Selsun Blue did wonders for me. It leaves my hair a tad dry but it's the only thing I found that worked on my scalp.
this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2026
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For me it was just to stop using shampoo. Keep it short, rinse it a couple times a week. Maybe some Bronner’s soap once a month. Now it seems weird that I would have ever used shampoo and/or conditioner.
Right there with you buddy. Since the mid 90s.
Yah, my solution to itchy scalp is to wear a hat so the mosquitos don't have a free lunch.
I'm not sure how washing my hair is supposed to help yours, but if it works it works I guess.
It does. Thank you for you service. o7
Using shampoo with piroctone olamine (and without SLS) worked wonders for me :)
It possibly depends on hair type - my solution was "don't use shampoo with Sodium Laureth Sulphate" in it.
Also Sodium lauryl sulphate , SLS or Ammonium lauryl sulphate. These detergents define most shampoos. They strip natural oils then replace the oils with silicone.
I had the opposite problem. I had some hippy shampoo that caused so much dandruff that it turned into scabs. As soon as I started using ordinary shampoo again it was fine.
...but foamy toothpaste with too much SLES gives me ulcers. I have to avoid the common supermarket brands.
I had an itchy scalp and would try various menthol shampoos and treatments throughout my teens. It was a nightmare. Then I read an article on just washing your hair with warm water every day. I shower daily anyway, and I'm a pretty hygienic guy, but this felt wrong and somehow uncleanly, but I gave it a shot.
Anyway, to this day, some 30 years later, I have a full head of clean hair. It's something my former partners and my wife have complimented me on.
I stopped using shampoo on my (short) hair over 15 years ago as well, no issues.
There's a subreddit for this, called nopoo. Not kidding.
If there is anything I have learned from my wife it is that you should really only wash your hair once every few days to keep it from getting damaged. She will get her hair done a few times a year and will basically not wash it for almost a week afterwards. I still wash everyday, but my hair is short and doesnt seem to matter much on shortter hair what I do.
yeah, washing it more than 1x or 2x a week makes it first dry, then oily, itchy and less hygienic overall. don't over-wash.
Similar to another comment, I just stopped using shampoo altogether. It took about a month for my scalp to adjust but now it's been 15+ years of just occasional hot water rinse in the shower and I only get itchy if I've been in salt water.
I've got long hair and it doesn't look oily but I do usually have it pulled back. The spouse says "smells like a scalp" so apparently I'm not stinky either ; )
Same here and I don't use body soap unless I am actually dirt (like grease/dirt). Don't have any issues w/ smell or itchiness.
If I do use soap on the regular my skin goes haywire now. And if it has a strong perfume to the soap its 10x worse.
I'm one of the people who absolutely has to use head and shoulders. If I use something different for two weeks it starts to itch, a few weeks later I get flakes (plus unbearable itching).
Sounds like an advertisement but I can not really use anything else (though I am open to suggestions, maybe there's something I could use otherwise).
Just do not get that into your eyes.
Out of curiosity, do you have super thick hair and only towel dry it after getting out of the shower? Reoccurring dandruff means you have a fungal infection, and they tend to prefer warm damp environments. Blow drying may prevent it, because thick hair tends to trap moisture and take a while to dry. Which allows the fungus to multiply in the meantime.
I have thick hair, but not as many as I used to. Still, good point I could blow dry it.
So now I need to find a silent / bearable hair dryer.
Interestingly for me my hair is much better without that, my head is more greasy and itchy when I'm using head and shoulders than when I'm using something else. I've switched to bar shampoo recently and been getting on really well with faith in nature shampoo bars.
This is me as well. I will try to use other stuff for a few days then do 1 using it again which still keeps everything fine. I recently tried growing my hair out for the first time ever and realized quickly head and shoulders is pretty bad for hair which is why ill alternate. It also skyrocketted in price over the past few years and will settle for store brands version of it which can be half the price and was mostly the same experience.
just a note to anyone who didn't know this: if your scalp suddenly starts being itchy in your 20s, that's an early sign of hair loss and you can prevent it with medicine. however the medicine is only effective before the hair falls out, not after it.
Your worth is not tied to your hair follicles, don't feel pressured by industries targeting insecurities.
what makes you think that an industry told me that?
Those medicines have a variety of side effects including impotence and sperm count, making man boobs, depression. They block circulating testosterone. Just grow up and face it's part of being a man.
Cries in being decades too late. :(
You also don't lose much by giving ketoconazole a try.
Ketocanazole saved my scalp
Ketokanoodle?
You probably have scalp psoriasis and this process removes the fungi triggering it temporarily
.> interesting. Will read up on it. Thanks :)
Another common and very closely connected condition is seborrheic dermatitis
Well its better than not using shampoo
That’s great. The only thing I’ve found to work is keeping my hair really short. However it takes multiple haircuts to heal, so it’s been a real challenge to cut my hair short enough on regular enough intervals for enough time to work
I went SLS free for 4 weeks now and a lot of skin and hair problems have slowly faded away. I still get flare ups, but that was such a dramatic change.
Shampoos have harsh detergents that strip oils out of skin in the scalp. This is on purpose, to then sell dandruff and itch remedies. You likely were allergic to your shampoo at home.
Scalp skin oils keep the scalp healthy. Avoid shampoo.
I get where you're coming from, but I still using the same shampoo, just washing twice, and it's been great.
I tried the avoiding detergents and washing hair stuff, but it didn't work.
I just looked like a swamp cresture coming out of a lagoon.
I even shaved my head so I could just use a wet wash cloth. I still got dandruff.
Turns out my own skin is sensitive to hair oil, and I have to wash it every single day very thoroughly or I will get flakes and itchy dandruff.