Flaky business

Simple dandruff or Pityriasis is a dry scalp problem that can, believe it or not, be controlled with a healthy diet, cleansing, and brushing. 50 million people in the U.S. alone have dandruff and $300 million is spent on products to control it. Some of these commercial dandruff products are harmful as they contain cola tar and selenium sulfide. This chemical has been shown to reduce the production of skin tissue, and has been linked to hair loss as it dries hair out, and causes nerve damage.

Seborrheic dandruff is a more severe condition that appears as dry, scaling flakes in the hair, eyebrows, and around ears, the nose and forehead. Very severe cases show a red, weeping, itching, burning scalp with unsightly crusts. Mimicking a dry skin condition, Seborrheic dandruff is actually too much oil being produced, clogging the highly active sebaceous glands. This condition appears when skin cells turn over at a faster rate than normal and break away in large flakes, into the hair.

Dandruff in general has been shown to be caused from a range of scalp imbalances like a lack of essential fatty acids, yeast overgrowth, and allergic reactions. A person who suffers should avoid sugar, fatty foods, and alcohol, and eat more leafy greens. Fried foods clog your body so wastes do not get eliminated properly. Sugar depletes your body of vitamins. Vegetable proteins will help keep metabolically active scalp cells working right. Foods high in vegetable protein are soy, nutritional yeast, wheat germ, fresh fruits and vegetables. To concentrate on ridding yourself of a dandruff problem add sulfur-rich foods like, lettuce (except iceberg), oats, red peppers, onions, cucumbers, eggs, fish, cabbage, and wheat germ. Cultured foods should be added as well. These are yogurt, miso, kefir, ghee, and tofu.

An easy treatment would be to add drops of tea tree oil, rosemary, cedar wood, Grapefruit seed extract, or burdock oils to your shampoo and use daily. This qualifies as a disinfecting dandruff treatment. For an oily scalp apply 1 cup of white vinegar to your scalp and leave on 15 min. before rinsing. The vinegar will keep sebum deposits from clogging pores. Another treatment for oil balancing is to mix the juice from fresh grated ginger with equal amounts of sesame oil, rub on the scalp at night, and rinse in the morning for one week. For a dry scalp mix 2 drops of vanilla extract with 2 Tbs. of mayonnaise, and massage into your scalp. Put on a shower cap, leave on for 20 min. then rinse. You can also apply a water-honey mixture to your scalp at night leave on all night and rinse in the morning. For an itchy scalp apply a ginger tea 3 times a week to your scalp. A leave in rinse is; make a hot thyme-rosemary-yarrow tea with 1 TB of each in 1 cup of water. Cool, strain and massage into your scalp.

Supplements to be considered are, Evening Primrose Oil, Omega-3’s, Vitamin E, Selenium, Zinc picolinate, B-complex, Niacin, chlorella, Hemp seed oil, and Biotin.

Consult with your local Naturopath for a specific dietary plan designed to help you with your health issues.

Angelyn Nienhuser has a doctorate in naturopathy and is a Mental Health Counselor. She can be contacted at 308-249-5520.