Natural remedies for Seborrheic Dermatitis (Dandruff)

So many times we’ve seen ugly white flakes on some people’s shoulders; maybe some of us have it too. Dandruff is an unpleasant and embarrassing problem for many people. That is why we need to learn more about seborrheic dermatitis, better known as dandruff. Is there a successful treatment? Are there natural remedies?

What Is Seborrheic Dermatitis?

The term seborrhea comes from the word “sebum”. This is the natural oil produced in the sebaceous glands that flows into hair follicles. Seborrheic dermatitis has been called a more extensive and severe form of dandruff, but there is no clear division between the two. Flaking, redness, and itching can appear on the scalp, in the eyebrows, around the nose, behind the ears, even on the chest and around the groin. It may interfere with hair health, resulting in partial baldness in severe cases. Sebum may also accumulate in the ducts of the glands, causing the glands to distend with un-discharged sebum, eventually forming into a small hard body called a “whitehead”. When the sebum in the mouth of the duct oxidizes, it darkens; this is a condition known as blackhead or comedo. [1]

The treatment of seborrheic dermatitis is similar to that of dandruff. However, a shampoo of coal tar seems to have a better effect on the scalp. If the problem is severe, you should seek medical advice, as a course of steroids may be required to clear it up.

Seborrheic dermatitis appears to be hereditary. Although dandruff may be the only thing standing between you and a closet full of basic black, know that you are not alone. At any one time, millions of Americans have this chronic scalp disorder, appearing as itching and excessive flaking of the scalp. [2]

Although dandruff is not contagious and is rarely serious, it can be embarrassing and surprisingly persistent. But the good news is, we can usually control dandruff. Mild cases may need nothing more than daily shampooing with a gentle cleanser, and stubborn flakes often respond to medicated shampoos. Moreover, researchers have identified a yeast-like fungus that may cause or aggravate dandruff. This discovery may lead to better treatments and eventually to a completely new wardrobe.

Symptoms of dandruff

For most people, the symptoms of dandruff are unmistakable: white, oily-looking flakes of dead skin dotting your hair and shoulders, and an itchy, scaling scalp. However, it is not quite that simple to diagnose, because many conditions cause excessive skin scaling. [1]

• Dry skin, the kind you get in winter when the air is cold and rooms overheated. is by far the most common cause of itchy, flaking skin. However, flakes from dry skin are generally smaller and less oily than dandruff flakes.
• Seborrheic dermatitis is a frequent cause of dandruff. Symptoms are red, greasy skin covered with flaky white or yellow scales. It affects not only your scalp but also other areas rich in oil glands such as eyebrows, the sides of your nose and the backs of your ears, your breastbone, your groin area, and sometimes your armpits.
• Psoriasis is a skin disorder which causes an accumulation of dead skin cells that form thick silvery scales. In severe cases, the skin cracks, bleeds, and may be quite painful. Psoriasis commonly occurs on the knees, elbows, and trunk. It can also extend from your scalp onto your forehead and neck. [3]
• Cradle cap, like seborrheic dermatitis of the scalp, causes a scaling, crusty scalp. It is most common in newborns, but can occur at any time during infancy. Though it can be alarming for parents, cradle cap is not dangerous and usually clears up on its own by the time a baby is a year old. [4]
• Scalp ringworm, or tinea capitis, is a highly contagious fungal infection that occurs primarily in children under the age of ten. Ringworm starts as a red sore around a hair shaft usually on the scalp, but in some cases it affects areas around eyebrows or eyelashes as well. Within a few days, the sore turns scaly and spreads outward in the ring pattern that gives the infection its name. The hair in the affected area usually breaks off just above the surface, leading to a red, inflamed scalp as well as hair loss. [5]
• Contact dermatitis is sometimes caused by sensitivities to certain hair-care products or hair dyes, resulting in a red, itchy, scaling scalp. [6]

Causes of dandruff

At one time or another, we thought dandruff only appeared on dry skin, oily skin, if shampooing too often or not often enough. We also thought poor diet, stress, and the use of too many fancy styling products could cause a dandruff problem. Although some of these factors may exacerbate or contribute to scalp flaking, the real culprit may be a fat-eating or yeast-like fungus called malassezia. [7]

When malassezia grows out of control, it feeds on the oils secreted by your hair follicles and causing irritation that leads to increased cell turnover. All skin cells die and are replaced by new cells, so in the outermost layer, they die and scale off in flakes. On scalps where malassezia thrives, the whole process can take as little as ten days, so the result is a large number of dead skin cells. As the cells fall off, they tend to clump together with oil from your hair and scalp, making them appear white, flaky and all too visible. Exactly what causes an overgrowth of these organisms, we still don’t know. It could be increased oil production, hormonal fluctuations, stress, illness, neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, a suppressed immune system… Some people have this problem because of infrequent shampooing, increased sensitivity to the malassezia fungus, and even heredity.

Natural Remedies for Seborrheic Dermatitis

• You could first try Aloe Vera dandruff cure products, such as Aloe Vera gel. About 10-15 minutes before you wash your hair, rub Aloe Vera gel into your scalp. Leave it on for 10 minutes, and shampoo your hair as you regularly do. If you do this every day, the dandruff will stay away.
• Using lime juice to wash your hair could also help in seborrheic dermatitis treatment.
• You could soak 2 tablespoons of fenugreek seeds in water overnight. In the morning, grind it into a fine paste and apply all over the scalp. Leave it for half an hour, then wash out with mild shampoo.
• You could also massage your hair with warm coconut oil and apply the juice of two lemons. Steam your hair and leave the oil on for about 2 hours. Rinse with a mild shampoo, and repeat two to three times a week.
• Boil a handful of neem leaves in four teacups of water; after cooling and filtering, use to rinse hair.

Herbs for seborrheic dermatitis

• Use an infusion of chaparral or thyme as a hair rinse.
• Try taking dandelion, goldenseal, and red clover. However, you must take care not to take goldenseal on a daily basis for more than one week at a time, and do not use it during pregnancy. If you have a history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or glaucoma, use it only under doctor’s supervision.
• You can use white oak bark tea as a rinse against dandruff and hair loss.
• Hop root decoction is good for treating dandruff as well. You can make this by boiling 2 tbsp of hop roots to a pint of water. It is applied externally as a hair tonic.
• Black Indian hemp juice made from fresh leaves can aid dandruff treatment as well.
• Nettle water is an excellent wash used to clear irritated skin. Boiling the entire plant in a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar makes a good hair lotion. Combing the hair with expressed nettle juice is supposed to stimulate hair growth as well.
• You could also make a decoction of an ounce of dried burdock root to a pint and half of water, and boil this down to 1 pint. Take a wineglassful dose 3-4 times daily to wash scaly skin disorders. You must continue the use of this remedy over a relatively long time for it to be effective.
• An infusion of fresh rosemary, made with boiling water and allowed to cool until warm, makes a good final rinse to help clear the scalp. One ounce each of rosemary and sage, infused for 24 hours in a pint of water makes a pleasant hair tonic that works very well on dandruff. After infusion, strain the liquid and add a teaspoon of powdered borax.
• Try soaking 2 tablespoons fenugreek seeds in water overnight. In the morning, grind into a fine paste, then apply all over the scalp, and leave for half an hour. Wash with Shikakai or mild shampoo.

Some other herbs that can be used for dandruff treatment are agave, butternut, chamomile, cleavers, English elm, maidenhair fern, figwort, grapevine root, English ivy, olive, peach tree leaves, periwinkle, sage, sanicle, soap bark, yucca, English walnut, and willow.

Medical Treatment for Seborrheic Dermatitis

In mild cases of seborrheic dermatitis, a topical antifungal cream or medicated shampoo (such as ketoconazole, selenium sulfide, coal tar, and zinc pyrithione) may be enough to control symptoms.

In more severe cases, you may receive a prescription for a mild corticosteroid medication to calm the inflammation as well. 

In cases where corticosteroids are not appropriate, or when they have been used for a prolonged period, a non-corticosteroid topical medication calcineurin inhibitor (TCI) such as tacrolimus (Protopic) or pimecrolimus (Elidel) may be prescribed.

Oral antifungal agents may be used in very severe cases.