You are all set for your date tonight. You wearing this smashing new dress which accentuates all your curves. Your shoes are the bomb and your hair is styled in the latest fashion. You hear the door bell ring and you gracefully walk downstairs open the door. You arrive early to the restaurant, and you and your man are having a nice conversation and that is when the trouble all starts. Your scalp is sooooo itchy! You cannot concentrate on anything apart from the itch and unfortunately you cannot indulge in scratching it. The food is here and your trying not to thing about the nasty itch. Itch Itch Itch!
Many women are victims of this particular issue of dryness and dandruff. It is so common and so much research has gone into trying to combat this troublesome issue. What really causes dryness and dandruff? Many women (and some men!) would argue, 'I wash my hair every week', 'I cream my scalp often', 'I have always had dry scalp I don't know why', 'I used someone's comb' etc. Some have accepted it as a permanent problem they have to deal with.
I, personally, is no stranger to this issue. If there is anyone who had suffered intensely from dryness and dandruff, it should be me. Even after washing my hair, it begins to itch, especially on the crown of my head, the exact middle! That area permanently used to itch (still does but only when I haven't washed or rinsed it after about 5 days). And I began to accept it as a permanent problem and gave up on anti-dandruff shampoos and hair products.
One day, while on kimmaytube's channel on youtube, reading her reply to someone's comment on this issue, I had a great idea to help with my itchy scalp. I am currently growing out my hair to be virgin/natural hair, that is without chemicals and in its natural state, so I get to watch a lot of her videos.
Now what I learnt is that our scalp produces natural oils to lubricate it so we don't really need any extra help from hair products on the scalp. Looking at the numerous chemicals we add on our hair from these hair products it is no wonder why our scalp begins to react by causing itching. In my opinion, I felt that when I add extra helping of oils and chemicals on my hair, my body reacts by not producing its own oils. So when I don't put oil on my scalp, it becomes dry and consequently I could get dandruff. Another thing is that because of relaxing and styling our hair, we don't get to wash our hair regularly which leaves the oils (either our natural oil or processed ones or both) on our scalp and as we know, oils don't dry up, they attract dirt and so all the dust and particulars are caught up in our scalp, sweat and bacteria are they living in happy harmony on our scalp. Should we be surprised when our scalp starts itching? Over-washing hair as well, disturbs the natural flow of our natural oils. Ideally, hair should be shampooed and always followed by a conditioner at least once a week but not everyday, except when using daily shampoos and conditioners. Hair should be rinsed out with just water everyday to prevent both dry scalp and hair (particularly useful if hair is natural/virgin). The scalp should also be massaged regularly to stimulate blood flow and help to stimulate the scalp to produce oils. I understand this isn't convenient for many but this is just the ideal method and I guess one can work around it to fit their daily routine. For example, a friend of mine whose hair is relaxed, sprays her hair with water and washes it every week, sometimes co-washing (washing only with a conditioner) in between. Doing kinky braids allows you to wash it and for the regular braids, hair can be sprayed with water and massaged, and synthetic oils avoided.
Hope this helps and feedback would be appreciated! Have a nice day!
