Dandruff – Symptoms, Causes and other associated risk factors

Dandruff is scalp condition in which you see dead skin cells from your scalp. When the cell dies it is normal for the hair to have small amount of flaking. This is a result of certain triggers which also can other effects such as irritation and redness.

Dandruff is not contagious and is rarely serious. Sometimes is very difficult to treat dandruff, but the good news for this scalp condition is that there is cure for it and can be controlled. If you have small amount of dandruff, then washing your hair every day with shampoo can help you to see the results and to feel better in your own skin. If this is not the case, when you have worse dandruff, then you should wash your hair with medical shampoo.

This scalp condition is affecting the population mostly at the post-pubertal age and of any sex and ethnicity. If you are male you have more chances to have this condition, also dandruff can be reason of age, poor diet, certain illness.

Symptoms of dandruff

1. Many people from the post-pubertal age and the teens easily can see their symptoms of dandruff. If you have dandruff you have white flakes of dead skin on your shoulders, all of your hair is covered with white flakes, also you have itchy, scaly scalp.
2. This condition can be better in summer when the weather is much better, when the sun is almost every time of the day out and can be worse in the winter or in fall, because of the rain and snow, and cold wind which make your hair to be dry, also your scalp to be dry and this can be worse problem controlling your dandruff than before.
3. But not also the teens and post-adult people can be affected with dandruff, but also small babies can have it. This type which affect small babies is called cradle cap. This condition causes a scaly and crusty scalp. Cradle cap can be easily seen in newborns during infancy. This is not dangerous condition for the babies and parents should not be afraid for their health, because cradle cap usually clears up by its own and when the kids are having three years.

When to see a doctor:

In many cases there is no reason to visit doctor because the dandruff is having better results, and as the time pass by people are seeing their hair scalp is getting better. But if you are using anti-dandruff shampoo and you see that stretching is getting bigger and bigger as the time pass by and also if your scalp is red or swollen, you should visit your doctor or your dermatologist. Your doctor can easily tell your problem after seeing your scalp and your hair condition and they will tell how much serious is the problem that you have.

Causes and risk factors of dandruff

1. dry skin (If you have small and less oily skin flakes, which are on all your body, such as legs and arms, this can be one reason to have hair dandruff);
2. irritated, oily skin (If your skin is red and greasy and your flakes are white or yellow, this dandruff can effect on your eyebrows, the sides of the nose, your breastbone, your groin area, backs of your years and armpits);
3. not shampooing often enough (if you do not care for your hygiene enough this could be one of the reasons for having this condition);
4. sensitivity to hair care products (before you start using some hair care products you should know how they will effect on your skin, if they will make your scalp to be red and itchy; you should also use the right hair care products and to know how much per week you should use to not make your scalp sensitive);
5. other skin conditions (people who have eczema, which is a chronic skin condition and psoriasis which is condition that causes cells on the scalp to dry faster, these two skin conditions are big factor to have dandruff);
6. malassezia which lives on the scalp on the most adult people irritating their scalp; because it irritates your scalp can make more cells to grow; these cells die faster and you can see them on your clothes and your body as dandruff (white or yellow flakes).