Dandruff flakes on your hair or shoulders don’t look good. The itchy scalp that comes with it is no fun, either. In fact, although dandruff shows up on your hair, the condition actually starts with your scalp.
Dandruff is a type of dermatitis (Der-muh-TY-tis), or skin inflammation. One study estimated that half of us will at some point develop this condition. And one key time it may emerge is puberty.
Everyone’s scalp hosts a mix of microbes. This is known as its microbiome (MY-kroh-BY-ohm). Sometimes the normal proportion of some types to others gets messed up. This is known as a dysbiosis (Dis-by-OH-sis). In people with dandruff, certain types of yeast and bacteria are far more common, compared to people with healthy scalps.
Amy McMichael and others discussed some of the culprits in a July 2024 report in the Archives of Dermatological Research. She’s a dermatologist at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Both are in Winston-Salem, N.C.
People often make the mistake of thinking an itchy, scaly scalp is dry, McMichael says. If they add oil, though, they risk making matters worse. Dandruff is actually “a greasy, flaky problem,” she explains. Too much oil provides extra food for the harmful bacteria and yeast, driving the flake production. In fact, dandruff can affect parts of the body with glands that produce sebum, a natural oil.
Dandruff can develop in people with every hair type. However, Black people may have higher rates than other groups, says a 2015 study by researchers at the University of Miami School of Medicine, in Florida.
Hair-care practices might explain some of the difference, McMichael says. She and others have found differences in how often women of African and European ancestry shampoo their hair. Most Black women in the study said they washed their hair once every week or two. A majority of the white participants said they shampooed at least…
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