Effective Natural Remedies for Seborrheic Dermatitis Relief

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Charlie (Boca, FL USA) on 06/10/2009
★★★★★

First and foremost thank you all for posting and for this site. I have Seborrheic Dermatitis on my face and scalp. It started as a red dry skin area around my nose and spread to under my eyes, chin, side burns, eye brows and when I did not shave anywhere there was hair. It has not spread to the rest of my body and thankfully just on my face.

It would get worse when I exercised, sweated or a temperature change from hot to cold weather wise. This caused me to stop exercising, which as a tri athlete was horrible. Sadly ordeal lasted roughly 6 years until I found Apple Cider vinegar. Before that I tried, dandruff shampoos, creams, acne solutions (proactive) and steroid based creams from my dermatologist.

The solution was simple and in my grocery store:
Apple cider vinegar in liquid form. I got the idea from this site and tried the recommendations.
1. Drink it mixed with water. That tasted badly so I decided to just do a shot of it. BAD IDEA. It almost killed myself and threw up for roughly 4 hours, side note it was a interesting way to reset and rid myself of all my stomach lining. DO NOT DRINK IT AS A SHOT.
2. I then tried the pills-no effect

SOLUTION:
Got the liquid. Take 3 piece of toilet paper and fold it in 3's just enough to make a strip where I can cover the top of the bottle and turn the acv bottle over making 4 circles so I can wipe my face with it. It stings but man does it work. No more pealing and my bad flare ups now are what I used to consider my good days. I did it once in the morning and once at night at first but now I forget to do it because I don't need to. I f I go more than about a week it will start up, but as soon as I do the acv"poof" all better. Sweating and exercising does start the process again but as long as I do it twice a day- I am good to go.

Please feel free to email me with questions at [email protected]
I hope this helps and thank you all again for introducing me to acv.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Robin (New York, NY) on 02/27/2009
★★★★★

I have to say I was skeptical at best even after reading all the positive responses to this 'cure' but after only one application of ACV I cannot believe the difference!! Over the last few months my scalp and face around the hairline went from a mild case of a few flakes to a very bad case of extreme flaking and scaling etc. I too had tried everything and was getting extremely disheartened thinking I was just going to be doomed to deal with this condition forever. Not only has it helped the skin condition but just like others said my hair looks and feels shinier and it has also cut down on the amount of static in my hair (I think the static was caused by the medicated shampoo I was using before that stripped my hair). I don't even care that I'm walking around smelling like a jar of pickles!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Michael (Red Oak, Iowa) on 02/23/2009
★★★★★

This is my third posting about using apple cider vinegar since September, 08. Pretty right off the bat my dermatitis got 95% better. Then I went through around 3 months where patches cylced in and out on my face and scalp, but continuing to diminish. Now, I would have to say that my improvement has reached 98%. It's not perfect, but very, very good. I am so grateful for the people who run this site as well as for the fine people who contribute. This is an extremely well vetted site, with intelligent and respectful input. None of the hysterical, profane, tell-you-a-miracle-for-a-fee shysterism. Thank you again. This is internet as it is supposed to be.

FYI, I use ZNP Bar (zinc pyrithione soap bar) from Steiffel Laboratories as shampoo and face cleanser. It does a really good job of loosening and removing patches of dry skin. I then apply apple cider vinegar generously to my scalp and then blow-dry my hair. I follow this with facial application of vinegar. I quit using organic vinegar because it was just hard to get and have been using regular good quality Del Monte Apple Cider Vinegar. It seems to work at least as good as the raw organic vinegar, if not better, plus it doesn't have the raw ingredients which seem to smell more and coat my hair with gunk. My hair is silky and shiny, looks healthy, which is all to the better. A lot of gain for little cost and effort.

I think I would avoid using store brands of cider vinegar because they say that they are made of "distilled vinegar with cider flavoring"--which seems to indicate to me that it is not actually Apple Cider Vinegar per se. There is not much of a difference in price for name brand which state "contains apple cider vinegar." The raw organic vinegar costs considerably more, although nothing compared to the various and sundry bogus salves, unguents, lotions, and cortisone, steroids which I used in the past. I would not be surprised to find out that it is the acetic acid in the vinegar which is the helpful element, and not the apple cider, but I haven't been brave enough to switch to white vinegar yet. If anyone has, I would be pleased to hear about it. Thank you.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Savannah Tucker (Dublin, GA) on 01/03/2009
★★★★★

I am African American I have dealt with dry scalp my entire life. My mother has the same condition. When I was younger my mother would deep condition my scalp and hair and moisturize my scalp daily. When I was a teenager I did the same but have tried countless treatments and prescriptions and products since then. It has been frustrating trying to find a solution to my scalp condition while taking care of my hair. I am twenty 26 and tried using ACV 5% acidity in my hair 4 days ago and my scalp has made a 100% improvement!!!!! I put the ACV on my scalp and let it sit for 20 minutes and washed and styled as normal. Amazingly, my scalp is not white and itchy and my hair is not full of flakes. I haven't put anything on my scalp since the day I washed it.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Nancy (Orlando, FL) on 10/11/2008
★★★★★

I use Organic Apple Cider Vinegar for my seborrheic dermatitis and sensitive scalp. I typically take about 1/4 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar and 1/4 cup of water and mix it in a spray bottle (1 part to 1 part). I spray it directly on my scalp, by combing through the different sections. Then leave it on for at least 10-15 minutes. Then I rinse it out and use a mild shampoo & conditioner. The longer the better. Its best to do it on the weekends or at night because it does smell. (2-3 times a week) The worse you have it the longer it will take to see results. I started using the ACV because the Nizoral shampoo started making my hair really dry and brittle and it started to break and fall out. I have pretty oily skin and I needed to wash my hair every day. For the face, take a cotton ball and dab the mixture on the spots. And make sure you dry your hair good, the moisture breeds bacteria.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Diana (Brockton, MA) on 07/23/2008
★★★★★

apple cider vinegar with the following has improved 99.99% my scalp condition of sebhorreic dermatitis: spray or just add to scalp prior to washing hair, leave 5 minutes on scalp, then shampoo with lavender shampoo and 2 drops of tea tree oil, again leave 5 more minutes, then shampoo again with DHS dandruf shampoo (you will find this one over the counter, contains Zinc)and end with a tea tree conditioner. After 2 weeks, my scalf looks almost natural and the itch has almost completely gone away. Once condition starts clearing, use DHS shampoo only a couple or times a week, same as vinegar.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Franny (Chicago, IL) on 05/04/2008
★★★★★

Apple Cider Vinegar helped my seborrheic dermatitis. Over six months ago I developed seborrheic dermatitis under my nostrils and the sides of my nose. The dermatologist prescribed a steroid cream which did not help and which lots of people have advised not to use long term. After finding this site I tried the ACV. I apply it on the affected area once a day with a cotton ball. After doing this a few days the scales dried up and I was able to pick them right off. But what I think has really helped is drinking the ACV. I drink it with boiling water and honey. About 2 tablespoons ACV. I use the boiling/hot water because the honey doesn't dissolve in cold water. And I drink it with a straw so it doesn't ruin my tooth enamel. The affected area is soft and smooth now!! It's still a bit red but the scales are gone. Much easier to conceal. I still drink and apply the ACV almost every day.

Thanks to this site for a natural remedy that works!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Julie (Seattle, WA) on 11/21/2007
★★★★★

I've had moderately severe seborrheic dermitis of my face, scalp since puberty, and in the 15 years since then, I have seen 4 dermatologists and tried every OTC dandruff/sd shampoo and every prescription cream, corticosteroids, etc. My facial skin was always red, inflamed or recovering from a flare up, or about to have another one. I really believed that I would always have to deal with this. On your site, I read about treating my skin with a cottonball of ACV. I tried it, it stung the skin until it dried. But immediately there seemed to be a benefit. After 3 days, my skin looked noticeably better and was soft and the inflammation went away. My skin completely quit flaking. I do treat it with a cottonball of ACV at least once a day it has successfully treated my problem since the first day I used it, 6/11/07, about 5 months straight! I've NEVER had anything work like this. It is almost unbelievable. My theory is the ACV kills the microscopic fungus that likes my chemistry on my skin. If I skip ACV for several days, I notice my skin slowly starts to get red and flaky again. ACV stings the most over the "flared up" areas, barely at all on healthy skin. I can't say enough about how thrilled I am about ACV for SD

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Dorey (San Jose, CA) on 11/21/2007
★★★★★

I'm a 21 year old female and I've had Seborrheic Dermatitis for about a year now. I first started noticing it because the part of my scalp around my bangs above my forehead would get itchy and whenever I scratched it these big, gross dry flakes would fall all over the place. I didn't pay much attention to it until months later I woke up and noticed these two itchy bumps behind one of my ears right by my hair line. I then started realizing that I had quite a few dry, flaky patches all over my hair line, some worse than others. Sometimes it would get so dry and flaky that when I scratched, my scalp would bleed. I was starting to get embarassed about it so I saw a dermatoligist and then the health physician at school. Both said I had Seborrheic Dermatitis and that I needed to use a shampoo with ketocenoconozole and salicylic acid. So I bought a million different shampoos....all the typical ones recommended...head and shoulders, t-gel with coal tar, nizoral both 1 and 2%, tea trea shampoo, a natural pine tar shampoo, and the list goes on. None of these things, no matter how well I followed directions worked. The health physician at school gave me a prescription for a mild steroid solution which I was scared to death of. She convinced me it was ok to use for a short period of time. I tried it for two weeks and it went away, but as soon as i stopped using it, the flakes came back even worse! I wasn't about to use the steroid again because I read so many horrible side effects and diseases that could be accumulated from using such a horrible drug. Why would they make such a frightening thing legal? I started looking up natural remedies, which I should have just done in the first place. I found this website, and tried about 6 different ways of using ACV on my scalp. I tried the spray bottle with part ACV, part peroxide, part water--this didn't work so well. I tried using a dropper and dropping it on the parts of my scalp--this didn't work so well either. I tried pouring capfuls of straight ACV on my head before shampooing, after shampooing, between shampooing....and tried leaving it on for 10 minutes, 1 hour, half an hour....just to see what the best method was. Although this got rid of many flakes, there were still some, and it still drove me crazy. Finally, I tried shampooing my hair with an all natural jojoba treatment shampoo, then conditioning with the jojoba treatment conditioner, and combing off the flakes very carefully with the conditioner in, on my scalp. I rinsed my hair, and poured capfuls of a mixture of a 70% organic (braggs brand) Apple Cider Vinegar, a dash of hydrogen peroxide, and a little bit of distilled water all over my scalp and hair. I put my hair up in a towel for about an hour and hung out smelling bad in my house :) After an hour, I showered and washed it all out, then I combed my hair and put organic ACV on a Q-tip and rubbed it into the specific flaky, inflamed areas, and left it on all night. Now, this sounds crazy, but after trying everying, I woke up this morning, and I am like 95% flake free. The really bad inflamed, dry flaky spots have improved like 60% and look better than they ever have. After trying everything, I was shocked to see that just trying different methods led me to discover a very natural, very safe solution to a very annoying problem. I will let you know if it comes back. Good luck and stay healthy everyone. We will find a way to rid ourselves of this miserable problem!

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Julie (Seattle, WA) on 11/21/2007
★★★★★

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Teekup (Metrowest, MA) on 11/14/2007
★★★★★

I have "suffered" for more than 15 years with red, scaley, itchy scalp. It's so embarrassing. I have tried all kinds of shampoo: with salicylic acid, zinc, ketoconazole, coal tar, selenium sulfide. I finally gave in and bought a bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar. Last night, I poured some over my head and rubbed some on my face, since it was really red, itchy and flaky too. The smell was horrendous! Thank goodness my family was asleep! I watched a little tv and after the ACV dried, I then washed my face and scalp. I could not believe the difference. This morning, I look nearly "normal". No flakes, and almost no redness. And no smell either! Who would have thought that a few dollar's worth of apple cider vinegar would work? On a related note, I used a little diluted ACV on my daughter's diaper rash and the next day it was cleared up! I am going to start taking ACV internally next week after I get some litmus strips to test my internal pH. Thank you so much

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by DZ (CT) on 09/12/2007
★★★★★

I have had seb derm in the creases at the side of my nose for the last 15 years, on and off, mostly on. The doctors all prescribed steroid creams and antibiotic lotions, which worked temporarily. 2 weeks ago I decided to give apple cider vinegar a go. I stuck a clean q-tip in my bottle of acv and then applied to my clean skin, dabbing all the area around my nose that has the dermatitis. I did this 2x a day for the first day, then 1 more time on day 4. Then I gave it a break. The dermatitis cleared up on day 6 and hasn't yet returned. I no longer look like I always have a cold! The redness that accompanies the dermatitis is almost gone.

I figure I will apply the acv once a week for preventative measures. This is undoubtedly the best treatment I have tried thus far. If it stops it permanently, I will be thrilled. However, in the past the dermatitis flared up after consuming a lot of dairy products, so I always thought it was an internal condition... We shall see! I will report back in a month or so.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Lynne (Dayton, Ohio) on 08/15/2007
★★★★★

ACV cured my psoriasis on my scalp. I have been aflicted with psoriasis on my scalp for twenty years. I have tried more "remedies" than I care to count with little or no success. After reading about how people were helped by putting ACV on dry spots on the body I decided to try it on my scalp. I put undiluted ACV in a spray bottle and sprayed it on my scalp before going to bed. Within a few days I could see that the scales were getting thinner. In two weeks they are practically all gone! Even if the scales never fully go away, the ACV has made the scales easier for me to live with. By the way, ACV is better at drying up acne that any treatment on the market.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Randy (Rincon, GA) on 05/21/2007
★★★★★

I had dandruff for many years and dermatitus for 4 years or more. I read on this site how acv works and tried it. wow ,i took a q-tip and would rub the acv on the areas with the dermatitis, and in two days it disappeared. I also started taking acv tablets and my dandruff is totally gone. thanks to everyone for the helpful advice

Apple Cider Vinegar

Posted by Josh (Elk Ridge, UT) on 01/12/2007
★★★★★

Hi all! What a great website this is...finally; I've been looking for a resource like this for years! Anyway, I have moderate to severe eczema that flares up in the winter and is more mild in summer. Anyway, I went several days without using steroid creams or immune system inhibitors (Protopic ointment)when I tried the following regime. I would take a cold shower, then spray myself with potassium alum (dissolved in water and put into a spray bottle) when I was still slightly damp. Also, I was taking 1 T apple cider vinegar internally twice a day. My eczema didn't seem to get worse until I missed 2 days of the potassium alum treatment. I even had a semi-cold bath with 1 C ACV and soaked for about 20 minutes, but I forgot to do the alum. When I do the alum, it helps my skin to calm down. It gets softer. I don't use lotion.

A friend of mine gave me the potassium alum stone with his story of severe eczema in Thailand. The generous people there gave him this stone to try and it cured his eczema. I've been using it as deodorant and it works very well; no chemicals or additives. I think you can get the stones at a health food store (or do a google search for them).

Get a clean spray bottle and break up about 1-2 Tablespoon size chunks of alum. Put this in about 1 cup of water and then fill your spray bottle with it. I spray a few sprays on my hair and massage it in my scalp. Some under arms for deodorant and then I give a few sprays all over my limbs and body, rubbing it into my skin. It has a weird texture; it seems to sink into your skin quickly - that's why the spray works so well. I'm thinking of trying an application in the evening as well and maybe by then I'll have more of a cure. Experimenting with the frequency... Let me know how this works for you. I used to have bad eczema in my hair that would flake all over; very embarrassing. I cured it by soaking my head with straight ACV and covering that with a shower cap overnight, but I don't like smelling like a pickle throughout the day. :) Now, the potassium alum has prevented it without the smell. Good luck to all, and hopefully we can cure our debilitating eczema.