| Dandruff Care. No more Snow! |
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Have you ever felt like you were your own personal snow maker? I did! About three months ago I had a really bad dandruff problem, so I did some investigating and found out how to get rid of it!
The first thing I found out was that if I carefully massaged my scalp while shampooing, it could help get rid of my dandruff. If I moved my fingers in small circles vigorously, it would dislodge the dandruff and wash out. I also had to make sure that I washed all of my shampoo out, because if I didn’t, the residue of the shampoo would make my scalp flake even more. Oops! I sometimes didn’t do that! I also needed to shampoo every day and leave it in for a few minutes. It was also vitally important that I wash regularly and often. This would give me the chance to wash out the dandruff and evade the embarrassment of “snow” on my shoulders.
Another thing that I could do was to buy some pure coconut or olive oil and heat it before putting it gently onto my scalp at night and leave it on over night. This would help to moisturize my scalp. Then in the morning, I had to put the juice of a lemon on my scalp an hour before I took a shower. Some herbs, such as henna, would help to exterminate my dandruff as well but could dye my hair temporarily if I wasn’t careful.
As for my shampoo, I found some information that said that it would be best if I alternated between using and anti-dandruff shampoo and my regular shampoo unless my dandruff became worse with the use of my regular shampoo while I switched off. It was also recommended that I use shampoos with ingredients such as Zinc Pyrithione, Ketoconazole, and Selenium sulfide which were proven to help to stop dandruff.
I found a few interesting home remedies as well. One was to rinse my hair with vinegar or lemon juice. After some thought, I decided that that might actually work. The lemon juice especially would dry out the skin on my scalp, taking off the dry parts but leaving the moisturized parts on. Then I could massage my scalp in the shower and rinse all of the loose pieces of skin off. Other remedies including washing my hair with tea tree oil, and dabbing white vinegar on my scalp and leaving it for an hour before taking a shower. I could also rub vitamin E oil into my scalp and then rinsed with cool water would help to alleviate the itching. Another remedy that sounded promising was this: to use one teaspoon of Neem oil, one teaspoon of Manuka (an antifungal that was stronger than teatree), one teaspoon of Rosemary oil, and one teaspoon of Lavender oil in three teaspoons of almond or olive oil and apply it to my scalp once a week, massaging it into my scalp and then leaving it in overnight, washing my hair in the morning while gently massaging my scalp (of course).
To my surprise, I also found that my diet played a role in my dandruff! Imaging that! Apparently, excess sugar intake could cause my scalp to flake. Sugar was sometimes hidden in the foods I ate as glucose, corn syrup, fructose, lactose, maltose, and sorghum. So I also needed to watch my sugar intake and try to regulate it.
I was excited to try all of these, and I did! I had to ask my mom to help me try the vinegar one (I kept missing my hair and getting the sink!) but now, my dandruff is gone! I still keep up with washing my hair on a daily basis and massaging my scalp though because I don’t want a recurrence of pesky dandruff, but that’s not so much to ask to stop the “snow”! At least not in my opinion! |
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