What kind of flakes do you have?

Read this if you want to get rid of your scalp flakes!

Dry Skin

If your flakes are…

• Tiny, powdery, primarily white in color, and your scalp skin is even-toned and clear, then you probably have dry scalp. This common condition is exactly what it sounds like - you don’t have enough scalp oil on your head. Without a protective oil barrier, your topmost scalp skin cells will die faster than normal, thus creating clumps. 
  
• The most common causes are environmental - many people have dry-scalp flare ups in the wintertime, when many climates suddenly become drier than in other seasons. Another common trigger for dry scalp is overwashing, or using shampoo that contains concentrated, or very potent soap. 

Dandruff

If your flakes are… 

• Sea-salt sized, oily, off-white or yellow in hue, primarily on the crown or hairline, and accompanied by itchiness, then you probably have dandruff. This is a much more stubborn condition that is most often caused by a fungus in the yeast family called Malassezia. This fungus feeds on your scalp oil, produces byproducts that trigger your immune system, which causes inflammation and increases your cell turnover… thus creating a larger surplus of dead skin cells and larger clumps than you’d see with dry scalp.
  
  
• The most common causes are still under active scientific study, but we know enough to say that dandruff arises from a mixture of genetic and environmental conditions unique to every scalp. Some people experience worse dandruff in heat and humidity, others report more intense shedding in cold and dry conditions. Some people report dandruff flare-ups from stress, dietary changes, or sensitivities to various hair product ingredients, etc. It’s complicated! All we really know is that too much oil and too much yeast fungus are the recipe for dandruff. 

Seborrheic Dermatitis

If your flakes are… 

• Thicker, well-defined, silvery scales extending past the hairline, and/or on other surfaces of your skin such as your T-zone, elbows, knees etc. If you’re severely itchy and the underlying skin is red or inflamed, then you probably have seborrheic dermatitis. Think of this like a more extreme form of dandruff. It’s bad news. Think of it like a more extreme form of dandruff that can appear anywhere on your body. Mine was so awful that I started a shampoo company. The good news is that while the symptoms are worse, the root causes are largely the same.

So what’s going on?

Your skin is constantly renewing itself. Old cells die and fall off while new ones form underneath. This process should be invisible. As you can(‘t) see on most other parts of your body, there are no flakes.  If you have flakes on your scalp, then something is causing your body to shed dead cells faster than normal, and they are clumping into those ‘flakes’. 

So what’s driving your increased cell turnover? It all goes back to the interaction of malassezia yeast fungus and your scalp oil! In short, the fungus eats your scalp oil and excretes waste that irritates your skin, thus triggering your immune system to increase your cell turnover – essentially to push those irritants up and away.  

Here’s the tricky part - most dandruff shampoos use powerful soaps that strip your scalp oil in order to starve that fungus. The problem is your body will work double time to replace that oil, often ending up with more than it started with! This rebound effect sets you up for big, flakey flare-ups, especially if that anti-dandruff shampoo also fails to contain an anti-fungal active ingredient… (most don’t!) 

We formulated our shampoo because we couldn’t find anything on the market that contained both a suitably strong anti-fungal and soaps gentle enough to avoid triggering that oil rebound effect. From there, we set out to make this the only hair product we actually need, because sensitive scalps thrive on simplicity. We added all natural anti-inflammatories to cut down on redness, salon-grade conditioning elements to hydrate and strengthen our hair, and a healthy dose of menthol to cool and soothe. 

Structure of Skin is designed to work with your body, with the understanding that every body has unique needs.  So you can use it anywhere you need, as often as you need. From twice a week to twice a day, you can find a balance that keeps you flake-free. We guarantee it.