For nearly a decade, I dealt with scalp psoriasis, seborrheic dermatitis, and chronic dandruff. I tried every medicated shampoo, every prescription, every promise. But nothing worked long-term. If anything, my scalp became more reactive, inflamed, and confused.

It took me years to realise I was trying to treat the symptoms, not the root cause and the worst part is I wasn't really helping my situation.

If you’re stuck in that same cycle, I hope these lessons help. This isn’t medical advice. This is just what I learned, through trial, error, and eventually… healing.

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1. Hot Showers Were Making It Worse

I used to blast my scalp with hot water, convinced it would “clean” everything better. But what I didn’t know is that hot water can seriously strip your scalp’s natural oils and damage its protective barrier.

When the scalp’s lipid barrier is weakened, it becomes more vulnerable to irritation, flaking, and inflammation. According to studies on transepidermal water loss (TEWL), hot water can increase moisture evaporation from the skin, leading to dryness and impaired barrier function [1].

What helped: I switched to lukewarm water. It felt insignificant at first, but within a few weeks, my scalp looked calmer and less red, if I can I now shower cold.

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2. Overwashing can disbalance your scalp further

When the flakes got bad, I washed my hair daily. Sometimes twice. I’d use strong anti-dandruff shampoos and even a lice comb to scrape flakes off my scalp. It felt like I was “doing something,” but in reality, I was over-cleansing and destroying my scalp’s microbiome.

Most anti-dandruff shampoos also contain harsh ingredients like coal tar or zinc pyrithione, which may offer short-term relief but damage the scalp's microbiome long-term. This triggers a rebound effect, your scalp overproduces oil as a response, which feeds the fungus (Malassezia) causing seborrheic dermatitis and dandruff.  [2]

There’s also growing research on how disrupting the skin’s microbiome (the balance of good bacteria and fungi) can worsen inflammatory skin conditions.

What helped: I now wash my hair 1–2x per week max. I use a water rinse in between if I need to remove buildup, and I oil my scalp the night before washing. This reduced my itchiness and helped rebalance my scalp naturally.

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3. Sleeping with damp hair was a major mistake

I did this for years. I’d wash my hair at night and go to bed with it still damp. Turns out, I was creating the perfect environment for Malassezia, the yeast-like fungus linked to seb derm and dandruff [3]. Moisture + warmth = optimum fungal-friendly environment.

What helped: I started fully air drying my hair before bed and swapped to a clean cotton pillowcase (washed 2x/week). Small changes, but they made a big difference in my morning flare-ups.

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4. Scratching and picking made everything worse

There’s something almost addictive about peeling flakes, especially when they build up thick. But all I did was create micro-tears, worsen inflammation, and spread bacteria across my scalp.

I threw my lice-comb away and accepted that trying to remove my flakes like that just wasn’t going to work.

What helped: I realised the urge to scratch was actually a sign of imbalance, not something to act on. Once I focused on healing the skin barrier (and managing stress), the urge subsided. I also focused on moisturising by scalp by doing weekly oiling masks with natural anti-fungal oils rather than trying to wash out my scalp constantly and drying it out.

If your scalp is constantly itchy, that’s a sign something deeper is off and scratching only delays healing.

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5. I focused on symptoms and only trusted dermatologists

This is a tough one. Dermatologists helped me get a diagnosis, and I’m grateful for that. But all I was ever told was to use stronger shampoos, more steroid creams, and to "manage the symptoms."

• No one talked to me about:
• Gut health and how it connects to skin inflammation (aka the gut-skin axis)
• The role of chronic stress on flare-ups
• How overusing medicated products can thin the skin barrier

Eventually, I teamed up with my sister (who studied biochemistry) and we dug into the research. There’s growing evidence that conditions like seborrheic dermatitis and psoriasis are influenced by internal imbalances, not just external triggers [4].

One study even found a link between gut microbiome imbalances and psoriasis severity [5]. That changed everything for me. I began to focus on:

• Anti-inflammatory foods (less sugar, more omega-3s)
• Reducing stress with sunlight, movement, and better sleep
• Scalp rituals with gentle, natural oils

That’s when my scalp finally began to heal.

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What actually helped me heal

Once I zoomed out and started supporting my body from within, things changed. Here’s what I did:

• Reduced ultra-processed foods, dairy, and sugar
• Focused on anti-inflammatory whole foods
• Added fermented foods for gut diversity
• Took supplements like Omega 3's, milk thislte and turmeric for inflammation and liver detox.
• Used a minimal scalp oiling routine with natural oils (like neem, black seed, Tamanu, Centella and jojoba) for my scalp (my custom blend is available on our website for those who want to try it)
• Stuck to lukewarm water, reduced shampoo use, and focused on barrier repair.

We now know the skin and gut communicate, it’s called the gut-skin axis, and it’s backed by more and more research every year.

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Final Thoughts

If you’ve tried everything and still feel stuck, you’re not alone. You’re not crazy. And most importantly, you’re not out of options.

It took me nearly a decade to realise that healing isn’t about finding the strongest product. It’s about creating the right conditions for your body to heal.

You don’t need to go all-in overnight. Start with one change. One small shift. Then build from there.

If you’re curious, I put everything I’ve learned into a free healing guide , you can grab it here.

Let’s stop covering symptoms and start healing the root.

– Anton from Nima Organics

Sources:

[1] Proksch et al. (2008) - Transepidermal water loss and barrier function

[2] Naldi et al. (2009) - Seborrheic dermatitis and treatments 

[3] Gaitanis et al. (2012) - Malassezia yeasts and skin diseases

[4] Salem et al. (2018) - The gut-skin axis

[5] Chen et al. (2021) - Gut microbiota and psoriasis severity