Ok I'm about to get REAL with y'all...we fam right?? Ok, so continuing on with my scalp issues *SIGH* I was in the mirror the other day and I was scratching my hairline in the front because it was itching ridiculously and these HUGE chunks of white, greasy stuff came falling down like a mug…I mean like HUGE, the largest flakes I’ve ever seen come out my head (and I’ve seen a lot). I was like WTH is this?? I couldn’t tell if it was product buildup, a combo of that and dandruff or what?! The flakes were super greasy, the itching didn’t subside, and the more I scratched the more it itched. I finally said to myself ‘Alright this isn’t my regular dandruff that I’m used to, it’s gotta be something different.’
At a W.I.N.K.K. event last year, one of the young ladies talked about Sebum - how we can get it confused with dandruff, how we needed it, what it was for, etc… of course I didn’t remember all details. I scoured the net looking for conditions that exhibited my symptoms and thanks to WebMD and Wikipedia, I believe I can diagnose myself with anything hahahaha…so that’s exactly what I did. I came up with Seborrheic Dermatitis.
Before I get into what that is, let’s take a look at Sebum and Dandruff, so we have an understanding of what they are and their differences.
Sebum is produced when hormones stimulate the sebaceous glands in the skin. The majority of sebaceous glands are located on your face and scalp. Sebum is secreted into hair follicles and functions as a lubricant for both hair and skin. The production of sebum helps to prevent hair and skin from becoming overly dry.
Most people shed a layer of skin per month and everyday we lose dead skin cells from our scalps. When more cells are lost than normal, they clump together forming the white or grey flakes AKA Dandruff. It occurs because too much sebum is being produced which leads to an increase in our natural skin replenishment cycle.
Now let’s look at Seborrheic Dermatitis.
It’s a common chronic skin inflammatory condition that affects the scalp, face and other sebum rich parts of the body. Seborrheic dermatitis is thought to be due to a combination of an overproduction of skin oil and irritation from a yeast called Malessizia. Malessizia produces substances that irritate and inflame the skin. Usually SD presents itself with scaly, flaky, itchy, red skin. SD flares can be caused by stress, fatigue, change in weather, oily skin, or infrequent shampoos or skin cleansing.
Alrighty now how did I come to the conclusion I may have SD? Well basically it was the fact that you can get it on your face and the fact it can be caused by change of season. My T-zone (between the brows and around the nose) in the fall/winter goes HAM. I mean I am CONSTANTLY putting cocoa butter or something on my face because it gets red and flaky every time I touch my face where it’s just a little scratch or whatever, so does my scalp. I don’t feel like I can scratch it enough in the wintertime. Now I do not think it’s severe as some pics I’ve seen, but I do think I may have a mild case of it.
Now what?
Whether it’s plain ol’ Dandruff or SD, it’s not something that’s gonna go away, so the best thing to do is to make it a part of your hair routine when it starts to rear its ugly head. Most of the sites I’ve looked at recommend getting a prescribed poo from a dermatologist, which should calm flares in about a week or so, then following up by only using medicated poos. There are also home remedies like the ACV and Lemon/Water treatments which can also work.
These others can help too
http://www.ayurvediccure.com/homeremedies_dandruff.htm
http://www.ayushveda.com/homeremedies/dandruff.htm
