# Dandruff!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2001, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097 "2001-03-23T04:03:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2001, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/1 "2001-03-23T04:03:57Z")
This sucks! I don’t get dandruff! Other people get dandruff! Two questions: 1. What is causing this?! I bathe daily, I get plenty of sleep, I eat nutritiously. I am in good health. Why so I have dandruff all of a sudden? 2. What can I do to get rid of it? I know there are lots of shampoos for it in the U.S., but I am in Japan. I could go looking for one…but is there some sort of simple home remedy or something? Is washing with regular shampoo making it worse? If I don’t wash my hair for a week will it go away on its own? This is so disgusting! Help!! ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2001, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/2 "2001-03-23T04:12:34Z")
1. What is causing this? Who knows? Possibly a genetic susceptibility to colonization by Pityrosporum ovale. I bathe daily, I get plenty of sleep, I eat nutritiously. I am in good health. Good for you. Why so I have dandruff all of a sudden? Why shouldn’t you? Sleeping, eating, and being in good health have nothing to do with it. 1. What can I do to get rid of it? Use a shampoo that contains ketoconazole (sold as Nizoral in the U.S.). Here’s a reference: “Successful treatment and prophylaxis of scalp seborrhoeic dermatitis and dandruff with 2% ketoconazole shampoo: results of a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial” by Peter RU, Richarz-Barthauer U published in Br J Dermatol 1995 Mar;132(3):441-5 Abstract can be found at: [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list\_uids=7718463&dopt=Abstract](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7718463&dopt=Abstract) ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2001, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/3 "2001-03-23T04:20:02Z")
Why is the first response to all of my questions always from a smartass? A little more please, if you don’t mind, about “Pityrosporum ovale.” I am not familiar with the term. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/4 "2001-03-23T04:24:11Z")
Forget it…found a site with info on dandruff and what causes it. Going to look at the drug store…but I am not hopeful. Feel free to close this one up if you want. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2001, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/5 "2001-03-23T04:26:52Z")
is to attribute dandruff to a fungus similar to the one which causes tinea. So while OTC anti-dandruff shampoos will lessen the symptoms, only killing the fungus will get rid of it totally. Nizoral does work, but here at least is very expensive. There’s a new preparation which has recently been released here and requires a prescription, so if you have access to cheap health care, I’d suggest talking to a doctor rather than wasting money on expensive shampoos which will treat the symtoms but not the cause. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2001, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/6 "2001-03-23T08:10:05Z")
I have found that shampooing daily with Pert Plus keeps dandruff away. It only seems to occur when I neglect to shampoo my hair. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/7 "2001-03-23T16:08:52Z")
**Kyomara** , I just asked my SO about dandruff shampoos in Japan, and she recommended Merit, made by Lion. There are probably several other brands that are just as good, though. –sublight. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/8 "2001-03-26T01:46:47Z")
Thanks, Sublight. I actually felt kind of silly about freaking out and posting a thread when all I had to do was dip into the nearest yakkyokuya-san and ASK. What a crazy idea. I got some stuff from a company called Mochida, and it seems to be working so far. I tried to find the brand whose active ingredient most closely approximated “Nizoral” when I looked at the katakana and squinted my eyes a little bit. I think I found it… Smells kind of chemically and gross though. ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2001, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dandruff/59097/9 "2001-03-26T01:55:22Z")
Um, Kyomara, I think it’s fair to say that you owe Yeah a WHOPPING big apology. Looks to me as though you had your answer pretty quickly…