There have been serious funky-flake problems abound in the house of this Beauty Junkie for the past few months. My husband has always had dandruff issues, but me? Not so much. I’m always using the newest, fruity-smelling shampoos in the prettiest bottles on the market–while he’s been relegated to the same ol’ boring one for years. And then the unthinkable happened: I too started getting dandruff, and they stopped making his shampoo (or at least we cannot find it anywhere at all, even for a serious bounty). I didn’t want to give in to thinking that I too had dandruff *gasp*, because it’s embarrassing–especially when most of my wardrobe is black. Also, the dandruff shampoos of yesteryear are so boring and foul-smelling that they could trigger an episode of junior high school-era self-conscious PTSD. No thanks.
I checked in with DermTV.com, and I confirmed my worst fears. What I was experiencing was indeed dandruff, but it wasn’t because my scalp is merely too dry (which was the simple answer I was hoping for), but it was because my scalp wasn’t able to exfoliate excess oil effectively, resulting in the inflammation which leads to those unsightly visible flakes. So if you have dandruff, you’re not really Josie Grossie, you just need to jump-start the oil into exfoliating itself off correctly. Whew! Thanks Dr. Schultz for explaining that in a way we can all better understand!
After over 2 months of trying out various dandruff flake-fighting shampoos in my home, it was unanimous. Our scalps are no longer misbehavin’! These were the clear-cut rockstars of anti-dandruff shampoos we’ve used:
• Head & Shoulders Restoring Shine — If you’ve used some of the older dandruff shampoos, have you ever noticed how they can leave your hair looking like a tumbleweed? Well, this one didn’t! Our hair was well on it’s way to looking glossy and our scalps were much happier. A refreshing, clean scent and a cooling tingle was left behind from the tea tree oil.
• Redken Scalp Relief Dandruff Control — My scalp was especially pleased with this one, it contains lavender oil which was really soothing, and the wheat amino acids made sure my strands were well cared for!
• Pantene Pyrithione Zinc Anti-Dandruff 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner — Mr. Beauty Junkie FLIPPED over this one, and I liked it as well. Never having much luck with 2-in-1 products in the past, not only did this help with the dandruff and smell great, but it really did make our hair shiny and feel adequately conditioned. No extra step required!
What are your fave flake-fighting shampoos?
Editorial samples were provided by the companies and evaluated to determine my opinion of the products in this post. Please see the Disclosures page for further information regarding my policies for using editorial samples.
