If You Suffer From Seborrheic Dermatitis This Post Is For You

What is Seborrheic Dermatitis: Seborrheic (pronounced seb-o-REE-ik) dermatitis is a skin condition that mainly affects the scalp. It caused patches of scaly and read skin and extreme dandruff in most cases. Other areas it can appear are face, ears, eyelids, chest, and sides of nose.

What causes Seborrheic Dermatitis: Causes for this form of dermatitis are unknown, however, hormones and genetics do play a role. Additionally, microorganisms like yeast that typically live on the skin naturally can cause it.

Is there a cure for seborrheic dermatitis: No, there is no known cure for this form of dermatitis, however, there are many different ways to treat the condition which I will get into later. Note, these treatments are not going to all work for everyone, you must learn through trial and error what works best for you.

My Seborrheic Dermatitis Journey

My experience with seborrheic dermatitis began during the time that I decided to stop relaxing and ‘go natural’, this was June 2011. I remember being relaxed and noticing I’d always get chemical burns in the same spot of my scalp, the assumption I made was that this was caused by the relaxer. Once I stopped relaxing, I noticed I still had the issue. My hair would never really grow in the spot because the scalp scales made it difficult for the hair follicles to break through, due to this I kept my hair in a tapered twa.

I went to a dermatologist in 2013 and was officially diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis, she prescribed hydrocortisone shampoo and ointment. I was to wash my hair 3 times per week which didn’t really work for me being a natural with 4c hair. I decided to follow the doctor’s orders for at least a month to see what would happen. After 1 month of washing my hair 3 times per were with the shampoo and using the ointment on my scalp, I could see some relief. The problem though was that rather than experience slow growth from the scaly scalp, I began to experience breakage from the products drying my hair out. These products had alcohol in them so you can imagine the strain they put on my very dry 4c mane. I had to decide whether to continue using the products since they were helping my scalp or find a different solution. I decided to look for a different solution otherwise I’d have to shave my head to maintain the regimen.

Over the years I tried different things that worked but not for very long, the main routine I stuck to for about 4 years was a pre-poo with apple cider vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. I would generously apply this mixture to my scalp and cover with a shower cap and my scarf for 20 mins to several hours. The desired outcome was to loosen the scales on my scalp and where they could be gently scrubbed up and washed away. This was not a very comfortable process as I’d end up breaking the skin on places of my scalp if I wasn’t gentle enough which caused irritation and burning from the acv (a story in itself). After shampooing with moisturizing shampoo, my scalp would produce results! I mean it’d be squeaky clean, well for 24 hours. But week after week I continued this regimen until very recently when I discovered olive oil is a trigger for flare ups which explains a lot.

While having a rough patch (no pun intended) during this here loc journey, I called my loctician franticly expressing my level of frustration. I was ready to sit in someone’s chair and have my hair buzzed off. But being the amazing person she is, she agreed to create a regimen specifically for me and my condition (to be continued). Additionally, I had been leveraging a regimen from another youtuber which includes probiotic soap and two design essentials shampoos.

Here are my wash day steps:

Step 1: I start by pre-pooing with diluted apple cider vinegar spraying directly on my scalp. I cover my head with a shower cap and my scarf for 20 mins to several hours.

Step 2: I typically wash my hair in the shower so the next step is saturating my hair with water and applying the probiotic soap I leave this on for a few minutes before the next step.

Step 3: Without rinsing out the probiotic soap, I add the Design Essentials Oat Protein and Henna deep cleansing shampoo. I let this sit for another few minutes before rinsing.

Step 4: After rinsing the soap and the first shampoo, I go in with the Design Essentials Honey Creame super moisturizing shampoo. Giving myself one good final wash and rinse when I am done.

Step 5: I use a customized scalp spray from my loctician immediately post wash and apply tea tree oil with a dropper. I allow my hair to air dry.

This regimen has kept the scaly scalp at bay for about 5-7 days at a time. I recommend you checking these products out (linked below). Let me know if you try them and how they work for you.

The soap: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01997J1IG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The shampoos:

Today, I wash my hair once per week using the steps listed above, you can also hear me talk about this in my latest YouTube video. I will continue to provide you with updates on my progress with this regimen in addition to what my lovely loctician dreams up for me.

I am certain this is not an issue I suffer through alone, so I wanted to write this blog post adding more detail about what it is, what causes it, etc.

I hope you found this post helpful, please subscribe to my channel and here on the blog for more updates from me regarding seborrheic dermatitis and general loc journey stats.

XO,

Char