Natural Cures for Dandruff

I used to have the worst dandruff back in the Head and Shoulders days.I would create a snowstorm every time I swept my hair back. I have brought it completely under control now. Here's how I did it.

First of all on the advice of a dermatologist I used Nizoral, maybe 2 times a week and shampooed with some neutral shampoo other days. It's a standard dandruff product and it works great in the beginning. Trouble is that like most dandruff cures eventually you get tolerant to it and the problem comes back. When it started coming back I cut back on the Nizoral. In fact I eventually phased it out. Instead I was putting skin cream on my scalp after shampooing. Makes the hair a little greasy but it beats dandruff for sure. That worked great too, for almost a year. I was pretty much dandruff free. Eventually the problem returned but I had a good year :)

It occurred to me I was probably shampooing too often and that there is an ingredient in most shampoos that causes dandruff called sodium lauryl sulphate (it's in toothpaste too. I eliminated mouth ulcers by getting special toothpaste). So I decided I was going to try to do without shampoo altogether, like the hippies :). Well it was pretty horrible going 3 weeks without shampoo. I used an earthclinic tip - the apple cider vinegar directly on the scalp to keep my dandruff under control whilst not shampooing. I got though the period to the point when your glands stop over producing oils and my scalp calmed down. The itching stopped, but I'm afraid to tell you ACV doesn't work for ever. After some time I got resistant and the problem came back.

I went to a dermatologist and she gave me some Zinc Pyrithione shampoo called ____. I don't think the brand matters much. In any case, wonderful stuff. Since that day I shampoo my hair only once a fortnight with the ___, and do not use anything else on my hair in the between periods. After about 14 days I start to get a little itchy so I have another blast of it. I resist the temptation to use it more often because once you go down that road it will stop working. If I feel more irritable than usual I apply vinegar before using the ____ shampoo, and might apply some skin cream afterwards, but only once - not every day.

Well that's it folks. I've been under control for at least a year. Unlike most of the testimonials here I posted mine after a long period of testing :)

I think the secret for me is 2 fold. First the zinc pyrithione works for me, but secondly I needed to be shampoo free for several weeks before using it so I could minimize the usage. I am pretty sure if I was using it a couple times a week I would become tolerant and would already be looking for a new cure by now.