You have probably never heard of Seborrheic Dermatitis and if you have heard of it thats probably because you have it. Seborrheic Dermatitis is a non-contagious skin disorder that runs in families. It’s like cradle-cap in babies, except it never goes away. Itchy, scaly, flakey scalp that causes dandruff and discomfort. If untreated it can creep down behind the ears and that is not a cute look. My dad, neice, daughter, and myself all have it in my family. We always thought the only way to treat it was with medicated shampoo. Really expensive medicated shampoo that you could buy over the counter. But once when I was in Jr High I ran out of the shampoo and my mom took me to the pharmacy to get more. The pharmacist told us that the FDA had pulled the product. I jokingly said in my Jr High sarcasm (which has never totally gone away even though I am very much an adult now) “Why did they pull it? Does it cause brain cancer or something?” The pharmacist looked so sad as he said “Uh, yes, sorry.” What?! The shampoo I had been using on my head all my life causes brain cancer? Not ok. But I still had to do something to control this craziness… so I started using Head and Shoulders for Seborrheic Dermatitis. But that did not help all that well plus it stung. Lame. I hated using it. But sometimes we do what we do because we do not know a better way.
Then I had a precious daughter. A very precious, very bald little girl. Seriously, this child had almost no hair until after her first birthday. And even then it was so white blond she still looked bald.
Seriously, Check out how bald she is even at her first birthday. But geez was she cute with hats and headbands on. Which, of course, I had a small fortune invested in.
Shortly after this photo was taken we moved to Roatan. The heat and humidity do not mix well with S.D. and little girl’s scalp got all grody. I did not want to put that nasty shampoo on my little one. So my mother-in-law did some serious investigative work (read: Google) and found us an organic solution: coconut oil.
I put about a tablespoon in a small dish and then use my finger tips to apply directly to my scalp. I keep my left hand dry and oil-free and use that clean hand to part my hair and expose the scalp. Then I apply the oil with the finger tips of my right hand to the areas of my scalp that need treatment. I leave the oil on my head for about 30 minutes and then use my regular shampoo twice and condition as normal. For my daughter I use about 1/2 tablespoon and put it on at the beginning of bath time and then wash her hair like normal. There is no more burning, no more nasty smell, and no more harmful chemical shampoo. Now we have a gentle oil, hair that smells like coconuts, and pure organic goodness. Also, as an added bonus, when I wash our hair the oil moisturizes our skin too. It has a really nice light coconut fragrance. Yum. If you go to any medical website, like Mayo Clinic, you will not find any info on Coconut Oil as a treatment. Actually, they do not talk about Coconut Oil at all. Why is this?! Good thing you found illistyle… and good thing my mother-in-law frequents chat forums for anything that will help out her darling granddaughter.
Little girl now has a lot of hair:
I do not credit her hair growth to the coconut oil, but it surely could not have harmed her. I have read all over how coconut oil is a super food and super amazing and super super. Everyone loves it. You can count me in that group. Coconut oil has been a huge blessing to my family.
Do you or a family member have Seborrheic? What have you found that works?
Do you have a great use for coconut oil? please share here: http://www.illistyle.com/2012/06/natural-seborrheic-dermatitis-treatment/
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