dry scalp, help!

i have a shaved head, almost, really short. i also have dry scalp. white flakes going all over the place. i’ve had this for a while. i tried baking soda mixed with light conditioner. works a little bit, but not good enough. i don’t use any shampoo anymore. only the conditioner and baking soda thing twice a week. i protect my head from sun very well.

what can i do to remedy this? some sort of oil, baby oil maybe? some sort of wax? my scalp just sucks. i haven’t seen a dermatologist yet, but maybe soon.

by the way, the flakes are really really dry, not gooey like psoriasis or some weird disease. but i have to admit this, even though i really don’t want to, my head smells sometimes… only up really close though. never smelled it myself obviously, but it’s supposed to be bad, but only up close, thank god.

help.

try Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo and/or conditioner. Available at most drug stores. Good luck!

i might give that a try. however, most, heck, all dandruff and dry scalp shampoos i’ve tried made things worse… in other words, they served their intended purpose. :rolleyes:

by the way, what specifically makes T-Gel different that you would recommend it and not something else? what ingredient? what absense of ingredient?

I also swear by Neutrogena T-gel. It was a discovery that I was really honestly delighted with. There is something like pine tar or something surprising like that in it that does. . . something (I think the “T” is for “tar”. . .). When I shampoo with it any chapping and eczema on my hands also clears up.

IANAD but you may have [ph]SEB-or-E-ic[/ph] dermatitis. If I understand the condition correctly, your skin is actually not dry at all. The excess oils in the skin collect and “flake” off looking like dry skin. That’s the reason the drying shampoos make the condition worse–they are adding more oil to an already oily condition.

Try Nizoral. It’s an OTC shampoo that works wonders.

If that doesn’t work, may I suggest you see a dermatologist. There’s a ton of prescription remedies out there. Surely one will help!

Gotta go with the T-gel shampoo and conditioner.

The shampoo has coal tar as it’s effective ingredient while the conditioner has salicylic acid which reduces itching and discomfort.

It’s great stuff.

This may be a fluke, who knows, but it worked for me.
Since very young childhood I have had scalp problems, and over the years it’s varied in intensity, but it was always mostly concentrated in one area in the back of my head. In this area it was very thick and slightly oily, and would not flake off too much if scratched but could be picked or peeled off in small clumps. If it was anywhere else (which it sometimes was) it was dry and flaky. I am quite sure that what I had in that one patch was seborrhea (aka seborrheic dermatitis), and it was dandruff everywhere else.
I remember using T-Gel when I was young and it helped the dandruff part, but mostly Denorex which seemed to do some good on both for a few days at a time. I never had much success in totally getting rid of it for any length of time until the past year or so–I’ve been using Head & Shoulders, but not the kind in the white bottle, it’s in a dark blue bottle and it’s called something like Intense Treatment, or something. My grandmother told me it makes your hair come out, but she’s all kinds of superstitious, and anyway I haven’t noticed it coming out any more than normal. I also haven’t had the patch on the back of my head at all ever since about a month or two after I started using it. I probably don’t need to anymore, but I still use it every time I shower just because I’m used to it, and why risk it coming back. Sometimes my head starts to get itchy when I have neglected to take a shower for two or three days (hey, I don’t stink, alright?), but never on the old patch.
Anyway, try something, but not Denorex. It’s expensive, AND it doesn’t work.

thanks!

i see i will have to do some trial and error. i think i’ll start with (eeny meeny miny mo) T-Gel. i have a weird feeling i tried this shampoo years ago though…

i did some research and one site said use aloe vera gel, which can be as effective as mild cortisone cream, supposedly. i tried it last night, but i think to begin this T&E process i need to stick to one product at a time.

thanks again. anyone else?

I have a mild case of psoriasis (although my flakes aren’t gooey, I’m not sure what you meant by that) and I have both T-gel and Head and Shoulders Dry Scalp formula. I never use the T-gel. It smells really bad and it never worked as well for me as the H&S.

YMWV.

My doctor told me to use plain OTC dandruff shampoo, but leave it on for 3-4 minutes before rinsing it off. It takes that long for the medication to have any effect.