the dirt and excess oil from your hair and the loose skin cells from your scalp, without stripping your scalp of its much-needed natural oils (like commerical shampoos do). Overtime, this leads to a healthier scalp and healthier hair. Wash your hair with baking soda: Get your hair wet, take a handful of baking soda and rub into your hair and scalp, and rinse. Continue to use baking soda to wash your hair, avoiding regular shampoo all together. Initially, your hair will probably feel quite dry, but after a few weeks, your scalp will begin to produce more natural oils, and your hair's softness will return.
- A great combination is to wash with the baking soda as directed above and immediately after rinsing with water, apply a mix of 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1 cup warm water. Do not rinse. Towel dry and style as usual.
I hope this helps all of you with dandruff issues. And, I found another use for baking soda!
My Healthy Helper
www.myhealthyhelperonline.com
myhealthyhelper@gmail.com
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