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.