Dandruff can be caused by both internal and external factors.
Internal factors include:
- Hormone imbalance
- Poor health and diet
- Allergies
- Stress
- Genetic predisposition
External factors include:
- Poor hygiene (e.g., infrequent hair washing and poor rinsing of the scalp).
- Excessive use of hair sprays, gels, and products containing alcohol (which over dry the scalp).
- Excessive use of hair-coloring products.
- Overuse of hair curlers. Hair dryers can also over dry the scalp.
- Cold weather, indoor heating causing excessive dry scalp.
Treatment for dandruff
First of all, there's no cure for dandruff. But there are plenty of things you can do to control it.
These are the top tips for eliminating and preventing dandruff:
1. Choose a mild dandruff shampoo - strong, detergent-based shampoos clean the scalp, but often cause excessive drying. So, if you shampoo every day, use organic (or baby) shampoo.
2. Brush your scalp before you wash your hair - this will loosen flakes of skin.
3. Use a shampoo with a low pH - as stated with seborrhoeic dermatitis, most anti-dandruff shampoos will normalize the pH of the scalp - i.e., to give a slightly lower (acidic) pH.
So, how do you find the pH of shampoo?
Good question. Some shampoos may state the pH on the packaging, or you could buy pH test strips or just email or Google the company before you buy.
Shampoos have many ingredients - ideally you would use a shampoo which contains only organic ingredients.
4. Nutrition can also help control dandruff. If you eat lots of sugar and saturated fats, you will encourage DHT and sebum production. So, eating healthy and getting plenty of B vitamins is recommended. Garlic, onion and oil of oregano are also said to help.