Hey guys dandruff affects about 50% of us and it can really knock your self-confidence. You usually
have an itchy scalp or you might have some skin flakes so in this week's video we're going to be
learning about how to treat dandruff? we're going to be learning about symptoms? and we're going to
be learning about other conditions that it could potentially be and when to seek medical attention
so first let's begin with some lifestyle tips that can really help with dandruff and then we'll move
on to the treatments i thought i'd do it in this order because obviously you're gonna be able to
do these straight away whereas treatments you'll probably have to go to a chemist and purchase them
so moving on to tip number one are you shampooing enough and what i mean by that is are you really
getting into the scalp and are you creating foam and leaving it in there for it to work the reason
i'm saying this is if you have an oily scalp or if you use any hair products in your hair
you really need to lather up the shampoo and also get that foam going and get it into the scalp
really so it can work and it can break down those oils and get them out of your hair and scalp by
doing this properly you should start to see some good results with the dandruff and whilst we're on
the topic of hair gel and hair sprays and things like that sometimes using fewer of these products
can really help with dandruff as well so you could potentially try using less or switching brands or
not using it at all if you are going to be using hairspray or hair gel or any sort of hair products
please try and use alcohol-free ones as these can also help with dandruff and whilst we're on the
topic of using different products another product that you could potentially use is a different
shampoo for example baby shampoo is probably the most mild shampoo that you can get and it's
far less likely to irritate the scalp and dry the scalp also you could potentially invest in a good
scalp moisturizer this is again going to help with that dry scalp and it might help with the
symptoms of dandruff as well okay so moving on to tip number two the next thing that i want to
talk to you about is stress and anxiety yes stress and anxiety can make dandruff worse you may have
noticed it you may have noticed it when you've got exams or you've got deadlines your damage becomes
worse it becomes far more itchy and it's known that these can make dandruff worse so you need
to learn and develop some techniques to relax to reduce your stress to reduce your anxiety
and the good news is i have quite a few videos on this topic already which i will leave links to up
here and in the description below so feel free to check it out if you want some help with it moving
on to tip number three you may have noticed that during the winter your dandruff might get worse
and the reason for this is that cold weather can make dandruff worse the science behind it is that
cold scalp you get less blood supply to the scalp and it's more likely for the dandruff to become
worse so what you need to do is try and keep the scalp warm and that's going to get more blood
there and it's potentially going to help reduce those dandruff symptoms so the options that you've
got really is you can grow your hair out a little if you've got short hair and you can grow your
hair out so it insulates the scalp and keeps you warm you can also try and wear a hat now and then
that'll keep it warm if you're going out so these are potentially things that you can do now let's
move on to tip number four it's all about those vitamins and supplements first of all if you are
having a healthy balanced diet you don't need to go out there and buy any supplements or vitamins
to help with your skin and nails and hair and all that sort of stuff all you need to do is follow a
healthy balanced diet the vitamins that are good for your hair and good for your scalp vitamin b
zinc and also omega-3 but again if you're having a healthy balanced diet you don't need to go and
supplement with these and if you're thinking what's a healthy balanced diet well it's going
to take about 15 minutes for me to go through that in this video and i'm sure a lot of you don't want
that but if you do want to find out more about how to have a more healthy balanced diet i do have
quite a few videos on it again which i will leave a link to up here and in the description below
feel free to check it out and tip number five make sure that you are hydrated make sure you drink
enough water so it's six to eight glasses of water every day that's about two liters of water every
day make sure you're getting enough hydration because that's going to keep that scalp nice and
hydrated and reduce the dandruff symptoms okay so that's the lifestyle tips i really hope that
you found them useful now let's move on to those medical treatments so you've tried the lifestyle
tips you're not seeing much benefit from it or you're already doing all the stuff that discussed
so we can try some medical treatments before we start going through them i just want to say please
give it time these treatments give it at least the month before you start seeing some real effects
and you might have to try different products so bear that in mind as well now let's begin
okay so here's a quick science lesson here is how dandruff happens so how it works there's a fungus
on everyone's scalp called malassezia globosa this malassezia globosa fungus creates a fatty
acid which we call oleic acid and this oleic acid causes that irritation on the scalp which then
causes dandruff that is it in a nutshell so what we try and do with this malassezia glubose to this
fungus is we want to try and use an anti-fungal shampoo one of which for example is ketoconazole
shampoo it works really well for dandruff works really well at killing that fungus you usually
apply it twice a week you might have an increased dose and then reduce it but that is just generally
how it works you might want to speak to your pharmacist about it for more information as
well or your healthcare professional but the way it works is you're going to lather it in you're
really gonna sort of rub it into the scalp leave it on for at least five minutes before you wash
it off like i said it's usually twice a week you might use it three times a week to begin with and
then reduce the dose down slowly but i do have a video all about ketoconazole shampoo as well
i'm going through in detail how you would increase the dose and reduce to those so if you do want
more information on that i'd highly recommend you watch that video which i'll leave up here and in
the description below now the next shampoo that i want to discuss let's say ketoconazole doesn't
work is selenium shampoo selenium shampoo again is a type of antifungal that kills the fungus as well
so if the ketogenic hasn't worked you could try selenium again you need to speak to a healthcare
professional about it before you purchase it to make sure that you're safe and suitable to use it
this applies for ketoconazole as well because the most important thing is your safety there's also
zinc shampoos again that kill bacteria and fungus so again this could be a potential option if the
two that i spoke about just now haven't worked now the next shampoo medical treatment that i
want to discuss doesn't kill the fungus but what it does is it reduces the rate at which the skin
cells on the scalp reproduce and keep on making new ones so sometimes it can go into overdrive
this reproduction of the skin of the scalp and that's usually seen in like psoriasis patients
for example and a good shampoo for that is coal tar so the coal tar reduces how quickly those
skin cells reproduce themselves and with psoriasis you do get dandruff symptoms as well you get scaly
scalp and also you get the flaking as well so if that applies to you coal tar shampoo might be more
useful now if you have scaly skin on your scalp a salicylic acid shampoo could be more useful
and the way this works is it just breaks down the skin cells where you're applying it and
it can be really useful for this okay so let's now move on to the causes of dandruff first of
all please please please remember this dandruff is not contagious it's not because you're unhygienic
or anything like that so please don't listen to anyone who says that to you this is absolute
nonsense dandruff is not caused by anything like that so let's talk about what actually causes it
so the first thing i want to talk about is age age can be a considerable factor that causes dandruff
usually people get it when they're a young adult and it continues as they get old this is why it's
so important that we treat it quite early on to try and stop those symptoms from progressing and
i'm so sorry guys but unfortunately men are far more likely to have dandruff than women and this
is all because of our hormones that potentially causing the dandruff symptoms and having a
condition that affects your nerves for example parkinson's disease or hiv can also make you more
likely to have dandruff another thing that i want to discuss is having a weakened immune system so
this can be caused by various reasons for example lifestyle factors could be causing it
also if you're on immunosuppressants if you run any medicines that are causing it so this is
also something that could potentially cause the dandruff as well now there can be other causes
as well for dandruff for example eczema psoriasis contact dermatitis and even head lice so if you do
think you have any of these kinds of symptoms that potentially indicate these which i will leave more
information in the description below please do speak to your healthcare professional about it
and whilst we're on the topic of speaking to your healthcare professional look if you've tried the
lifestyle stuff that we've discussed if you've tried the medical treatments that we've discussed
the shampoos if you've given it a month and you haven't really seen any benefit then please please
please do speak to your healthcare professional don't just leave it and if your scalp is
red swollen yellow crusty or very itchy please do speak to your healthcare professional about it so
it looks like we've reached the end of this week's video we now know all about dandruff what causes
it lifestyle factors that can help with it medical treatments and when to seek medical attention so
you're a bit of a dandruff pro so tell your friends tell your family tell your loved ones
tell everyone because you now know about dandruff i really hope that you found this information
helpful i'm now gonna go film some b-roll in greece but as i always say sending your awesome
vibes and i will see you next week hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make sure
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