Herbal Treatments for Dandruff

Dandruff is seborrhea dermatitis and causes white flakes to form on the scalp. It is usually very itchy and causes redness.
Dandruff has also been linked to heredity, stress and climate, being worse in the winter months than the summer months.

Many people claim that diet and lack of certain nutritional components cause or make dandruff worse. Eating a lot of greasy or high fat foods, dairy products and chocolate could be the cause of your flaky scalp.

People who have a diet low in the B vitamin biotin are also known to have dandruff. Foods rich in biotin are soybeans, brewers yeast, sardines, egg yolks and mushrooms.

Other vitamins also play a role in scalp health, especially B1, B2, vitamin A, omega-6, selenium and zinc. Getting these nutrients as supplements or by choosing a whole food diet may alleviate your dandruff problems.

Some remedies that are worth trying include, tea tree oil, vitamin E oil, flaxseed oil, grapefruit seed extract, and apple cider vinegar. Grapefruit seed oil and tea tree oil can be added to your regular shampoo. Flaxseed and vitamin E oils can be put on the scalp at night and washed out in the morning. Apple cider vinegar can be mixed half and half with water and spritzed onto your hair and scalp. Cover your head with a towel and leave it on from 15 minutes to an hour. Wash your hair as normal. This can be done 2 times a week.

Herbal treatments for dandruff include burdock, comfrey, ginger, licorice, and plantain. Burdock root oil can be massaged into the scalp and seborrhea responds very well to this herbal treatment. Comfrey can be made into a tincture and a few drops added to your regular shampoo. Ginger was used by the Egyptians by mixing the juice of grated ginger root with sesame oil and some lemon juice. They would apply this to their scalp several times a week. Licorice contains glycyrrhizin, an ingredient that can slow the scalps production of oil. Steep a few handfuls of the dried herb in vinegar. Let it cool, drain the herbs and use it as a hair rinse after shampooing. Plantain can be made into a strong tea and also used as a rinse like licorice. You may want to switch between rinses and see which one works best for you.

You can also purchase commercial herbal shampoos if you don't want to deal with making your own. Look for products that contain selenium and any mixture of the ingredients listed above. The best place to buy these products is at health food stores. It is not proven if Herbal Essence shampoo contains enough herbs for it to be a good treatment for dandruff so this may not be your best choice.