After you wash your hair, you fully expect it to be clean and flake-free, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes, dandruff can be tricky, persisting even after you've done your best to wash it away. It also helps to be sure what you are looking at, since telling dandruff from dry scalp changes the fix.
If you are struggling with dandruff that sticks around despite your best efforts, we've got good news! This article will explore some of the reasons why you still have dandruff after washing your hair and give you some heavy-duty tools to fight it.
Why Do I Still Have Dandruff After Washing My Hair?
Regular washing sessions are enough to keep dandruff at bay for some, but they aren't enough in every case. There are so many variables in play when it comes to scalp health, and we'll take a look at some of them below.
Here are three reasons why your dandruff keeps returning after you wash your hair.
- Your shampoo is drying out your scalp
- You aren't properly washing your hair
- You're not treating the dandruff
Key Takeaways
- Switch Your Shampoo: Use anti-dandruff or gentle shampoos that target Malassezia yeast and excess oil. Avoid harsh chemicals that irritate the scalp and exacerbate dandruff.
- Keep Oils Off Your Scalp: While you're treating dandruff, keep oils and heavy products on your hair strands, not your scalp.
- Proper Washing Technique: Ensure thorough washing to remove dead cells and product buildup. Massage the shampoo into your scalp and leave it on for a few minutes before you rinse.
- Manage Stress Levels: Stress can make a dandruff flare-up worse, so it's worth managing while you treat it.
- Diet Supports, It Doesn't Treat: Eating well is good for your scalp, but cutting out sugar or dairy, or taking a supplement, isn't a treatment for dandruff. Keep your dandruff shampoo going.
- Seek Professional Help: If you still have dandruff, see a doctor to find out why and get treatment. Doctors can diagnose underlying conditions like contact dermatitis. A flaky, itchy scalp in a young child may be scalp ringworm, which needs prescription medicine.
You can also hear this as an episode of Curl Science, our podcast. It's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcast apps.
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1. Your Shampoo Is Drying Out Your Scalp
When you wash your hair with a shampoo that contains harsh surfactants or lacks moisturizing ingredients, your scalp may end up drier than the Sahara Desert. A dry scalp eventually cracks, and the top layer of skin flakes off.
Those flakes can pass for dandruff, but they have a different cause, and the American Academy of Dermatology says the two can be hard to tell apart without a dermatologist. The quickest clue is what clears them. A dry scalp usually improves with a gentle, regular shampoo, while dandruff improves with a dandruff shampoo.
2. You Aren't Properly Washing Your Hair
Flakes that persist after shampooing may be a sign that you aren't washing your hair well enough. Although you may be tempted to rush through the process, rushing doesn't give a dandruff shampoo time to work.
To get the flakes out, you'll need to scrub your scalp and hair thoroughly (we'll get into how to wash your hair properly later on in this article).
3. You're Not Treating the Dandruff
If you're not actively treating your dandruff, you can't expect the flaking to stop. And even if you do succeed in washing away all the flakes you see, if you don't take care of the root cause of dandruff and implement anti-dandruff remedies, the flakes will reappear before long.
5 Ways to Get Rid of Dandruff
Now that you know why washing doesn't always remove dandruff, you're probably looking for ways to eliminate it for good. That's why, in this section, we'll walk you through five methods, starting with the one that has the most research behind it.
1. Switch to an Anti-Dandruff Shampoo
Anti-dandruff shampoo is one of the easiest and most effective ways to get rid of dandruff once and for all. As the name suggests, anti-dandruff shampoos contain active ingredients that fight dandruff at the source and leave your scalp feeling soothed, moisturized, and clean.
You've got many anti-dandruff shampoos to choose from, so shop around and try out a few to find one that works for you.
How Much Each Shampoo Improved Dandruff
If you wash your hair often and your flakes still come back, your shampoo may be why. In the first trial, people with mild to moderate dandruff washed their hair every day for four weeks. A regular shampoo improved their dandruff by 11%. The same routine with a 5% tea tree oil shampoo improved it by 41%.
| Shampoo | Improvement |
|---|---|
| 5% tea tree oil | |
| Regular shampoo, no active ingredient |
| Shampoo | Improvement |
|---|---|
| Ketoconazole 2% | |
| Zinc pyrithione 1% |
We split these into two tables because the two trials scored dandruff in different ways, so compare the shampoos inside each table, not across them. The second trial also included people with seborrheic dermatitis, a more inflamed, more stubborn form of dandruff, and the ketoconazole group had fewer flare-ups in the month after they stopped.
Here's the part that matters when you're choosing a shampoo. Dandruff is tied to a yeast called Malassezia that lives on almost everyone's scalp. Washing rinses the flakes off your scalp, but a regular shampoo does little about the yeast, which is why your flakes keep coming back. So pick an anti-dandruff shampoo with one of the active ingredients in these tables, and give your scalp four full weeks with it before you decide whether it's working, because that's how long both trials ran. The ketoconazole in the second trial was a 2% strength, which needs a prescription in the US; the 1% version is sold over the counter. If your scalp is red and sore, or you're still flaking after a month, that's worth showing to a doctor.
Sources: Satchell et al., J Am Acad Dermatol 2002;47(6):852–5 · Piérard-Franchimont et al., Skin Pharmacol Appl Skin Physiol 2002;15(6):434–41 · Prescription status: US FDA drug labels, DailyMed.
2. Weekly Scalp Exfoliation
Your regular wash routine might not be enough to cut through the thick layer of dead skin cells, product, and grease that builds up on your scalp. That's where exfoliation comes in!
Exfoliating your scalp loosens dry, flaky skin and helps clear away excess oil, which is what the yeast behind dandruff feeds on. It also helps reduce itchiness, which can keep you from picking at your scalp and worsening your symptoms.
For the best results, exfoliate your scalp once a week right before or after you've shampooed it. There are a number of ways you can exfoliate your scalp, including:
- Scalp massages
- Shampoo brushes
- Chemical exfoliants
- Scalp scrubs
3. The Importance of Eating Well While Treating Dandruff
Eating well is good for your whole body, and your scalp is part of it. Think of it as support for your treatment, not a replacement for it.
That includes drinking plenty of water and eating nutrient-dense foods like fresh fruits, leafy greens, and veggies.
Keep using your dandruff shampoo while you do. Cutting out sugar, dairy, or fried foods isn't a treatment for dandruff on its own, so don't stop the shampoo to test a diet change.
4. Control Your Stress Levels
Stress can make a dandruff flare-up worse. Flare-ups are also most common in winter and early spring, so it helps to know when to expect them.
If you notice your dandruff seems to flare up whenever you're feeling stressed, do your best to manage your anxiety.
Learn coping techniques to help minimize the effects of everyday stressors and learn how to regulate your emotions through practices like deep breathing, talk therapy, and meditation.
5. Try a Homemade Dandruff Remedy
There's no shortage of DIY dandruff remedies online. Use them as extra options, and keep dandruff shampoo as your main treatment.
Tea tree oil is the one with a dandruff trial behind it, and that trial used a ready-made shampoo with 5% tea tree oil, not drops added at home. Leave coconut oil off your scalp while you're treating dandruff, since the yeast behind dandruff feeds on oil.
Want to go the DIY treatment route? Use the instructions below to try a green tea dandruff rinse:
- Gather your ingredients. You'll need a few cotton balls, a lemon peel, 8 ounces of water, and a sachet of green tea.
- Boil the 8 ounces of water and then add the sachet of green tea and all of the other ingredients.
- After 2 minutes, take the green tea mixture off of the heat and allow it to cool down.
- Load up the cotton balls with the mixture and apply it to your entire scalp.
- Wait up to an hour, then rinse.
- Shampoo and condition your hair as you normally would.
You can do this rinse once a week, alongside your dandruff shampoo.
How to Wash Hair With Dandruff
Using the proper technique to wash your hair is crucial to eliminate dandruff. Start by gently brushing or combing your hair before you step into the shower.
In addition to getting rid of tangles, brushing your hair helps loosen dandruff flakes and redistributes the natural oils on your scalp so they won't prevent the shampoo from reaching your skin.
Instead of just slathering shampoo onto your strands, focus on your scalp. Part your hair so you can reach your scalp, and apply the anti-dandruff shampoo only to your scalp, since the ingredients that treat dandruff can dry out your curls. Gently massage it in, then leave it on.
How long you leave it on matters. The American Academy of Dermatology says some dandruff shampoos need up to 5 to 10 minutes on your scalp before you rinse, and in one small study, a five-minute wait worked better than rinsing right away. Most bottles only say to lather and rinse, so check the directions on yours.
Leave no area of your scalp untouched. Rushing through the process will only leave you with caked-on dirt, oil, and flakes.
Once you've rinsed your hair thoroughly, shampoo and condition with your usual products, then apply conditioner to the mid-lengths and ends of your hair.
While you're treating dandruff, keep oils and heavy stylers off your scalp and apply them to your hair strands and ends instead. The American Academy of Dermatology advises using pomade sparingly because it can cause flare-ups, and the Mayo Clinic notes that products that build up on your scalp can worsen dandruff.
For curly and coily hair, the American Academy of Dermatology suggests using a dandruff shampoo about once a week, if your hair tolerates it. Give it about four weeks, and once your scalp clears, keep up a maintenance wash about once a week, because dandruff tends to come back.
When to Reach Out to a Professional
Although there are many dandruff treatments out there, some situations warrant professional attention. Reach out for help if you've tried various remedies, and nothing seems to work or if your flakes are starting to impact your quality of life.
Also, contact a doctor immediately if your dandruff is accompanied by severe bleeding, pus, pain, or crusting. A professional will help you diagnose and treat the problem before it worsens.
When a Child Has a Flaky Scalp
Dandruff usually starts around puberty, so a flaky, itchy scalp in a young child may be scalp ringworm instead. The name is misleading, since no worm is involved; it's a contagious fungal infection. In the United States, it's most common in children aged 3 to 9, especially Black and Latino children.
Early on, it can look like plain flaking. Later, there may be scaly bald patches or black dots where hairs have broken off. Shampoo alone won't cure it; it often requires prescription oral medication, and severe cases can scar. So if your child has a flaky scalp, especially with broken hairs or bald patches, see a doctor instead of reaching for a dandruff shampoo.
When It Might Be Something Else
In adults, scalp psoriasis can look like dandruff, with thicker, silvery scale, and a reaction to hair dye or a styling product can look similar. If your crown itches or burns and your hair is thinning there, see a dermatologist, since that can be an early sign of a scarring type of hair loss called central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA).
Dandruff itself doesn't cause bald patches. If you have patches of hair loss or a widening part, see a dermatologist rather than waiting on a shampoo.
How Do You Get Rid of Dandruff Flakes After Washing Your Hair?
To eliminate dandruff flakes after washing your hair, consider switching to a specialized anti-dandruff or medicated shampoo containing active ingredients like zinc pyrithione or selenium sulfide.
Exfoliate your scalp weekly to remove dead skin cells, product buildup, and excess oil. Properly washing your hair involves massaging the shampoo thoroughly into your scalp, ensuring the product reaches the skin to combat the flaky scalp issue.
What if My Dandruff Is Not Going Away?
If your dandruff is not going away, it may be due to using a regular shampoo that's not effectively addressing the scalp condition, or your hair washing technique needs improvement.
Give each shampoo about four weeks, and if one doesn't work, try one with a different active ingredient. Stress can worsen a flare-up, so it's worth managing too. If these steps don't help, see a dermatologist to rule out conditions like scalp psoriasis.
Why Do I Still Have Dandruff After Washing My Hair With Dandruff Shampoo?
Persisting dandruff after using dandruff shampoo could be due to not properly washing the hair and scalp. Also, the shampoo may not suit your specific scalp type or condition.
Make sure the shampoo stays on your scalp long enough. Massage it in, then leave it on for a few minutes before you rinse, about five if the directions allow. If the issue continues after about four weeks, try a shampoo with a different active ingredient or ask a dermatologist.
Why Do I Still Have Dandruff After Using Head and Shoulders?
Even after using a renowned brand like Head and Shoulders, dandruff can persist for various reasons. These conditions include the severity of the scalp condition, how thoroughly you wash your hair, or underlying skin conditions like scalp psoriasis.
Ensure you are massaging the shampoo well into your scalp to target the sebaceous glands and address oiliness or dry skin issues. If the dandruff persists, consider seeking professional advice for a diagnosis and tailored treatment.
How Often Should I Wash My Hair if I Have Dandruff?
Washing your hair daily can benefit those with an oily scalp who need to reduce flakiness. Others must adjust their washing schedules based on their scalp's response to avoid dry hair. For curly and coily hair, the American Academy of Dermatology suggests a dandruff shampoo about once a week, if your hair tolerates it; people with fine or straight hair may need it twice a week.
The frequency of hair washing for individuals with dandruff should be based on the severity of their condition and their specific hair type. An anti-dandruff or medicated shampoo, rather than a regular shampoo, can be more effective. Always ensure thorough washing to remove product buildup and promote a healthy scalp.
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Dandruff is often a sign of an imbalanced scalp. It's influenced by oily skin, using the wrong hair products, and cold weather. Taking swift action is essential. Consider switching to a gentle shampoo. You can also use hair care products with salicylic acid to address oil glands and reduce flakes.
If issues persist, consult a healthcare provider to treat underlying conditions. Allergic reactions or cradle cap in kids need professional diagnoses. Use these tips to keep your scalp healthy and flake-free.
Dandruff is your scalp's way of telling you something isn't right. Treating your symptoms right away is the best way to ensure they don't get any worse. We hope this article has given you the tools you need to keep your scalp healthy and flake-free!
