In mid 2015, I began to feel small bumps on the side of my scalp that I would scratch off. They seemed to be little white heads that bled a little and I never paid much attention to them. I was going through a law enforcement academy at the time, therefore we were thrashed with long workouts followed by very stressful group showers, in which we were given 2 minutes maximum to shower and 2 minutes to dress into our business attire. I chalked it up to a change in my hygiene routine and ignored the bumps (bad idea).
In late 2015, after completing the academy, I began getting a new haircut style with my regular barber. This haircut required a closer shave to the scalp... One day, I saw the small bumps begin to grow on the back of my neck and near my temple area. Since I got haircuts every two weeks, I didn't get to see the progress of the bumps unless my haircut was still fresh. My barber asked me if I was allergic to something and I said no.
To make a very long story short, I began to get new bumps everyday. Some were very very painful cysts, the size of a pea, and some looked like what I would describe as pink, flat bubble gum spread across portions of my scalp. I visited two doctors and was prescribed medication that burned my skin and was given orders not to remain in the sun. Given my job, I have to be in the sun for large portions of the day. All the doctors said was that the symptoms would eventually disappear and that there was nothing they could do. They suggested I shower more often, stress out less, and not get haircuts.
I began to feel depressed and the thought of the bumps gave me indescribable anxiety. My sex drive plummeted, my self esteem plummeted, and I became anti social.
I tried everything from white vinegar hair baths, anti-fungal soaps, Neutrogena T Gel, peppermint oil, hydrogen peroxide mixed with baking soda (burned a lot and dyed my hair a bit LOL), I even bought the famous Chinese oil called Fulikang and the yellow Chinese cream off eBay... all it did was give me the worst case of dandruff I have ever seen.... NOTHING WORKED. Week after week after week after week and nothing was helping... They were taking over at least 40% of my scalp.
I felt I was losing the war and honestly considered just scraping them off with a tough brush.... Or growing my hair out of shame...
That's when I visited this website and noticed someone's post about mixing one tea spoon of organic turmeric with one tea spoon of coconut oil... This began to work slowly but I noticed that it caused my face to flare up with rashes... I stopped using coconut oil and instead stuck to just black pepper mixed in with turmeric... within one week, ONE WEEK, the folliculitis lost most of the swelling but the cysts were still there...
I kept at it, taking this three times a day for a total of three teaspoons of turmeric mixed in with half a tea spoon of black pepper... It worked miracles...
After almost 10 full months of suffering with this condition, I am happy to say I am 95% cured... Every now and then I will get small bumps and a few white heads, but this is nothing compared to what I had before.... What worked for me was keeping some turmeric in a small jar mixed in with black pepper. I kept one jar at work on my desk and one jar at home. I swished the powder with water in my mouth and swallowed. It worked because I was consistent day in and day out.
If you are feeling depressed, anxious, angry, hopeless, don't give up the fight. I suggest you go to your local market (I went to my local Indian spices store) and purchase turmeric and black pepper.... Make a mixture and drink it with water... Be careful not to inhale the powder as you'll cough up a lung (I learned the hard way).
I currently take 2 turmeric/curcumin pills daily.... I found them on Amazon... you can buy any that have turmeric mixed in with curcumin (black pepper, this is what makes your body absorb the turmeric properly)... and my symptoms continue to be controlled 95% of the time.
I am here to thank the Earth Clinic community for providing me with this cure. I am now back to feeling comfortable about getting nice hair cuts with close to razor shaved fades... Very few bumps and even my barber is surprised to see the significant progress.
Don't give up people, you can do it. Just stay consistent and never give up.