Dandruff

Dandruff

I've rarely been bothered by dandruff. And although I can't be sure, I think I know why--it's all the biotin I eat.

Biotin, an important vitamin-like nutrient that the body uses in many ways, shows up in my database as a major anti-dandruff compound. Naturopaths recommend getting six milligrams a day for prevention and treatment of both dandruff and the related condition seborrhea.

My database tells me that soybeans are very high in biotin (750 parts per million). That means I'd need only a handful to provide the six milligrams I'd need to save my scalp from dandruff and seborrhea. I have often eaten that many soybeans as I wandered through the soybean fields at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Station in Beltsville, Maryland, where I've spent the last 30 years trying to spread the word about the healing powers of plants.

Then again, maybe I'm dandruff-free not just because of biotin but also due to the breakfasts I eat. I tend to begin my mornings with things like a sandwich made with Brazil nut butter and coleslaw with tomatoes, washed down with vegetable juice. My breakfasts contain a lot of other anti-dandruff ingredients: selenium, sulfur, lecithin and zinc in the Brazil nut butter, citric acid in the vegetable juice and red pepper in the slaw.

Green Pharmacy for Dandruff

Dandruff is a common scalp condition that causes unsightly white flakes to appear in the scalp and hair. The white flakes are dead scalp skin. Dandruff is often the result of seborrhea, an inflammation (dermatitis) of the scalp. Here are some herbs you might try for preventing and treating dandruff.

Soybean (Glycine max) and other foods containing biotin. While there seems to be some biotin in just about all plants, my database reveals some standouts. Soybeans have the most, followed by garlic, American ginseng, oats, barley, Asian ginseng, avocado, cottonseed, alfalfa, sesame, corn, fava beans and elderberry.

Lamentably, my database can't provide the whole story, because science just doesn't know all that much about the biotin content of plants. That's due to the amazing fact that no one has ever been funded to do detailed analyses of the minor constituents of all those fruits, nuts and veggies that the government is urging us to consume. (You might want to contact your Congressional representative to request funding for more detailed nutritional studies.)

Burdock (Arctium lappa). Seborrhea often responds to massaging burdock root oil into the scalp, according to Rudolf Fritz Weiss, M.D., the dean of German medical herbalists and author of Herbal Medicine.

Celandine (Chelidonium majus). I learned about this one from Edward E. Shook's Advanced Treatise in Herbology. Shook maintains that celandine works not only for dandruff but also for dry skin, hives, corns and warts.

Using celandine to treat dandruff involves brewing up an herbal scalp rinse. Into six cups of water, place one teaspoon of potassium chloride (available at supermarkets as a salt substitute). Heat and stir until the potassium chloride dissolves. Then chop four ounces of fresh celandine and add it to the solution. (If fresh celandine isn't available, you can use a half-cup of the dried herb instead.) Let stand for two hours, then boil slowly for 20 minutes. Strain the plant material out and simmer, reducing the liquid to 11Ž2 cups. Add eight ounces of glycerin and continue simmering, reducing the liquid slowly to two cups. Strain the result, bottle it and store it in cool place. Use it once or twice a day as a hair rinse.

comfrey (Symphytum officinale). Allantoin, a chemical in this herb, has anti-dandruff properties, according to Hunting's Encyclopedia of Shampoo Ingredients. You might be able to find a commercial shampoo that contains comfrey at a health food store . If not, you can add a couple of drops of comfrey tincture to your favorite herbal shampoo.

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) and sesame (Sesamum indicum). Medical anthropologist John Heinerman, Ph.D., author of Heinerman's Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs, shares the following Egyptian dandruff/seborrhea treatment: Take one to two tablespoons of ginger juice (squeezed from about two grated roots) and mix it with three tablespoons of sesame oil and a half-teaspoon of lemon juice. Rub the mixture into the scalp three times a week. I think it sounds interesting, although sesame oil can be expensive. If I had dandruff, I might give this one a try.

Ginger This spice, used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a digestive aid, has many other uses as well.

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra). Licorice contains glycyrrhizin, a compound that can minimize the scalp's secretion of oils,
according to the Lawrence Review of Natural Products, a respected newsletter. Keeping oil production down should help control dandruff. You can steep a couple of handfuls of dried herb in a bottle of vinegar and use it as a hair rinse.

Plantain (Plantago, various species). Like comfrey, plantain contains allantoin. You could make a strong tea and use it as a hair rinse.

Teatree (Melaleuca, various species). Teatree oil, an antiseptic favored among aromatherapists, contains substances known as terpenes that penetrate the top layers of the scalp and carry their disinfectant activities deeper than most emollients. You might mix a few drops into a couple of tablespoons of herbal shampoo. Just don't take teatree oil, or any essential oil, internally. They are extremely concentrated, and even small quantities of many of them can be poisonous.

Scarborough Shampoo. Many herbalists recommend the old standard--one ounce each of dried sage and rosemary infused in two cups of water for 24 hours and used daily as a hair rinse. I think I'd also add thyme as an even more powerful antiseptic. Add papaya and you have the herbal combination made famous by the folk song "Scarborough Fair"--papaya, sage, rosemary and thyme. You can create what I call Scarborough Shampoo by adding a few drops of tincture of each of these herbs to a good commercial herbal shampoo.

Vinegar and apple cider. These are both old folk remedies for dandruff. Warm one or both and apply the liquid directly to the scalp, then shampoo.