I'm telling you guys, you have these problems because of deficiencies. Why not treat it at the source? You won't have to worry about keeping it under control, you'll know you are. I used the Blue before I realized what was wrong, and since correcting the issues, I can't remember the last time I did.
Best Shampoo for dry/itchy scalp?
- Thread starter Uncle Chewbacca
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This might be true for you, but not for others. My problem virtually solved itself by simply avoiding SLS and SLES, without changing my diet or supplements at all. So in my case, how is it possible that the problem was a nutrient deficiency? If that were the case, I should still have the problem, right?
By the way, most "dry scalp/dandruff" issues are really seborrhea, which is strongly associated with a superficial fungal infection of the scalp. Selsun Blue actually works by killing the fungus.
I'm not stating an opinion, it's body deficiencies that are at fault and allow these problems to (re)surface and overpopulate. Are you saying that SLS gave you a fungus? That doesn't make sense. I'm sure you are allergic to SLS in shampoos, and it tramatized your scalp.
Selsun Blue kills the first platoon of the fungus, but then it resurfaces later (speed depending on severity) because the problem lies within not just on the surface. Do you think it multiplies from just your outside skin? It stays in remission underneath the top skin layers and feeds on body sugars, ect until the habitat is to it's liking and resurfaces. I'm not saying you can't treat it with over the counter shampoos, but it's not going to kill all of it.
Please provide me with scientific evidence of this statement, if it is not an opinion.
No, but I'm suggesting that a reaction to the SLS provided an environment in which the fungus could thrive, by making my scalp inflamed and dry.
Agree completely. That's why Selsun Blue, tar shampoos, Head and Shoulders, and even prescription-strength anti-fungal shampoo (Nizoral) was never a solution to the problem. It just "temporized" it (i.e., provided temporary relief).
You still can't answer the question as to how switching shampoos could have solved my problem if my problem were actually caused by a nutritional deficiency.
kingfisher:
Please provide me with scientific evidence of this statement, if it is not an opinion.
KF, look it's common body chemistry, and I'm not motivated enough to surf the net just for scientific evidence when it's something that I can easily explain to you with what I know or you can look up if your so inclined and don't believe me (if you still don't understand, I'm not sure how else to explain it). Yeast/fungus feed off excess simple sugars and carbs. People with an overabundance of this problem is a direct result from having digestive problems, a weakened immune system, and a lack of nutrients/fatty acids to help combat the inside infection and keep it under control. Next the growing infection unbalances/disrupts the body's natural ability to digest what it needs to fight it off inside, and that's why it thrives and grows eating your sugars/carbs (look at the strict diets people go on when they have this). It eventually waits until the outside environment is unstable enough to surface (which you gave it), eventually it would happen by itself unless you rebalanced the system or kept the outside environment stable, but it would still be waiting unless you rebalanced the system inside.
kingfisher:
No, but I'm suggesting that a reaction to the SLS provided an environment in which the fungus could thrive, by making my scalp inflamed and dry.
How sure are you that you indeed had the fungus? Were you properly diagnosed? If you were, do you think the fungus just appeared solely because of the SLS? No, it couldn't have, and I think I already explained why it did. All you did was manually give it the outside environment it liked.
kingfisher:
You still can't answer the question as to how switching shampoos could have solved my problem if my problem were actually caused by a nutritional deficiency.
I thought I already did and how sure are you that you don't still have a problem, just because of how the skin surface looks? You took what it liked away and it eventually went into surface remission. Give it that again and it will likely come back. It's still an issue possibly (read last sentence first paragraph), just not a surface issue. Overgrowth can cause other problems like food allergies, and this goes back to my first paragraph once again.
Please provide me with scientific evidence of this statement, if it is not an opinion.
KF, look it's common body chemistry, and I'm not motivated enough to surf the net just for scientific evidence when it's something that I can easily explain to you with what I know or you can look up if your so inclined and don't believe me (if you still don't understand, I'm not sure how else to explain it). Yeast/fungus feed off excess simple sugars and carbs. People with an overabundance of this problem is a direct result from having digestive problems, a weakened immune system, and a lack of nutrients/fatty acids to help combat the inside infection and keep it under control. Next the growing infection unbalances/disrupts the body's natural ability to digest what it needs to fight it off inside, and that's why it thrives and grows eating your sugars/carbs (look at the strict diets people go on when they have this). It eventually waits until the outside environment is unstable enough to surface (which you gave it), eventually it would happen by itself unless you rebalanced the system or kept the outside environment stable, but it would still be waiting unless you rebalanced the system inside.
kingfisher:
No, but I'm suggesting that a reaction to the SLS provided an environment in which the fungus could thrive, by making my scalp inflamed and dry.
How sure are you that you indeed had the fungus? Were you properly diagnosed? If you were, do you think the fungus just appeared solely because of the SLS? No, it couldn't have, and I think I already explained why it did. All you did was manually give it the outside environment it liked.
kingfisher:
You still can't answer the question as to how switching shampoos could have solved my problem if my problem were actually caused by a nutritional deficiency.
I thought I already did and how sure are you that you don't still have a problem, just because of how the skin surface looks? You took what it liked away and it eventually went into surface remission. Give it that again and it will likely come back. It's still an issue possibly (read last sentence first paragraph), just not a surface issue. Overgrowth can cause other problems like food allergies, and this goes back to my first paragraph once again.
A hairdresser told me to take a couple of aspirin and crush them and add them to a dollop of shampoo and shampoo with it, rinse and shampoo again then use your favorite conditioner it helps change the PH of your scalp you can also try salt instead of aspirin the grittiness of either the salt or aspirin will help strip all old hair products off your hair and scalp also, I do it every few months myself
OK, resj, now I know exactly where you're coming from. Your post reads like something out the book "The Yeast Connection."
I don't believe a single word of that book. There's not a shred of evidence to back up anything in it. Generations have been misled by that book. It's a top-notch piece of quackery.
At this point, we're apparently going to have to agree to disagree. Nothing you can say would ever convince me that any of that garbage in The Yeast Connection is true. And if you believe that sort of thing, no amount of logic is going to convince you otherwise.
With that, I'm out of this particular conversation.
If others want to discuss dry scalp or shampoo bars, or the like, I'll be back in; otherwise, I'm done.
I don't believe a single word of that book. There's not a shred of evidence to back up anything in it. Generations have been misled by that book. It's a top-notch piece of quackery.
At this point, we're apparently going to have to agree to disagree. Nothing you can say would ever convince me that any of that garbage in The Yeast Connection is true. And if you believe that sort of thing, no amount of logic is going to convince you otherwise.
With that, I'm out of this particular conversation.
If others want to discuss dry scalp or shampoo bars, or the like, I'll be back in; otherwise, I'm done.
Wow kingfisher, where the hell did that assumption come from? You do not know where I'm coming from otherwise you'd understand what I wrote. You never even answered my questions, I love it... I have never even heard of that book until your post, don't care to read it, and don't appreciate being written off because you think I parade around tossing garbage from some healers book I've never even heard of (or whatever it is about). I took a lot of time trying to explain, as simple as I could, what I have learned over the years about infectious breeding grounds that relate to certain deficiencies, and I just get written off as some disciple of quackery because I don't have a lab coat on, graduating cylinders, and a 28 page analysis in .pdf format.
I've had an overgrowth infection on and off for a couples years now, not just an itchy/dry scalp, so I had a more severe case than you. Since then I've been heavily into bodybuilding and nutrition. I have picked the brain of a couple doctors, the kind that wouldn't just write it off as "it sometimes happens" and gives a temporary magic pill (been there). I learned much on the way by my own research about optimizing the body and defenses, and by talking back and forth to other nutritionists day by day and through seminars about their findings on such. I then put what I learned after all this to the test on myself, and I don't have any of these problems that plagued me before, none.
So write me off as whomever you like, because I'm done with this. Like you, there's always a couple people that can't come to grips to agree with anyone's knowledge unless they have a lab coat on and an analysis that would take half the day to read.
Edit: I agree though with one thing you said, this conversation is over.
I've had an overgrowth infection on and off for a couples years now, not just an itchy/dry scalp, so I had a more severe case than you. Since then I've been heavily into bodybuilding and nutrition. I have picked the brain of a couple doctors, the kind that wouldn't just write it off as "it sometimes happens" and gives a temporary magic pill (been there). I learned much on the way by my own research about optimizing the body and defenses, and by talking back and forth to other nutritionists day by day and through seminars about their findings on such. I then put what I learned after all this to the test on myself, and I don't have any of these problems that plagued me before, none.
So write me off as whomever you like, because I'm done with this. Like you, there's always a couple people that can't come to grips to agree with anyone's knowledge unless they have a lab coat on and an analysis that would take half the day to read.
Edit: I agree though with one thing you said, this conversation is over.
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resj
I apologize for my earlier post. I made an assumption that apparently wasn't true, and I should not have done that. I'm sorry. I'm not usually mean like that, and now I feel bad that I treated you that way.
For background purposes, I'm an infectious diseases physician who trained in Nashville, TN at Vanderbilt University. The guy that wrote the book I mentioned was from jackson, TN. Therefore, I had my fill of that stuff for a few years. Probably that's why I had the knee-jerk reaction to your post, a few phrases of which sounded eerily like the stuff all the Yeast Connection people used to throw around all the time.
Again, I'm sorry.
As far as the itchy/flaky scalp thing is concerned, I'm not really sure anybody knows whether the fungus (usually of the genus Malassezia) is causative, or just an epiphenomenon. Evidence for the former is that anti-fungal shampoos usually help to clear it up; evidence for the latter is that in some studies, there isn't more Malassezia in the affected areas versus unaffected areas; additionally, some people without seborrhea have the fungus on their skin. Perhaps it's the way a person's body REACTS to the presence of the fungus that causes the problem. Seborrhea tends to run in families, which would suggest that perhaps it's a host reaction issue, rather than a problem directly attributable to the fungus itself.
I hear what you're saying about superficial versus non-superficial. In this case, however, I believe that Malassezia species are generally restricted to the surfaces, at least in people who have normal immune systems. (Extremely ill premature babies sometimes get invasive infections with this fungus, but nobody else does.) I do believe that nutrition could have something to do with it; specifically, I know that people who are zinc deficient tend to have similar skin problems. Also, Omega-3s probably play a role, because adequate Omega-3 intake probably alters the viscosity of your sebum, and seborrhea often involves blockage of the sebaceous glands.
In answer to your questions: I believe I have been properly diagnosed, because I am good friends with one of the best dermatologists in our area, but I have not had any cultures done (and just FYI, cultures for the fungus are only done for research purposes at this point in time).
Anyway, again, please accept my apology for my presumptive and rude post. I was out of line.
If anybody is still interested in this discussion, I'm back in (and with a better attitude).
I apologize for my earlier post. I made an assumption that apparently wasn't true, and I should not have done that. I'm sorry. I'm not usually mean like that, and now I feel bad that I treated you that way.
For background purposes, I'm an infectious diseases physician who trained in Nashville, TN at Vanderbilt University. The guy that wrote the book I mentioned was from jackson, TN. Therefore, I had my fill of that stuff for a few years. Probably that's why I had the knee-jerk reaction to your post, a few phrases of which sounded eerily like the stuff all the Yeast Connection people used to throw around all the time.
Again, I'm sorry.
As far as the itchy/flaky scalp thing is concerned, I'm not really sure anybody knows whether the fungus (usually of the genus Malassezia) is causative, or just an epiphenomenon. Evidence for the former is that anti-fungal shampoos usually help to clear it up; evidence for the latter is that in some studies, there isn't more Malassezia in the affected areas versus unaffected areas; additionally, some people without seborrhea have the fungus on their skin. Perhaps it's the way a person's body REACTS to the presence of the fungus that causes the problem. Seborrhea tends to run in families, which would suggest that perhaps it's a host reaction issue, rather than a problem directly attributable to the fungus itself.
I hear what you're saying about superficial versus non-superficial. In this case, however, I believe that Malassezia species are generally restricted to the surfaces, at least in people who have normal immune systems. (Extremely ill premature babies sometimes get invasive infections with this fungus, but nobody else does.) I do believe that nutrition could have something to do with it; specifically, I know that people who are zinc deficient tend to have similar skin problems. Also, Omega-3s probably play a role, because adequate Omega-3 intake probably alters the viscosity of your sebum, and seborrhea often involves blockage of the sebaceous glands.
In answer to your questions: I believe I have been properly diagnosed, because I am good friends with one of the best dermatologists in our area, but I have not had any cultures done (and just FYI, cultures for the fungus are only done for research purposes at this point in time).
Anyway, again, please accept my apology for my presumptive and rude post. I was out of line.
If anybody is still interested in this discussion, I'm back in (and with a better attitude).
I suffered from a dry itchy scalp, and sometimes flaky. I tried every dry scalp/dandruff shampoo out there and nothing helped. Then I decided to try shampoo that does not contain the sodium sulfates and it hasn't itched a day since. Apparently some people, including myself are sensitive to this stuff.
It seems the cool thing to do on these forums is to enlist esoteric brands, even when a pretty generic and common question is asked.
Your general H&S scalp care shampoo will work.
If not, there's Aveda, which is what I've started using and settled for -- it's mild enough for daily use, and leaves the hair feeling cool, soft, and fragrant for almost an entire day, which is great for professionals.
I used to use Kerastase (L'oreal's salon brand) and was happy with it too. Just find Aveda smoother, cheaper, milder for my needs. And it's easier to shop Aveda from their own website.
Your general H&S scalp care shampoo will work.
If not, there's Aveda, which is what I've started using and settled for -- it's mild enough for daily use, and leaves the hair feeling cool, soft, and fragrant for almost an entire day, which is great for professionals.
I used to use Kerastase (L'oreal's salon brand) and was happy with it too. Just find Aveda smoother, cheaper, milder for my needs. And it's easier to shop Aveda from their own website.
I have the same problem, no dandruff, just dry scalp in the driest months of winter. Try picking up a baby shampoo that doesn't contain SLS. I believe Target has a few different ones, and I've used a brand called Jason from Whole Foods. Some of them smell a little fruity -- literally, but they are much gentler and don't dry my scalp out quite as bad. Also, I use T-Gel or a generic alternative tar shampoo once or twice a week if it gets really dry.
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