How I Treat Stubborn Dandruff

When large portions of skin began lifting off my scalp, I tried the usual dandruff shampoos such as products that contain pyrithione zinc or selenium sulfide, the latter of which seemed to work marginally better.  But I wasn’t satisfied with the results, so I went to see a dermatologist.

The doctor described it vaguely as yeast and as an adult form of cradle cap and prescribed Ketoconazole 2% shampoo.  It worked amazingly well.  However, the condition also affected my eyebrows, and it was difficult to apply the shampoo there without also getting some in my eyes.  Also the condition would flare up again and again, and I’d have to treat it again and again.

I did some research into “cradle cap” and found that the itchiness I would experience was not a symptom.  I decided to forget about Ketoconazole and treat it like eczema.

I swapped shampoo for Dove Sensitive Skin Beauty Bar, which I was using on my face anyway.  And afterwards, I applied an eczema lotion such as Gold Bond Eczema Relief lotion or the equivalent store brand.  Finally (and probably most importantly) I cut back on ingesting dairy products and sugar.

This regimen works very well, although occasionally I shampoo a second time with the selenium sulfide shampoo, especially if I fail to stick to a healthy diet.

Commercial lotions for eczema are expensive.  They contain 2% colloidal oatmeal, along with a great deal of other suspicious chemicals.  As oatmeal is quite inexpensive, I wonder if I can just let some oatmeal soak in water overnight and then apply that water to my scalp to rinse out the Dove soap.  So the next step is to try the “oatmeal soak water rinse” to see if I can eliminate the lotion.

I do see a recipe for a DIY oatmeal shampoo, but that seems like too much work at this time.