The Black Woman's Hair Enemy, Petrolatum and Mineral Oil

Depending on hair type and thickness, oiling an African-American scalp is one of the most beneficial ways to eliminate dandruff. Pityriasis capitis, the medical term for dandruff, is caused when old skin cells are pushed to the top of the scalp after new skin cells have formed. The old skin cells are the dandruff flakes one can visibly see in someone's hair. In just about every Chicago beauty supply store, there are hair conditioners and hair oils to protect African-American hair from dandruff to prevent a dry, itchy scalp. The only problem is that many of these hair oils and hair conditioners have mineral oil or petrolatum.

According to About.com, using jojoba oil and coconut oil would be a way to oil black hair and avoid mineral oil or petrolatum. However, there are coconut oil products, such as Softee, that advertise "Pure Coconut Oil" on the front of the product, but the ingredients include petrolatum and mineral oil. With Royal Crown's "African Jojoba Oil," the ingredients include petrolatum. These two name brands are a couple among many. Turn a hair conditioner container around the next time you're in a Chicago beauty supply store or retail store and read the ingredients. You'll see that there are more with mineral oil and petrolatum than those without them.

Some are skeptical about why petrolatum would be bad for black hair when it comes to eliminating dandruff, especially considering it does temporarily make hair shiny and eliminate an itchy scalp. Vaseline, which is a white petrolatum, is commonly used when perming black hair to avoid perm burns. However, what the hair oils and conditioners won't advertise is that petrolatum blocks hair follicles, which makes the scalp dry, dirty and blocks hair growth. Imagine having a wet body and trying to moisturize your skin with petroleum jelly, or petrolatum. The petrolatum just sits on the skin and doesn't rub in. The same thing happens with a dry scalp. It may hide dandruff temporarily, but the ingredients will eventually dry out and just sit on the scalp blocking hair follicles and more dandruff will top what's already on your scalp.

So besides hair oil, what should one do to eliminate dandruff?

Tip One: Get an oil treatment and let the leave-in hair oil sit on the head to air dry. Because of how brutal the cold Chicago weather can be on black hair, Chicago beauticians are used to customers coming in for oil treatments so this may be automatic while styling hair. Some beauty salon customers choose to get under a hair dryer, but hair dryers can also suck out moisture from the scalp. Ask your beautician what she'd recommend.

Tip Two: Use daily black hair oil products if needed, but take it easy on how much oil is being used. For someone who has thin hair, too much oil can create hair patches. For someone with thick hair, using too much oil may make the hair hard to comb.

Tip Three: Wash hair with anti-dandruff shampoo as needed or condition wash hair to avoid too many chemicals stripping hair of its natural oils.

Tip Four: Do not wash hair too often. African-American hair takes longer to acquire oily hair and if washed too much, it could dry the hair out. The average wait time to wash black hair is once every two weeks.