Help I Have Dandruff! What is the Cause of This Annoying Flaking?

You knew dandruff is common. But, you may not have known HOW common. Did you know that around 2/3 of people are affected by dandruff at some point in their life? It’s an annoying and unsightly condition. Just what is the cause of this extremely common condition called dandruff?

First you may want to know what that annoying flaking is and what causes it.

The flakes you find on your brush and on your clothes are simply dead skin cells that have been shed from the surface of your scalp. Dandruff usually presents itself as white dusty particles that can be quite noticeable on your clothing especially if you’ happen to be wearing a dark color. When the skin cells bond with the oil on the surface of your scalp, the result is the formation of larger, white flakes which are even more visible. Because this can be a source of some embarrassment, people suffering from this condition are quite motivated to seek treatment.

So what causes the flaking in the first place?

As you may already know, your skin cells are constantly being renewed with older, surface cells gradually being sloughed off as the new ones take their place. This is a normal process that occurs on average every 28 days. In persons who experience dandruff, the process of shedding dead skin cells is occurring at an excessive rate, resulting in appearance of the unsightly powder and flakes which we call dandruff.

So why does this shedding occur faster than normal in some people?

Unfortunately, an exact dandruff cause isn’t known There have been numerous theories abound including stress, use of certain hair care products that irritate the scalp, an inadequate diet, irritation by the ingredients in styling products, but the most recent theory seems to be the most plausible. It’s thought that the real culprit is a tiny fungus called malassezia.

Malassezia is no stranger to humans. In fact, it can be found on the scalps of most normal people where it happily resides without causing any problems. In persons with dandruff, it’s thought that this little yeast starts growing too rapidly causing irritation to the scalp resulting in the unsightly flaking you see with dandruff. Unfortunately, we still don’t know why this yeast overgrows on the scalps of some people and not others. We’re back to the usual theories of stress, underlying illness, use and misuse of hair products etc. It may be that some people are just more sensitive to this fungus than others. We do know that certain factors can aggravate dandruff including the presence of underlying infections and medical conditions, a poor diet, inadequate care of the hair and scalp, stress, and fluctuations in hormone levels. By addressing some of these factors, we can potentially treat the symptoms of dandruff. even though the exact dandruff cause still alludes us.

Now that we know the cause of dandruff, we’ll discuss how to prevent and treat dandruff in the next article.