How Dry Scalp Made Me Adopt Good Hair Practises. Here's How To Get Rid of it

A couple of months ago I adopted the practise of washing my hair weekly. It did have a lot of benefits but it was mainly to manage the flaking I noticed when I scratched my scalp every once a while as little as 2 days after a wash and it itched terribly.

After a while, I noticed that the flakes were everyone on the same day I had washed my hair or the day right after. At this point, I knew it was more than just dirt. There had to be more to this than just dirty scalp. Initially, I had thought 

• it was because I applied very minimal oil or cream to my scalp, so I should apply hair butter more often
• it was dry, so I should spray with water more often
• it was because my scalp needed oil, so I should directly apply oil to my scalp at least twice a week

By this time, I was exasperated and just felt like cutting my hair yet again (this is one of the reasons why I started cutting it. It itched A LOT although there was no flaking). It was during one of these times I visited Tresses Salon for a new product Koyinsola wanted to try. When it got to styling, the particular stylist randomly made mention of 'dry scalp'. She said I had dry scalp and it kinda stuck. 

Fast forward a couple of months when I could absolutely take it no longer, I decided to do some research to know the difference between Dry Scalp and Dandruff, especially as both of them seemend to be characterised by flaking and itchiness. This is what I found

1. Dry Scalp and Dandruff do have the same symptoms i.e. flaking and itchiness; but they are ultimately different
2. Dry scalp can be cured and gotten rid of, Dandruff can only be managed
3. The flakes in Dry scalp are dry and smaller, the flakes in Dandruff are oily and larger
4. Dry scalp is as a result of dryness on the scalp, which may also appear in other parts of the skin, Dandruff is caused by the over-production of a fungus called Malassezia which typically is an unharmful yeast fungus that grows on the human skin.

How I Got Rid of Dry Scalp

Step 1 

I got rid of the dry scalp first by identifying it and knowing what it was. Trust me, the first step to solving any problem is first understanding it - if you don't understand it, you can't solve it. That's what I did. 

Step 2

After determining that it was indeed dry scalp, I proceeded to let Koyinsola of Tresses know. As a professional Tricologist, if anyone knew what to do, it was her. Although, through the research I did, I was able to discover that Tea Tree oil helps in the treatment of Dry Scalp, I just knew she would also have a solution. And she did!

Koyinsola's first solution was a Scalp Exfoliation. I had never heard of one until that day so it was a very interesting process. A scalp exfoliation is done after shampooing the scalp (it's pretty much the same principle as a body exfoliation), before conditioner. 

It didn't get rid of all the flakes but it lifted and softened the flakes enough for me to return to my routine of weekly hair washes. 

Step 3

She agreed that tea tree oil would help but instead of applying the oil directly to my scalp or mixing it with oil at all, she gave me a little applicator bottle with tea tree oil and water mixed together. She said that was a better way of making sure the affected areas were treated with Tea Tree oil. I went a step further to add drops of tea tree oil in every single liquid product I use for my hair - shampoo, conditioner, hair serum, leave-in conditioner - including my spray bottle. 

Step 4

I got Sulphur8 - the shampoo and the hair cream. They have been a life saver! While I don't use the shampoo all the time when washing my hair, I apply the cream every single time I am styling my hair weekly. 

Step 5

Which frankly, is the most important, I wash my hair weekly. Without fail, I wash my hair and scalp on a weekly basis with the tea tree infused products and it has greatly improved the texture and made managing my hair much easier. 

I've not had any incident of hair flaking after these steps and I'm very happy about it. I continue to use tea tree oil in my hair products but not as much as previously, while I also maintain the use of Sulphur8 as well. 

Did you suffer from dry scalp or know someone who did? Share this article with them. If you know any other treatments for dry scalp, I'd love to hear them.