I’ve been dealing with dandruff since I was a kid, it’s always made me really insecure and always wear a hat. I’ve tried plenty of different hair products, none seem to work. It’s not just my hair on my scalp, it’s my beard as well. I’m a 19 year old male (Caucasian), I’ve been already deciding if I want to go bald or not. I still get dandruff even with a buzzcut and stubble. My skin just sucks. Please feel free to recommend products. I’m trying to improve my life and I find this to be one of the most annoying things.
The only thing that works consistently for me is to wash my hair and scalp with baking soda. May sound wierd and I don’t know why it works for me but it does so I’m continuing to use it
I stopped using shampoo and condition once a week. My scalp looks great and my hair is neither greasy nor dry.
I eliminated shampoo and my hair and scalp feels so much better. Skip the shampoo and use conditioner only. Once your scalp adjusts its oil production, my hair is so much better. Your scalp will overproduce for the first month or so as it’s used to all of its oils being washed away by shampoo.
For the record I have white person thick heavy hair that is curly
I did the same but I have thin, straight hair and there was not much, if any, transition before it got better. I’ve only used conditioner for about ten years now.
Changed my diet, which helped my hormoes to get under control. Lchf
I found the routine that works for me which is Selsun Medicated shampoo twice a week and tar shampoo in-between. I still get dry and a little bit itchy scalp but no visible shedding flakes.
The tricky part for me was to realize that overly aggressive shampoos do more harm than good, so the dosage of active ingredient is key. I used to use Neutrogena Tgel Therapeutic tar shampoo, with the lowest dose of tar component, it is however hard to find now and looks like it’s being discontinued, so I switched to MG217 Therapeutic 3% which I dilute with whatever generic shampoo my family is using.
Here’s what you do: go to the store and buy 3-5 dandruff shampoos with different active ingredients and cycle between them every time you wash your hair and face (don’t shy away from smearing the shampoo on your face as well). Also, leave it on there a few minutes before rinsing.
Also vitamin D oil is great for face and beard.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BGMCLC4J
This shampoo is great to add into the rotation. The same company makes a face cream that is super good, too.
Anti dandruff shampoo with selenium sulfide as the active ingredient. You can start with the medicated versions like the other comment mentioned because it has the strongest formula. Once you have it under control, you can switch to a milder version. I started with medicated Selsun Blue. After about 2 weeks, my dandruff was gone. Then I switched to the milder version with conditioner and that’s what I use to maintain it. You can also lather a little bit on your beard and eyebrows while shampooing. It helps too.
Have you been to a dermatologist? If not, maybe you should book an appointment there and let a specialist look over your issue.
My doctor prescribed taro-mometasone (I think that’s how it’s spelled?) and it worked like magic. None of the other stuff worked. I tried Head & Shoulders, then Nizoral and Neutrogena T-Gel, and I don’t remember what else. It was so bad that it was clumping and scabbing and my hair was falling out. I struggled for a year and then my doctor gave me that thing and the problem just vanished. It came back once a year later and then never again. It’s been several years.
My cat likes to clean my hair.
Psoriasis.
This shampoo helped me (mostly) get rid of dandruff and itching: https://farmakom.ua/en/products/shampun-digtyarnij/
So a birch tar shampoo.However, after 3 years I finally decided to go to a dermatologist. It was getting bigger and bigger, and now my hair wouldn’t cover it up. She prescribed me some corticosteroids (betamethasone 0.5mg/g with salicylic acid 20mg/g) for 10 days (twice a day) and that did it. But I consider corticosteroids a last resort. It causes skin thinning and with long term use it may cause topical steroid withdrawal when you stop using it. Just search for TSW and check images, not nice.
Now it’s been roughly 2 months since I stopped using it. Seems mostly OK so far, but there’s no permanent solution to psoriasis, unfortunately.
I also had a flare up in the groin area for around 2 years, but I felt too embarrassed to mention that. Unfortunately, what I got prescribed specifically mentioned to not use it there. But there’s no way I’d be able to mention that to my dermatologist, so after a while of searching I decided on a lower dosage: once a day for 5 days.
It worked perfectly, but I wouldn’t recommend it, obviously.Personally…I embraced my curly hair and started learning how to take care of it.
It started with the No-shampoo movement. The thing about most shampoos, especially dandruff shampoos, is that that are very harsh. “The tingling tells you it’s working” is bullshit. That’s your skin drying out from the chemicals. And the more you use it, the more dandruff you have when you stop and the more you need to use it. It’s a vicious cycle. Then you have to use a conditioner just to try to put moisture back into your scalp, but silicones can’t hydrate like natural oils that your scalp produces can. The biggest confusion is not washing my hair for a few days, and ending up with dandruff and greasy hair.
After not shampooing for about 3 months and then only using shampoo once every 2 weeks, I found that my dandruff almost disappeared. Almost…because I was still using harsh shampoos that would strip all the moisture from my head and dry out my scalp. My hair would be oily for a few days and then return to normal after a few showers. That’s when I decided to grow out my hair and learn to take care of the curls. I discovered that most shampoo are harsh because of the sulfates, parabens, phthalates, alcohols, and other chemicals designed specifically to strip your hair of oils. Switching to sulfate free shampoos stopped that cycle immediately. Learning about conditioners and other hair products brought out curls that practically every woman I meet would kill to have for themselves. And I haven’t had dandruff or itchy dry scalp ever since, even on the coldest and driest days in the winter.
Treat your beard the same way. The skin underneath still needs the oils it produces to stay healthy. Use the same sulfate free shampoo to wash your beard and allow your skin to heal and rehydrate naturally.
+1 and similar story here with the shampoo. After years of trying different brands and treatments, I just started rinsing my hair and scalp under warm water (not hot) and sort of combing the oils from scalp to tip til it all felt even, and then let it air dry. I’d wash with a little bit of T-Sal every so often when it felt like it was more waxy than oily, or if the scalp was getting too “oozy.”
I make a hair and beard oil with food grade mineral oil, vitamin E oil, some camphor oil and a drop or two of tea tree extract. I use it as a leave-in conditioner after I wash my hair with shampoo. It probably doesn’t do much, but it smells nice I like the texture it leaves my hair.
For my face, I switched over to the Dr. Bronner’s Castile soap with tea tree extract, and Cetaphil to moisturize after. It worked OK.
Eventually I had a psoriatic arthritis flare up accompanied by the worst eczema I think I’ve ever had. I got with a rheumatologist who put me on Otezla, which both knocked the arthritis right down and improved my skin.
The “no 'poo” method is still working great for me except for when it was overcome by that bad flare up. While the Otrzla worked some miracles, I can’t really recommend it-- it’s been really harsh in my stomach and I still have to take it with a Zantac.
When I told my dermatologist I was working with a rheumatologist for the psoriasis, she heartily agreed that was a better specialist than her to treat the condition. If you have the means to do so, you might try an initial consultation with one in your area.
Tar shampoo was the only one that worked for me OTC.
Purelan, lanolin cream. It’s sheep fat. Can’t use it for your hair, but you can use it everywhere else.
I’m not sure it’s good to approach this with a “how do I get rid of” mindset. Unless you have some other specific circumstances, these are conditions that we live with. However, working with a doctor can help. Also, your own personal experience will, too. Diet, topical products, and possibly medication could all play a role. I have had excema and dandruff for my whole life, but thru watching what I eat and keeping track of what I use, I have a pretty good system that works for me. I didn’t get the excema figured out until my mod twenties (from a management standpoint), and the dandruff until mod thirties, but I feel OK about those things now. I would have been better off, I think, if I consulted with a doctor as a teen. I really recommend this. Don’t be afraid of a second opinion.
