seborrehic dermatitis experiences

mamaherrera · 08-10-2012, 02:42 PM

I have been diagnosed with SD and I have a question. I'm so confused because the doctor says no oils or conditioners or plant things on my scalp at all. He says to use medicated shampoo (you know what that means) every day, twice in a wash for teh rest of my life. I was using this shampoo with garlic and olive oil and it did seem to cut down on my shedding. but it didn't get rid of the flakes. You all that have this. . . . do you know what the happy-medium is on this?? I've already lost my curl from the nizoral shampoo after one day of use. I just am so confused and don't know what's best for my hair. Also, you all with SD, have you experienced hair loss, hain thinning from it??

KinkyRN · 08-15-2012, 08:33 PM

I suggest you check out curly Nikki. There are some curlys on the with this problem and they have talked about things that worked for them! Good luck !

mamaherrera · 08-15-2012, 10:48 PM

do you have a direct link for that thread??

curry curls · 08-16-2012, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mamaherrera

I have been diagnosed with SD and I have a question. I'm so confused because the doctor says no oils or conditioners or plant things on my scalp at all. He says to use medicated shampoo (you know what that means) every day, twice in a wash for teh rest of my life. I was using this shampoo with garlic and olive oil and it did seem to cut down on my shedding. but it didn't get rid of the flakes. You all that have this. . . . do you know what the happy-medium is on this?? I've already lost my curl from the nizoral shampoo after one day of use. I just am so confused and don't know what's best for my hair. Also, you all with SD, have you experienced hair loss, hain thinning from it??

I will tell you my experience. I got diagnosed about 4 years ago. I have had this since I was at least 16. It started on my head, and when I was 18 I had it on my face. Man, that was horrible. It was red and it hurt it was so bad. I'm 44 now, so I've had it forever...doctoring myself with hydrocortisone and stuff. ..shudder. Anyhow, I will tell you what worked for me. I experimented. What works for me may not work for you.

When I was diagnosed, I had a prescription shampoo...Nizoral or something. I also had a cream for my face...two actually...a steroid and another anti-fungal I think. I had to use those twice to three times a day for the rest of my life the dermatologist said. I found "naturally curly" after that. I ditched the shampoo and started co washing. The tea tree conditioners are fantastic. They helped the itching. Around the same time, I started doing the oil cleanse method that I saw on the makeup/skincare boards. Now, I'm using coconut oil to cleanse and moisturize my face. So, oils are definitely helping me. I also put it on my scalp at night. My SD at the moment is under control.

There was also a thread on here about using honey on your scalp and face. That helped. If I were you, I would experiment. Sometimes I have no faith in what doctors tell me I have to do. They really push the steroids. My husband's doctor advised oral steroids for his skin, and he had a major skin rebellion. He broke out everywhere. He has a different type of eczema.

Anyhow, that's what worked for me. I also take an omega 3 and black currant oil. The coconut oil really helps though. Olive oil was nice, but the coconut oil was the best. Rosemary seems to help as well. It's in my trader Joe's conditioner. Google SD and read all you can. Try stuff out. Green tea rinses help as well. Also, apple cider vinegar rinses help. I experiment. :-) I cut out a lot of dairy too...not sure if that helps, but something is working. Oils and conditioners are my best friends. :-). I do have a lot of shedding. I don't know if that is from the SD or not. I did read that it can cause hair loss.

Hope some of this helps.

mamaherrera · 08-16-2012, 08:10 PM

Yes it does help, thanks. At least I know other people shed heavy like me. And yes, I don't have much faith in this doc. I did use the shampoo for a week, like he said, twice in one washing, leaving it on for 5-10 minutes. But my scalp is more irritated (before I had no irritation, but I had white powdery stuff in my hair) now it's itching and not happy, I"m sure from all the washing. as I"m not used to sulfates and washing daily. Now I see the powder is gone,so I want to see if I can keep it under control with my own lowpoos but daily, maybe I need to just keep it cleaner, but not so stripped. Although coco betaine is also rated as a high hazard on skin deep, so I don't know how much better that is as a cleanser. But. . . . he told me not to use any oils on my scalp

and to not use any leaves in, so it leaves me not knowing what to do. And he said, that tea tree was hazardous, but other derms say that's not true, he said it was a hormone altering oil. So yeah, he's leftr me pretty darn confused, so your experiences do give me hope.

curry curls · 08-20-2012, 10:40 AM

Good luck. I hope you find something that works. :-)

LoloDSM · 09-02-2012, 07:06 PM

I am pretty sure my five year old has SD. She had waxy, yellow scales on her scalp. I used diluted tea tree oil and applied it to her scalp with a q-tip. I then rubbed it in and combed out the flakes. The next night, I added tea tree oil to her regular California Baby Calming shampoo and let it sit on her scalp for a couple minutes.

No more yellow scales.