Heat can be very damaging to your scalp, but can it cause dandruff? Well, it’s complicated.
There are definitely those of us who’ve had dandruff flare ups after heat treating hair. But is heat the cause?
The short answer is no. While heat damages both your hair and scalp, it is only a contributing factor in causing dandruff to flare-up.
How heat damages your scalp
Your scalp needs moisture to be healthy. You can protect your scalp’s natural moisture balance by regularly washing with a deep moisturizing shampoo for scalp and hair.
Unfortunately, heat damage from blow drying or straightening hair can quickly undo that good work.
When you apply heat to your hair and scalp, the water in your skin starts to evaporate. Excess heat means essential moisture found there can be lost, making your skin dry out.
The dry skin is damaged, and “leakier” – allowing even more water to escape out, and more irritation-causing factors to get in.
The more you use heat styling tools, the more your scalp dries out, eventually beginning to flake and itch.
If you’re already susceptible to dandruff, this is bad news.
Heat and dandruff
Dandruff is caused by a naturally-occuring microbe called malassezia, which feeds on your scalp oils.
It’s present on everybody’s scalp but about half the world’s population is sensitive to it.
That can cause problems, including:
- irritation
- red itchy skin
- dry flakes.
If you then add heat to the mix, things can get worse.
If your scalp is already damaged by dandruf, heat will likely make that worse, drying it out even more.
How to get rid of dandruff
The first thing to do is lay off the heat treatment for a bit – your hair and scalp needs the opportunity to recover.
Then get yourself a good dandruff shampoo, like our Dry Scalp Care shampoo.
Formulated with pyrithione zinc, Head & Shoulders not only fights the symptoms of dandruff, it will help restore moisture to your scalp too.1
That gives your body time to repair the damage to your scalp while the symptoms of dandruff are under control.
More about the causes of dandruff
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