Flaky White Thing On Your Hair: Is it Psoriasis Or Dandruff?

hi good morning all.

Today we will be talking about the white silvery flakes thats on your hair and what is it.

Many of our customers have came to us telling us that they have 'bad' dandruff that doesn't seem to go away even with dandruff treatment found in pharmacy.

So they come to us wanting to make natural shampoo for dandruff only to find out it doesn't work as well.


Why is that so?
Thats because after a series of questions i asked; it turns out they have scalp psoriasis!

Scalp Psoriasis seems to be a problem that many has but its not something that you hear too often. It's always mistaken as dandruff and people dont really get it diagnosed which eventually leads to them self medicating with OTC dandruff shampoos available in pharmacies.

Whats the Symptoms of both Dandruff and Scalp Psoriasis

1. Both are itchy
2. Both gives you small flakes to large flakes (can be white or yellow)
3. Both can be 'smelly' (actually this depends on your scalp sweat; nothing to do with this problem)

However; psoriasis happens occasionally and not every day. It comes and goes depending on 'stress', hormone (during menstrual time for women) and weather. 

Its a life long disease and usually with proper treatment; the symptoms can be 'tamed' down but it wont go away.

Another characteristics of scalp psoriasis is that it can also cause flakes around below scalp area, and on ears. So if you have this white flakes around or at the back of your ears as well; then its probably scalp psoriasis and not dandruff.

How Should Psoriasis Be Treated?

The best way to treat it if its very severe is to meet a dermatologist to get it diagnosed. 

After that; you will usually be prescribed with steroids shampoo and anti-inflammatory tablets (& anti histamine) if it's too itchy. 

When you get this shampoo; its not someting that you will have to apply daily. This is a mistake i found many patients made during my work in the government hospital before. For 7 years; daily i corrected these patients because they use steroids on their scalp everyday. By doing so; the side effects of steroid treatment becomes more prominent and the skin thins. Probably it was our mistake as health professionals to not explain better:-( 

Anyways; to avoid the side effects of steroids; usually you will have to use the shampoo for 2 weeks; and take a 1-2 weeks break of steroid shampoo (use other non drying shampoo) and continue with the steroid treatment alternating between steroid shampoo and non drying shampoo till the symptoms goes off. 

After that; continue 'hydrating' your scalp (weekly hair oil treatment etc) so that scalp is properly moisturised.

It would be great if you could incorporate 'oils' that are phytosterols (natural occurring steroids found in plants) in these regime of yours so that you are not too depended on steroids. 

You can find a variety of hair oil using phytosterols oil recipe here. Use coconut oil, argan oil or castor oil as they have the most anti inflammatory and high phytosterols amount to curb your psoriasis. 

As for shampoo; use sulphate free shampoo. Most commercial shampoo are made using sulphate based surfactants like sodium laureth sulphate (SLS) etc. So make your own sulphate free shampoo to be safe. You could whatsapp 0126643817 for recipes.

How Should Dandruff Be Treated?

Dandruff on the other hand is a 'easier' problem to treat and its not as 'problematic' as scalp psoriais. 

Dandruff happens due to 'fungus' on scalp and can be treated with anti fungus such as ketoconazole shampoo (from any pharmacy) or if you wanted a more 'natural' remedy; you could use either tea tree oil or coconut oil.

Most anti dandruff treatment sold in pharmacies are quite drying to the scalp therefore its better that you alternate these medication with a milder shampoo and occasional hair oil remedy using coconut oil. 

Once dandruff goes off; just make sure your scalp is well moisturised; and keep ur scalp dry so that 'fungus' doesnt come back:-)

Hope this article helps those of you with those whitish flakes. If you have any question please leave a comment below. 

So tell me; what do you think the white flakes on your scalp is?

Love;

Nisha