by
The Natural Haven
I have previously discussed seborrheic dermatitis which is also known as seborrheic eczema or scalp eczema in some detail and I would highly recommend some extra reading links here and here for those of you who want some extra detail. It remains a very popular topic as it can be difficult to tackle and can be very uncomfortable to live with. Here is a summary of what you need to know.
1. What is seborrheic dermatitis
The word itis refers to inflammation (pain, swelling, redness) and derma refers to skin therefore dermatitis is inflammation of the skin. Seborrheic refers to sebaceous glands that produce oil. Therefore putting it all together, seborrheic dermatitis is inflammation of areas of the skin that have many oil producing glands and rich in sebum (e.g scalp, face, upper back/chest).
2. What are the signs?
Inflammation – pain, swelling, redness- is a key indicator. Additionally for the scalp, scaling and flaking similar to dandruff but which may be greasy and yellow in colour.
3. What causes it?
It is not fully understood but a type of fungus Malassezia (yes the same one that causes dandruff) is thought to play a role. Now to be clear we ALL have Malassezia it is perfectly normal to have this fungus on skin, people with seborrheic dermatitis are NOT dirty. Those with seborrheic dermatitis appear to be very sensitive to this fungus and therefore develop the characteristic inflammation.
4. How to treat seborrheic dermatitis
Go to your doctor
It is really important to get diagnosed properly by a doctor if you think you have seborrheic dermatitis. This is because it has overlaps with other skin conditions such as psoriasis or even simple dandruff. Additionally steroid treatments or even pills may be necessary for some and this really requires a doctor’s monitoring.
Avoid natural oils
Oleic acid is a fatty acid(oil-like) which is found in almost all natural oils including coconut, shea butter, olive and castor oil. Oleic acid is the food that the fungus Malassezia loves. If you cannot part with your natural oil pick one with low oleic acid content e.g jojoba or castor oil and avoid placing the oil on the scalp.
Anti dandruff shampoos
These often really do work. They contain effective antifungal agents such as pyrithione zinc and ketoconazole. There are prescription strength shampoos available too if the over the counter stuff is not working for you.
Natural solutions
As seborrheic dermatitis has fungal involvement, the natural route involves an antifungal approach. The catch here is that many natural oils which contain oleic acid may also be antifungal in nature e.g neem and coconut oil. One study from scientists in Iran showed that henna extracted in water has some antifungal activity on Malassezia – the correct fungus to target. The only downside is that the henna was left for around 3 days at a time. This is typically not the norm for most henna users but it is not to say that it cannot work within a shorter time period as this was not tested (JJmicrobiol, p125, 2010). A separate study showed that a raw honey /water solution left on hair for 3 hours daily could stop itching and flaking in 1-2 weeks (Eur J Med Res 2001, pg 306-308,2001).
Lifestyle factors
Many people with seborrheic dermatitis report flare ups when stressed (including depression) or when unwell. Working with your doctor is important as some medication can also be a trigger.
Ladies, do any of you struggle with seborrheic dermatitis? How do you cope?
Additional References for this article
1. Current Science, pp1336-1345, 2002
2. J Investig Dermatol Symp Proc, pp 15–19, 2007
3. J Investig Dermatol Symp Proc ,pp194–7, 2005
4. Science ,pp304–307, 2004
5. JEADV, pp 16-26, 2014
6. Annales de Dermatologie et de Vénéréologie, pp 833-837, 2007
26 Responses
I learned the hard way to stay away from oils. So what the hell do us natural girls do to keep our hair moisturized without sealing with oil? I was sealing with oil and my wash and goes were beautiful but the hair that hung down on my face, neck and ears. Thats when my Sebbhoreic dermatitis started to attack my face and ears. I was peeling out scabs and crusts from inside and behind my ears OMG it was horrible. The sebbhoreic dermatitis attacked my face because the oils i was using was using to seal my ends touched my face. Im able to control my scalp with apple cider vinegar but acv isnt working on my face. Maybe because my pores on my face and ears are closed and need to be open. Not sure
I’ve had seborrheic dermatitis for 7 years and at first it was really rough. The symptoms I had at first were that my hair would shed like crazy if I didn’t wash it every 4 days and it would stink as well. I didn’t have any flakes at that point. The medicated shampoos didn’t really help because I still had to wash my hair every 4 days and they dried my hair out like crazy. I did some research and found out that garlic shampoo could help the problem. So, I started using Queen Helene Garlic shampoo and it worked wonders! My hair stopped shedding! I just washed my hair once a week with the garlic shampoo and I was fine. If I was busy I could go longer without washing my hair and I wouldn’t experience shedding. I also used castor oil on my scalp to help thicken my hair because all the shedding I experienced before I discovered garlic shampoo left my hair pretty thin. Sadly, the garlic shampoo stopped working after maybe a year and a half so I switched to taking garlic tablets (they were odourless and tasteless :D). That did the trick. However, I started to experience flaking about a year and a half ago. The flakes tend to stick to my scalp and don’t come off even after I shampoo my hair. My dermatologist prescribed an ointment that helps to loosen the flakes before I wash my hair but I have to apply it 3 nights for the week and then wash my hair. That’s a little time consuming so I’m trying to find a natural solution for the flakes. Hopefully I find something that really works. For everyone who’s suffering from dermatitis…don’t give up! Find natural cures. They work best!
First time posting. I wanted to help anyone who needs it. I have battled this for 1 year and my hair was thinning and breaking from this. It was bad. I tried EVERYTHING from selsun blue, then, head and shoulders, Jason organics, to expensive medicated fungus shampoos. I even tried natural essential oils and nearly every and any kind. I mean I tried Braggs apple cider….I searched online you say it I DID IT! TILL FINALLY…I FOUND OUT WHAT HELPED ME! It’s a bit crazy to say but if you need the help here you go. I bought Taliah Waajid protective mist bodifier added 99.8 aloe vera juice (1/3 cup), 5 pieces of fresh rosemary leaves, 3 drops of oregano oil, 2 drops of tea tree oil, 2 drops of peppermint oil, ONLY 1 drop of neem oil, 2 drops of rosemary oil. I applied to scalp every other day and style as desired and kept bottle in fridge. When the bottle was half way empty I added the above ingredients again. I don’t have to wash my hair any more and haven’t had a flake in over 2 month plus my hair is growing! I just want to say that I tried this with leaving some things out and adding others and it didn’t work. Don’t over due it by adding too much ingredients or saturating your scalp because it seems like a sensitive balance! It was ONLY these ingredients. Despite vitamins and supplement, etc.This did the trick for me. Note I realize all of this is expensive but It was worth if for me! Good luck God bless!
What do you mean you no longer wash your hair? how do you handle product buildup?
Hello.
I’m a young guy notice I’m losing my hait in the front of my hairline/back of my head also. I got flaking, red scalp, n wanted to know the best method to fix this problem
I had this same exact problem! All I had to do was put coconut oil. It works this made my hair grow from little hair to bra length. Coconut oil is also good for dry skin, nails and eczema.
Hi guys,
After
having acne (12 years), seb derm (5 years), oily skin (don’t know since when),
dry skin (occasionally) I finally cured them all 100%. How? By not doing
ANYTHING. And by learning not to care. At all. Seriously. While the healing of
all these did not occur overnight, one thing changed immediately – I was
feeling a free happy man after I stopped giving a rat’s ass about such
superficial problems; after I stopped looking myself in the mirror 5 times a
day; after I started living without caring if I have a pimple if my face was
peeling, if it felt oily or dry, or if it was hurting from a zyst, or however
they call them big ones.
When did
the healing happen? I have no idea. I just stopped paying attention to myself in
the mirror so much. It went down pretty much like this – I was having a rough
week in terms of everything – the result my face flamed with seb derm around my
nose and all over my cheeks (I’ve never been so bad, usually it was just on the
T-zone). It was itchy it was nasty – it was what AAAALLL the dermatologists
called seb derm, or seborrhea (or even they don’t know what exactly it is).
Anyway on top of that I had it on top of that – on my scalp too. But I managed
to top even that – I had acne zysts on my chin. It was bad. The worst I’ve ever
had for the last altogether 12 years. What did I do? One thing. I decided – OK.
I’ve been to enough dermatologists (more than 10 during the years), I have
tried enough medcs (can’t count them), I have tried enough diets (ANYTHING that
was on the Internet I tried), so maybe it’s time I stopped caring? Stop
stressing about these superficial problems? Hell, if I got diagnosed with
something serious tomorrow, G-d forbid, what kind of man would that make me,
the one who sweats over a pimple or red skin?! And I have read enough
psychiatrists’ books saying it was the case with many cancer-stricken people,
to say this a short while after being diagnosed – “cancer brought me back
to life – I just stopped caring about meaningless stuff, and started living
about the meaningful.” So that day, that awful skin and everything else
day I carved it as my principle “It is key to one’s well-being to draw the
line between the meaningful and the meaningless and live by it.” Is it
meaningful that I pay attention to such trivial, superficial problems such as
acne seb derm, oily skin?! Hell, no. So I stopped paying attention. It was
tough. In the first few days my face was both itching and hurting from the seb
derm and acne. But I noticed the less I care and pay attention, the less it was
hurting and itching. This tendency kept on for the next days.
A week
later my mother asked me – “What did you do? These creams you are using
seem to really help. You have nothing.” I didn’t even know. I looked myself
in the mirror – nothing. My face was clean. Literally. No acne, no seb derm. Of
course I still had my small acne marks.
Now. Truth
be told. Occasionally I still feel my face itch and hurt a little. (Today it’s
6 months after I stopped caring) But A) I still don’t care about it B) it’s
normal – one does not heal their mind that quick after 12 years of paying too
much attention to such bullshit and C) It’s just itching and hurting
occasionally – when I look myself in the mirror I have nothing.
Main point
– after stopped caring I started feeling great about myself.
The reason
why I am writing all this is that I wish it could help somebody.
On an
unrelated note a couple of months ago I got fungi on my penile head. I’ve had
that a lot too over the years. Use condoms, people! Unless it’s the one you
want to have kids with. This time – same drill. No doctors, no meds. I said to
myself if it doesn’t heal in a week I will just put on one of the many creams I
was prescribed with before. It was itchy and spreading, even more on the second
day, a lot more on the third. Still I did not pay attention. On the forth –
less itching. On the fifth – nothing. All clear.
I will
leave my email address in case people have questions or are looking for advices
for how to stop caring. Not that I am an authority in anything – I am just
sharing my story here. One thing I will not do however – indulge into any
arguments. I won’t. And I don’t care if you believe or not, so I will not
bother with any such emails too. Here is the email – thesecretofnotcaring at
gmail dot com (it’s lame, I know, but “dontcare” was taken and so were most of
its derivatives. So many “non-carers”! Wohoo!)
Have a
great day!
I had this problem my whole life. I never knew what it was until I was 19 thanks to hair stylist at the time. I’ve always had terrible really dark dandruff and patches until I went natural. When I used to get my hair pressed and stuff my hair would stay dirty ALL of the time! I could never understand why people thought that greasing your scalp was the answer. Oils/grease just sits on my scalp. Every time it felt like. I’m just now getting to a point where castor oil and tea tree oil works only oiling my scalp from time to time. I must avoid box braids, cornrows, weaves and all of those kinds of styles, because it irritates my scalp. Shea butter is a no for me as well. Most naturalistas don’t wash their hair weekly but with my condition it’s the only thing that works. ACV rinses are my best friends and so is shampoo and deep conditioner. It’s true do what works for you. My regimineworks for me.
I use Argan oil to seal my hair and try not to directly put any oills on my scalp this works for me and I stay very Very Very far from shea butter it makes my scalp go insane.
Using those oils like coconut, olive oil, or and other will help for a while but slowly feed the yeast which will cause your break out to worse in the end and make it harder to treat. That came from my doctor and when she said it I was like thats exactly whats been happening.
Ive had SD since a child and Ive of course used it all.
Being that I am a type 3B curly girl with naturally dry thick course hair those shampoos make my hair so difficult to deal with Until I found my current hair routine. I have a healthy scalp with little itch and moisturizer hair.
Wash – AVC and Aloe vera juice George’s brand it doesn’t have to be refrigerated and I add some of my prescription shampoo Ovara.
Next I use Wen the Fig scent Yes Wen it works wonders I wet my hair and detangle before my was and the Wen makes my scalp tingle and it feels rather calming. I also use Wen 6,13 for deep treatments works great too. I tried the wen styling products but their not heavy enough for my course hair.
Styling- Ouidad Climate Control gel a 16 ounce bottle will last me 8months and thats on my “4 heads of hair” my mother and every stylist that has done my hair calls my hair. Also use Curls Blueberry jelly I only buy on super sale.
Refresh with water yes water and scrunch a little Blueberry jelly and oil in and I’m good to go. Qvc has a great sale on Wen in June I encourage those to try it.
I have been diagnosed with this condition by a trichologist. The build up of oils was so bad it clogged the pores and caused severe hair loss. She recommended Softsheen Carlson Dandruff Control which worked wonders! I loved it! Now that is off the market 🙁 . I can’t believe they stopped catering to people with this issue. I started using WOW castor oil made in Jamaica which is somehow different from the popular ones sold online. That was fantastic at moisturizing AND keeping scalp problem free. Now that is off the market too. I have tried several other brands of castor oil and they don’t stop the itching. I actually get sebum build up…chunks of yellow build up. I neeeed a moisturizer for my hair. it has started breaking again. I have tried coconut oil, rosemary oil, sesame oil, castor oil (WOW brand worked but is now off the market). I use neem tea rinse which helps alot but I can’t find a moisturizer that doesn’t affect my scalp and my hair is breaking bc of dryness now. help!
I use ACV diluted w/ water. Spray then Massage into scalp. rinse out after 15 minutes. Then wash w/ your normal dandruff shampoo. The ACV kills the fungus that causes seborroheic dermatitis & dandruff.
I was washing my hair every three days with Nizoral and for the first time since I can remember, my scalp was clear. I went about a week without it and now Nizoral doesn’t work. I have no idea what to do as I have tried most everything out there. I do not have health insurance so going to a doctor is out of the question. I have no idea what else to do. I leave flakes everywhere I go.
Hi Kaitlin, I know that they say natural oils are bad, but I use them
anyway. I use a hot oil treatment on my scalp that I made up, before I
wash my hair. It kept my hair flake free for almost a month, but after a
little while the itching slowly came back before the flakes.
1. 1 cup of distilled water
2. 1 cup of aloe vera gel
3. 2-3 scoops of coconut oil
4. 1-2 tsp. of pure honey
5. 10-15 drops of pure tea tree oil
6. 15-20 drops of pure peppermint oil
7. warm it up to melt the coconut oil/aloe vera
8. finally mix all of it together
9. then put it into a color applicator bottle, the one with the skinny tip one it so the oil can easily get to your scalp
10. part your hair and put it all over your head,
11. now do a 5-10 minute scalp massage, and put a plastic cap over your head, then a towel or a winter hat12. let it sit on your scalp anywhere from 30 mins. to 2 hours, then wash your hair like normal
Hi! Organic Root Stimulator shampoo worked ok for me for a while, but now I have been using Keracare Anti-Dandruff Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner and this has made a HUGE difference! (I wash every 2 weeks). My scalp is calmer and clear. Hope it helps!
I have dealt with this all my life and there is one thing that worked for me as a child. It is called Cuticura medicated ointment. It used to be available in small, local drugstores and apothecaries. I recently found their website and found that I can order it from drugstore.com. I shampoo, deep condition my hair, then grease my scalp with the ointment. It will tingle and you don’t need to put too much. If you use it, you will probably need to shampoo your hair once a week. That’s what I do. One tube usually lasts me quite a while. Good Luck Ladies!
I should also change my diet. I’ve always had a pretty terrible diet (lots of sweets and not enough fruits and vegetables). My scalp health may be another one of the many things I could improve my making more nutritious healthy choices.
I diagnosed myself with this condition a few months ago, though from what my mother has described, I’ve had it for my whole life. I haven’t tried any drugstore/prescription remedies because I wanted to try something natural first. I use DEAD SEA SALT (not regular sea salt). I bought 10lbs of it from an online retailer. After I shampoo/condition/deep condition, I take some dead sea salt (just a little) in an applicator bottle with some warm water and basically rinse my scalp with it and rub it in a little before I rinse. I definitely notice a difference. I still get small patches here and there but it’s way better than it was before.
Not sure if it helps to leave in the salt (cause I feel like it may be drying) but what I’ve been doing so far has been helping and without having to buy special shampoos.
(Also, I remember my mom used to use Sulfur 8 grease on my hair when I was younger. She would mix it with a “normal” better smelling grease. I believe it made a difference).
3 WORDS – CLOBETASOL PROPIONATE FOAM!
I am somebody who has not just flaky but kind of a scaly scalp situation PLUS so much itchines after like 1 or 2 days after washing.
I have tried EVERYTHING and nothing worked. my doctor prescribed clobetasol propionate foam to me and it was like my whole life changed. I can truly go weeks w/ out washing my hair without itchiness & flaking.
**word to the wise , when you apply to your scalp there is like 2 seconds of a tingling burn but just rub it into your scalp & you’ll be fine**
OMG!! When I was first diagnosed 12 years ago a dermatologist prescribed me this foam. I moved from IL and totally forgot what the name of it was. I have been searching FOREVER for some relief! You have saved your life by telling me the name of this foam. Nothing I have tried has soothed my burning flaking or itching like it. Eternal peace, love & light my sista!
I’ve been battling with SD for a while now and I find that what has been helping is once a week using Bentonite clay with ACV as a prepoo deep conditioner and then Trader Joe’s tea tree tingle shampoo and conditioner or SheaMoisture’s African Black Soap and Conditioner. To keep my hair from being stripped if it’s feeling extra dry I detangle/prepoo with coconut oil before using the clay mix. I know that because these items are used to clarify I make sure to deep condition weekly to make sure my hair stays moisturized. Also I am very conscious about my scratching and touch of my scalp especially in the areas I break out most. I know thats easier said than done but I find that touching and scratching not only creates more flakes but spreads the irritation as well as removing hair. I do want to try the henna because a previous article post about last week mentioned that it could help with the fungus as well as with hair growth. I’m trying to grow out some areas that broke off from excessive damage.
Great article! This is exactly what my dermatologist told me! I massage coconut oil on my scalp a few times a week during flare ups and it helps (a little). I also wash weekly like Zoopath…I’ve been on the Clear Scalp for Men anti-dandruff shampoo for a few months now and it so far it seems to work as a anti-dandruff shampoo that’s non-drying. I use the men’s version because it’s a shampoo and conditioner in one (which is probably why it’s less drying).
My dermatologist also prescribed a steroid that I can rub on the problem areas if the flare up gets too bad. I’m out of it right now, and can’t remember the name though lol sorry!
Thanks for posting!
I have this condition. I control it with washing with prescription shampoo, Sulfur 8 shampoo, and Sulfur 8 grease. The grease helps calm my scalp down when it flares up in like 15 minutes and I can wear my hairstyles longer than a few days. By alternating between these methods, my life isn’t controlled by this medical condition. I am also thinking about doing a juice cleans to see if detoxing my body can help. If it doesn’t work at least I will be healthier. I am hopeful it will work.
I have struggling with SD/persistent itchy/oily dandruff for about 15 years now. I have tried prescriptions, over-the-counter remedies and natural remedies–all to no avail. I haven’t given up on finding a solution though.
Have you tried dead sea salt?
articles like this are what keep me coming back to this website. I have psoriasis and while it never completely disappears the tips on natural products and other suggestions have helped me control the symptoms and feel less embarrassed about it. Good job, BGLH xx
I have SD and its a balancing act to control it without drying my hair out. I have to wash my hair weekly or it flares up. I prepoo my scalp with raw manuka honey and I use an oil free/or very low oil shampoo. I never cowash. I tried the raw honey out of desperation because my prescription steroid was becoming ineffective.