GorillaHead
Member
Today I am going to discuss my struggle with dandruff, everything I have tried, the mechanism perhaps behind one main cause and a way to address it.
Of all the ailments I have dealt with (and believe me I have dealt with so many) Dandruff was one of the most stubborn issues I seemed to suffer from.
Main Symptoms: I had two varying symptoms that came and go, sometimes when I scratched my hairline scalp I would get gunk build up like a waxy slightly textured substance, and other times I would not get this but if I ran my hands thru my hair over and over a white light LED screen I would see very very small flakes keep falling off, I could run my hands through my hair 30 times and still flakes kept coming off like a Blizzard.
All the things I tried religiously with moderate short acting success anywhere from 30 mins to 24 hours.
specifically caused by Malassezia.
One issue I had with these beliefs was it made no sense for a human to need massive doses of vitamin a unattainable through diet by any means as a solution for dandruff. My experience with vitamin A pertaining to dandruff could probably be best explained by the fact retinol dryed me out and this meant the flaking could not mix in with the wax like substance excreted through my sebaceous glands.
The other issues I had was with how the scientific community wanted to blame one fungi for dandruff when that dandruff is also on human scalps without dandruff its apart of the skin biome.
That's when it hit me. Our skin has a biome of its own and we are going about these issues all the wrong way.
I already had a good amount of knowledge on biomes and addressing them is different for everyone as the causes can vary.
(For those who dont know my first ailment ever was Ulcerative Colitis and it consumed years of my life towards research and this forum WAS a significant part of why I am today symptom free with BETTER digestion pre diagnosis and all without a single pharmaceutical or herb)
I did lots of research on seborrheic dermatitis as this was considered highly related to dandruff and people believe that dandruff many people experience is a very minor form of this condition. This led me to findings of a Japanese study that showed dandruff severity had a strong correlation with the imbalance of two skin bacteria and not dandruff at all.
So I started theorizing an idea:
Common Dandruff
Presentation: flaking, white/yellow like waxy substance build on scalp
Cause: Imbalance of skin biome caused by environmental and internal diet factors.
Cause explained: If the Japanese study holds water, which I absolutely believe it does. Then killing off the normal fungi on our scalp is probably making our dandruff even worse! Why? Malassezia specifically excretes Azelaic Acid this is quite an amazing substance used in rosacea effectively and IT is PERSONALLY very effective for acne.
This substance is very good at killing bacteria but also very good at modulating the skin biome. If Malesszia is not outputting this or its not there to output it, its likely you will have bacteria take over and as a result you end up with dandruff.
Why do anti fungal treatments sometimes help or work? Because they too have anti bacterial properties and modulate the biome.
I believe the focus on killing malassizia is actually very detrimental. You want this fungi and you want acting normally.
Treatment/Cure: 2-3 Azelaic Acid washes and increased saturated fat consumption, avoid pufa
Treatment explained: My focus is to reset the skin biome and support it, rather then destroy it. Research shows that Malassezia consumes and prefers saturated fatty acids, when consumed the fungi proliferate normally, but when it consumes PUFA it outputs inflammatory substances and can lead to hyperproliferation
Anecdotally I have read about people solving their dandruff with vitamin e and or even stopping the consumption of pufa. I did also read about one guy who tried everything and the only thing that fixed it was a specific anti biotic but once he got off it came back with a vengeance.
I theorized that perhaps when the fungi doesnt get the right food it no longer outputs azelaic acid and with shampoos these days full of PUFA and anti fungal substances this would lead to severe skin biome dysregulation. Azelaic acid keeps the biome in check.
These organisms all work together in balance to provide the optimal PH for our skin.
Today marks 5 days after I washed my hair with 10% Azelaic acid twice, my dandruff situation has never been better! When I scratch my scalp I GET ZERO buildup and when I run my hands through my hair after the 3rd or 4th time, I no longer see flakes. The amount of flakes that do fall are no where near cosmetically noticeable. I also introduced a teaspoon of coconut oil a day to feed the biome appropriately. I stopped using harsh shampoo with antibacterial and anti fungal substances and Started using organic shampoo with some coconut oil in them, not too much. I reduced how much shampoo I use, I usually slap on a huge handful.
I continue to scratch my scalp daily to see if the situation changes. I am beyond happy at this success.
THIS MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU! Science is very complex and many different causes can manifest in similar ways. I wish yall the best!
Characterization of the major bacterial-fungal populations colonizing dandruff scalps in Shanghai, China, shows microbial disequilibrium - PubMed
Of all the ailments I have dealt with (and believe me I have dealt with so many) Dandruff was one of the most stubborn issues I seemed to suffer from.
Main Symptoms: I had two varying symptoms that came and go, sometimes when I scratched my hairline scalp I would get gunk build up like a waxy slightly textured substance, and other times I would not get this but if I ran my hands thru my hair over and over a white light LED screen I would see very very small flakes keep falling off, I could run my hands through my hair 30 times and still flakes kept coming off like a Blizzard.
All the things I tried religiously with moderate short acting success anywhere from 30 mins to 24 hours.
- Topical Iodine, This was effective at first but its effectiveness would quickly fade and I used high doses mixed in water and washed my hair in it. (this can be dangerous btw, too much iodine is bad for the thyroid) This gave me moderate relief for 24 hours and scalp acne.
- Head and Should Zinc Pyrthione, this was practically never effective, I mean if it was it was at best for an hour or two.
- Topical Ketoconazole Shampoo this was moderately effective but it reduced dandruff better than iodine but it didnt last more than 12 hours
- Sun Light was by far the most effective at eliminating dandruff but the effective was very short after 6 hours of no more sun exposure my dandruff would return.
- High dose retinol acetate , still had flaking but the retinol removed the gunk wax like substance.
specifically caused by Malassezia.
One issue I had with these beliefs was it made no sense for a human to need massive doses of vitamin a unattainable through diet by any means as a solution for dandruff. My experience with vitamin A pertaining to dandruff could probably be best explained by the fact retinol dryed me out and this meant the flaking could not mix in with the wax like substance excreted through my sebaceous glands.
The other issues I had was with how the scientific community wanted to blame one fungi for dandruff when that dandruff is also on human scalps without dandruff its apart of the skin biome.
That's when it hit me. Our skin has a biome of its own and we are going about these issues all the wrong way.
I already had a good amount of knowledge on biomes and addressing them is different for everyone as the causes can vary.
(For those who dont know my first ailment ever was Ulcerative Colitis and it consumed years of my life towards research and this forum WAS a significant part of why I am today symptom free with BETTER digestion pre diagnosis and all without a single pharmaceutical or herb)
I did lots of research on seborrheic dermatitis as this was considered highly related to dandruff and people believe that dandruff many people experience is a very minor form of this condition. This led me to findings of a Japanese study that showed dandruff severity had a strong correlation with the imbalance of two skin bacteria and not dandruff at all.
So I started theorizing an idea:
Common Dandruff
Presentation: flaking, white/yellow like waxy substance build on scalp
Cause: Imbalance of skin biome caused by environmental and internal diet factors.
Cause explained: If the Japanese study holds water, which I absolutely believe it does. Then killing off the normal fungi on our scalp is probably making our dandruff even worse! Why? Malassezia specifically excretes Azelaic Acid this is quite an amazing substance used in rosacea effectively and IT is PERSONALLY very effective for acne.
This substance is very good at killing bacteria but also very good at modulating the skin biome. If Malesszia is not outputting this or its not there to output it, its likely you will have bacteria take over and as a result you end up with dandruff.
Why do anti fungal treatments sometimes help or work? Because they too have anti bacterial properties and modulate the biome.
I believe the focus on killing malassizia is actually very detrimental. You want this fungi and you want acting normally.
Treatment/Cure: 2-3 Azelaic Acid washes and increased saturated fat consumption, avoid pufa
Treatment explained: My focus is to reset the skin biome and support it, rather then destroy it. Research shows that Malassezia consumes and prefers saturated fatty acids, when consumed the fungi proliferate normally, but when it consumes PUFA it outputs inflammatory substances and can lead to hyperproliferation
Anecdotally I have read about people solving their dandruff with vitamin e and or even stopping the consumption of pufa. I did also read about one guy who tried everything and the only thing that fixed it was a specific anti biotic but once he got off it came back with a vengeance.
I theorized that perhaps when the fungi doesnt get the right food it no longer outputs azelaic acid and with shampoos these days full of PUFA and anti fungal substances this would lead to severe skin biome dysregulation. Azelaic acid keeps the biome in check.
These organisms all work together in balance to provide the optimal PH for our skin.
Today marks 5 days after I washed my hair with 10% Azelaic acid twice, my dandruff situation has never been better! When I scratch my scalp I GET ZERO buildup and when I run my hands through my hair after the 3rd or 4th time, I no longer see flakes. The amount of flakes that do fall are no where near cosmetically noticeable. I also introduced a teaspoon of coconut oil a day to feed the biome appropriately. I stopped using harsh shampoo with antibacterial and anti fungal substances and Started using organic shampoo with some coconut oil in them, not too much. I reduced how much shampoo I use, I usually slap on a huge handful.
I continue to scratch my scalp daily to see if the situation changes. I am beyond happy at this success.
THIS MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU! Science is very complex and many different causes can manifest in similar ways. I wish yall the best!
Characterization of the major bacterial-fungal populations colonizing dandruff scalps in Shanghai, China, shows microbial disequilibrium - PubMed