A Breakthrough: Fighting Dandruff with all My Might

In this article I discus what I did that got my dandruff under control. In another article I will give a detailed instructional article for getting rid out dandruff without experiencing the (MANY pitfalls, mistakes, letdowns, &) side effects I did. 

No wonder my hair was having trouble growing with a thin embedded layer of hair stifling dandruff...

My mom found this article on Earth Clinic (shout out to Mrs. B! who told my mom about the site) about natural dandruff cures and aside from clearing my scalp of dandruff ( no small feat!) it vindicated many of the things that I have learned the hard way throughout my seven year battle with dandruff. This Spring my hair had gradually thinned out in various spots with three larger areas of hair loss. I didn't notice this at first but as the months continued it became more apparent to me. Along with this I was dealing with mild dandruff which become worse. Within the last month my face began to peal and lighten in color where it had pealed around my noise. 

If I rubbed the skin that was pealing off it would become red and irritated looking (not show above). This sadly had happened to me before, however, I didn't put  raw( it makes a difference) ACV(apple cider vinegar) on my face to stop the pealing like I did last time this happen. This time though the skin pealing was worse and larger. If I put oil on at night (after rubbing off the pealing skin) the next day it would become stiff like a scab and whenever I spoke or opened my mouth I felt it. I had no idea what this was or why parts of my scalp were also discolored. 

When the dandruff was on my scalp or face it would appear to be the color of my skin. Under the very embedded dandruff my skin was noticeably lighter. 

The first day when I did the treatment dandruff

The dandruff treatment is very simple:

1.  I put " Raw Apple Cider Vinegar(ACV) and Hydrogen Peroxide: Dilute them by 1:10: 1 part ACV, 1 part Hydrogen Peroxide with 10 parts water" like the article said...  I recommend using Hydrogen Peroxide this the first time only than reaplying ACV alone to the scalp which works just as well. I used the mixture recommended in article about three times leaving it in for two hours each time and it bleached my hair. the color difference isn't striking but the dryness of my hair IS. 

2. Let this site in your scalp for one to two hours. This is just enough time for the mixture to get into the scalp and not enough time for your scalp to dry out.

3.  Rinse than scratch or scratch then rinse.  Which ever sounds best to you. I scratched, brushed, than rinsed.  If you have curly hair not try to rinse out large amounts of dandruff. Its not wise. It will all get intertwined in your hair and it is all but impossible to get ( sizable amounts of) dandruff out by just washing or rinsing.  So save your self a couple of hours of your life and BRUSH that dandruff out first.

4. Wash. DO NOT USE NORMAL SHAMPOO! I have found that most normal shampoos cause me to have more dandruff. The article in earth clinic also noted that, "For some reason, I[the writer of the article] found using shampoo as the cause of dandruff. " and 'Avoid absolutely the use of all shampoos. Use only a very mild soap to shampoo your hair. Salts in shampoos contributes to dandruff - which again causes scalp dehydration." FYI Dr. Bronners soaps( or any castle soap, or soap with FIVE ingredients or less) are your friend. I used  Dr. Bronners tee tree soap. Did I say i love Dr. Bronners? It has never caused me a problems.  Another shampoo I recommend if you are using hydrogen peroxide is the Aubrey Organics Swimmers Shampoo which is a great (sulfate free!) ph balancing shampoo.

5. Quickly put a little moisturizer on your hair so that your can put the oils on your scalp while your scalp is wettest. 

6. The article says that applying "aloe vera oil and tea tree oil apply to scalp" is helpful. So right after washing and throwing some leaving in the scalp I put aloe vera gel (only aloe gel! no fishy ingredients...), coconut oil, and tee tree oil on my scalp. I used aloe gel and coconut oil instead of aloe vera oil because I could not find it at my health food store. 

7. Moisturize and seal hair. 

I did this for 4 times with two to three days inbetween. 

the only ways that I deviated from the in article are that I did not use aloe vera oil, the first time I did the scalp treatment I put straight tee tree oil on, and the last time I did the treatment I used straight ACV (which I recommend doing).

My experience with this dandruff treatment

The first time this a good amount of dandruff came out here is a picture from the first time:

After I scratched out all the dandruff I put straight 100% tee tree oil on my scalp because I did not have aloe vera oil to mixe with it (at that point I did not know to mix aloe vera gel with coconut oil). Yes, it did burn... 

The two days my scalp felt stiff and tight. Which stands to reason.   

( Graphic pictures ahead)

 

Two days after I did the ACV hydrogen peroxide treatment again that I have detailed above with addition of putting the aloe vera gel + coconut oil + tee tree oil mixture(which did not burn). I put the mixture on after scratching out the dandruff and washing my hair . Me and my mom theorize that the use of straight tee tree oil triggered my scalp to make this thin layer of VERY embedded dandruff all over. I would fully agree with this, however many times before I have felt the same way my scalp felt with all "this" in my scalp. 

After that I did the treatment two more times with a day or two inbetween. The last two times There was little to no dandruff. The point of doing it more times was to totally kill and fungus...

On memorial day I was wearing a variation of my curly afro ( more about that later) and looking into the car window I saw that my hair had become lighter.

I don't have two got before and after shots but just know that my hair was back and now its is a brownish black. 

So yes this treatment did get rid of my dandruff which is AMAZING! my hair can now grow back normally and the places were I have hair loss are growing back. My hair has been bleached and is very dry. My hair cuticle has been blown open. I am going to start using hair products to close my cuticle and maintain moisture. 

After Math 

My hair was so dry! I would deep condition it for hours, moisturize it, and put in twists. The next day my hair felt like I had never moisturized it in my life! frantic and contemplating cutting my hair (it was that bad). I told my hair dresser about what I used to treat my dandruff and how my hair had become very dry and brittle. She told me that the hydrogen peroxide had taken the ph of my hair to high and that I needed to use an acidifying hair care line to bring my hair down and close the hair cuticle (suddenly I understood that ph was very important). She recommended the Redken Smooth Down Line. I bought the Conditioner and the butter treat deep condition treatment which can be left in ( I used it as a leave-in). However, I did not get the Redken shampoo! I am never going near another shampoo with sulfates! ever! Instead I used the sulfate free Aubrey Organics Swimmers Shampoo. These products worked wonderfully. My hair is almost back to normal.  

Word to the Wise

don't use Hydrogen Peroxide unless you have already used undiluted ACV and not gotten the results you want. I am sure that ACV  alone will kill the fungus. 

Over all

 The dandruff appeared to be gone. After a week or similar symptoms started to appear. This is a great on or two time treatment but if you have it as bad as me you neww somthing more,  The search continues. 

For more Ideas than were mentioned in this article visit the main reference:

Click here to read the amazing article I quoted throughout this post!

p.s. I know, this has typos. Will edit more later...