Dandruff: causes, symptoms, types and ways of dealing with the problem

It comes into existence in the form of white or yellow flakes of epidermis and appears through skin itchiness. What are the causes, symptoms, types of dandruff? How to get rid of dandruff?

Causes of dandruff

The direct cause of dandruff appearance is the rapid growth of yeast-like fungi that disrupt the balance of scalp. The accumulation of fungi can be caused by:

• immune system deficiency,
• zinc deficiency,
• increased seborrhoea,
• insufficient, in terms of frequency, hair washing,
• dry scalp, especially in winter (wearing a cap, frequent use of a dryer, staying in air-conditioned rooms),
• allergies,
• diseases such as seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, eczema or atopic dermatitis,
• hormone disorders,
• following an unbalanced diet,
• excessive stress.

Symptoms of dandruff

Dandruff appears in the form of white or yellow flakes of epidermis that reside on hair and clothing. This ailment is often accompanied by pruritus and seborrhoea.

Types of dandruff

There are two types of dandruff:

• dry dandruff which appears through itchiness and excessive exfoliation of small, white, dry flakes of epidermis,
• sebum dandruff which has the form of yellowish and oily flakes. Sebum dandruff is considered as a severe type of dry dandruff and requires immediate dermatological intervention.

How to get rid of dandruff?

In order to remove dandruff, you must choose appropriate anti-dandruff shampoo and, if there is a need for that, you should change some of your habits. To clarify, in some cases dandruff sufferers have to resign from hair drying and scraping scalp with a comb. However, when dandruff is just a side effect of some disease, it should ease off itself after curing the disease. Moreover, changing eating habits might appear to be fairly useful. Therefore, it’s suggested consuming vitamin A and E as well as B-group vitamins. Apart from that, a dandruff sufferer should deliver calcium, magnesium, phosphor, potassium, iron and zinc to their organism. Another good idea is to give a try to scalp massage with the use of warm olive oil, coconut oil or hair mask made of thyme infusion.

Who is the most dandruff-prone?

There are a few groups of people that are prone to be affected by dandruff and these are: kids being between 6 and 10 years old, teenagers and twenty-year-olds. Moreover, dandruff is typical for men because of the male hormones which don’t only cause excessive sebum production (cause no. 1) but also are yeast fungus food (cause no. 2).