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Goodbye to dandruff
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Dandruff is a condition where the skin cells on the scalp are produced in excess, causing irritation and itching. Here are steps to help prevent it.
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COME winter or the cold, and the weather plays havoc with the scalp. Scalp skin becomes dry, chafed, scaly and itchy. Dandruff spores become resistant to products and they slowly infect hair area causing hair loss too.
What is dandruff?
Medically speaking, it is a condition where the skin cells on the scalp go into over drive and are produced in excess, which gives rise to irritation and itching. It might arise from an imbalance of your normal body function whereby the metabolism goes haywire. This comes in two different forms — dry and greasy.
Dry dandruff appears silvery and white while greasy flakes appear pale yellowish and may have an unpleasant smell.
What causes dandruff?
Many factors such as stress or a bad diet. A dry scalp may be due to a deficiency in protein in the diet and a greasy scalp, due to over production of sebum or oil producing flaking on the scalp. One usually develops dry dandruff in cold weather and greasy dandruff when it's warm.
Scalp help: The skin of your scalp is like a loaf of bread where the two top layers form a crust and flaky bits of skin break off just like crumbs.When most people see flakes on their scalp, they automatically assume it is dandruff, but it is not always so. Your problem is a dry undernourished scalp which is very easy to cure because of its process of natural cell exfoliation.
Here are a few ways of how you probably can prevent dandruff by first treating a dry scalp condition.
Hot oil therapy: Externally, a therapeutic hot oil massage helps to nourish dry skin follicle and stimulate production of sebum. Warm pure coconut oil or a scientifically formulated hair tonic and apply by parting rows of hair. Massage with palm and finger tips for 10 minutes. Steam by placing a hot water towel, then shampoo. Use a rich conditioning cream rinse to finish off. Use this treatment once a fortnight.
Egg-yoghurt pack: A mixture of egg yolk and sour yoghurt also nourishes hair strands and stimulates the oil balance of the scalp. Apply the mixture on the scalp for half-an-hour. Then rinse and shampoo.
For treating general symptoms like itching and flaking, try the following tips:
To the regular oil that you use, add two drops of Rosemary oil. Massage this into your scalp and leave overnight.
To one tablespoon of lemon juice, add a pinch of black pepper and massage this on your scalp before a shampoo.
There are some good, effective Ayurvedic anti-dandruff hair washes available in the market which relieve itching.
Try using a medicated anti-dandruff shampoo.
Facts and myths about dandruff
You can't get dandruff from using other people's combs and brushes. This is not a contagious condition. The problem lies within your system.
Using a shampoo frequently doesn't cause flaking of the scalp, but improper rinsing, or not washing off the shampoo completely does.
So, whenever you wash your hair, make sure you rinse well. Preferably use tap water, rather than ground water.
Dandruff is more likely to affect a person in his twenties.
What you could do
Salon products and treatments help to erase dandruff and the most popular ones are Tea Tree Oil, Juniper Oil and Rosemary. The DIY Kit, Dandramide has been found useful in treating dandruff.
www.livizi.com
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