Effective Natural Remedies for Seborrheic Dermatitis Relief

I use Organic Apple Cider Vinegar for my seborrheic dermatitis and sensitive scalp. I typically take about 1/4 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar and 1/4 cup of water and mix it in a spray bottle (1 part to 1 part). I spray it directly on my scalp, by combing through the different sections. Then leave it on for at least 10-15 minutes. Then I rinse it out and use a mild shampoo & conditioner. The longer the better. Its best to do it on the weekends or at night because it does smell. (2-3 times a week) The worse you have it the longer it will take to see results. I started using the ACV because the Nizoral shampoo started making my hair really dry and brittle and it started to break and fall out. I have pretty oily skin and I needed to wash my hair every day. For the face, take a cotton ball and dab the mixture on the spots. And make sure you dry your hair good, the moisture breeds bacteria.

Hi I just bought all this ingredients - apple cider vinegar and baking soda and excited to begin. I m using Head and Shoulders and its working well but am getting worried as my hair is always falling. This was the same when i was using Selsun which also worked well with me. SO im giving this a try and crossing my fingers that it will work as well as everyone here. Will keep all of you posted.

If you color your hair at home or in the salon don't use Hydrogen Peroxide in any strength. If you get it on your hair even from using it on your face and get a perm or relaxer you hair will melt. Vinegar is an acid.

Update to my post about GSE and seb derm around nose. The external application of grapefruit seed extract WORKED! It's been 2 months now and I have no peeling and flaking. Occasionally I will have one postule appear halfway down my smile line after I eat chocolate ice cream or a piece of chocolate, but other than that, nothing. The bump disappears within 12 hours. I kept up the topical treatment every day for about a week, then once every 3-4 days for another week, then stopped altogether. Haven't applied it since then. Yahoo and Yea!

hi Ted, what soap did you use to clean your nose with the next day?

Well. I have had slowly worsening contact dermatitis & seborrhea on my face and scalp for 20 years. I have been using corizone lotion and cream to control it poorly for the last 6 years. I am not a health food freak, but I somehow found this site and decided, "What the hell!" I bought a bottle of Raw Apple Cider Vinegar and put it on my scalp and face for going on two weeks now. The scalp has gone from maybe 15 patches on my scalp to one, and the dozen or so patches which alternate on my face have just finished cycling out completely. So far so good. I am utterly amazed and hope that it continues to work. I don't think it is placebo because I've tried many things which were supposed to help which never did. Also, the quality of the commentaries on this remedy was very good, which helped a lot.

Also, I took a tablespoon in vegetable juice twice daily and within two days my appetite diminished by probably 50%, if not more. It was the damnest thing. I just didn't feel like eating, but otherwise felt fine maybe better. I ran low on vinegar and am waiting for supermarket to restock and have stopped ingesting ACV for perhaps 6 days now and my appetite has returned. I have had oral surgery during the last week, so perhaps the tooth infection may have influenced my appetite. But I hope the appetite supression returns when I get more vinegar. If it does I will regard all of this as a freaking miracle. At this point I would say to anyone, "Try it. What do you have to lose?"

Apple Cider Vinegar has cured my dermatitis/ sebhorea by 95%. I posted in Sept., 08 about cider vinegar alleviating my dermatitis on scalp and face.

Now in December, 08 I have dermatitis of scalp alleviated by 95%. That on my face is somewhat different. After a month or so, I began to get rapidly cyling minor patches on my face even though I am applying to face every day--several times. The patches would generally show up as dry rough spots which would flake if you gently scratched them. I would remove flakes then apply vinegar, which would show red and generally alleviate in 2-3 days. Now I seem to have fewer patches lasting shorter time and healing faster. I wish it would go away completely, but this is so much better than before. I just hope it doesn't stop working at some point.

I haven't been using the organic raw vinegar because it wasnpt available for some time, and have only been applying the regular cider vinegar to skin. I got a bottle of raw vinegar two days ago and have started to take a couple of tablespoons in V-8 juice and hope this helps and maybe will also reduce appetite as it did before. The V-8 is a very good vehicle as it just seems to be more tangy with vinegar. I just couldn't take vinegar in water and not at all unpalatable. I don't know if using raw organic vinegar has any virtue at all. I am sort of conditioned to thinkl that it should because it is, well, ORGANIC. The Del Monte Cider Vinegar seems to work as well on my face and scalp as the raw. Perhaps just plain white vinegar would do the job. Really,I imagine the acetic acid is the active ingredient. Has anyone out there tried white vinegar?

I know of two fellows who work in stores I frequent who have bad dermatitis of face and scalp. I really want to tell them about this, but haven't had the nerve to do it. I guess I will screw up the courage and tell them as I wish that if anybody who had seen me knew about this that they would have told me and spared me years of embarassment, frustration, and misery.

This is my third posting about using apple cider vinegar since September, 08. Pretty right off the bat my dermatitis got 95% better. Then I went through around 3 months where patches cylced in and out on my face and scalp, but continuing to diminish. Now, I would have to say that my improvement has reached 98%. It's not perfect, but very, very good. I am so grateful for the people who run this site as well as for the fine people who contribute. This is an extremely well vetted site, with intelligent and respectful input. None of the hysterical, profane, tell-you-a-miracle-for-a-fee shysterism. Thank you again. This is internet as it is supposed to be.

FYI, I use ZNP Bar (zinc pyrithione soap bar) from Steiffel Laboratories as shampoo and face cleanser. It does a really good job of loosening and removing patches of dry skin. I then apply apple cider vinegar generously to my scalp and then blow-dry my hair. I follow this with facial application of vinegar. I quit using organic vinegar because it was just hard to get and have been using regular good quality Del Monte Apple Cider Vinegar. It seems to work at least as good as the raw organic vinegar, if not better, plus it doesn't have the raw ingredients which seem to smell more and coat my hair with gunk. My hair is silky and shiny, looks healthy, which is all to the better. A lot of gain for little cost and effort.

I think I would avoid using store brands of cider vinegar because they say that they are made of "distilled vinegar with cider flavoring"--which seems to indicate to me that it is not actually Apple Cider Vinegar per se. There is not much of a difference in price for name brand which state "contains apple cider vinegar." The raw organic vinegar costs considerably more, although nothing compared to the various and sundry bogus salves, unguents, lotions, and cortisone, steroids which I used in the past. I would not be surprised to find out that it is the acetic acid in the vinegar which is the helpful element, and not the apple cider, but I haven't been brave enough to switch to white vinegar yet. If anyone has, I would be pleased to hear about it. Thank you.

Apple Cider Vinegar helped my seborrheic dermatitis. Over six months ago I developed seborrheic dermatitis under my nostrils and the sides of my nose. The dermatologist prescribed a steroid cream which did not help and which lots of people have advised not to use long term. After finding this site I tried the ACV. I apply it on the affected area once a day with a cotton ball. After doing this a few days the scales dried up and I was able to pick them right off. But what I think has really helped is drinking the ACV. I drink it with boiling water and honey. About 2 tablespoons ACV. I use the boiling/hot water because the honey doesn't dissolve in cold water. And I drink it with a straw so it doesn't ruin my tooth enamel. The affected area is soft and smooth now!! It's still a bit red but the scales are gone. Much easier to conceal. I still drink and apply the ACV almost every day.

Thanks to this site for a natural remedy that works!

I wrote earlier this year about Apple Cider Vinegar on my scalp, it is very helpful. One thing that I wanted to share with readers also that I hope will help is a product that is sold in the African American hair care section of many grocery stores. The product is called Sulpher 8 Medicated. It is a balm that really helps the dry skin around my hairline. It has a cooling effect like menthol. It does have a slight odor but it is not over powering.It has brought me a great amount of relief.

I've had moderately severe seborrheic dermitis of my face, scalp since puberty, and in the 15 years since then, I have seen 4 dermatologists and tried every OTC dandruff/sd shampoo and every prescription cream, corticosteroids, etc. My facial skin was always red, inflamed or recovering from a flare up, or about to have another one. I really believed that I would always have to deal with this. On your site, I read about treating my skin with a cottonball of ACV. I tried it, it stung the skin until it dried. But immediately there seemed to be a benefit. After 3 days, my skin looked noticeably better and was soft and the inflammation went away. My skin completely quit flaking. I do treat it with a cottonball of ACV at least once a day it has successfully treated my problem since the first day I used it, 6/11/07, about 5 months straight! I've NEVER had anything work like this. It is almost unbelievable. My theory is the ACV kills the microscopic fungus that likes my chemistry on my skin. If I skip ACV for several days, I notice my skin slowly starts to get red and flaky again. ACV stings the most over the "flared up" areas, barely at all on healthy skin. I can't say enough about how thrilled I am about ACV for SD

Hi

I suggest trying natural remedies. How about something like Ayurveda. You know I had a similar case and tried natural remedies at one of the good Indian hospitals AyurVAID. They have this dedicated team of doctors and variety of treatments that they are tehre at affordable prices. You know they also have an online system to solve patient queries. I reckon you should check out their website www.ayurvaid.com

I'm a 21 year old female and I've had Seborrheic Dermatitis for about a year now. I first started noticing it because the part of my scalp around my bangs above my forehead would get itchy and whenever I scratched it these big, gross dry flakes would fall all over the place. I didn't pay much attention to it until months later I woke up and noticed these two itchy bumps behind one of my ears right by my hair line. I then started realizing that I had quite a few dry, flaky patches all over my hair line, some worse than others. Sometimes it would get so dry and flaky that when I scratched, my scalp would bleed. I was starting to get embarassed about it so I saw a dermatoligist and then the health physician at school. Both said I had Seborrheic Dermatitis and that I needed to use a shampoo with ketocenoconozole and salicylic acid. So I bought a million different shampoos....all the typical ones recommended...head and shoulders, t-gel with coal tar, nizoral both 1 and 2%, tea trea shampoo, a natural pine tar shampoo, and the list goes on. None of these things, no matter how well I followed directions worked. The health physician at school gave me a prescription for a mild steroid solution which I was scared to death of. She convinced me it was ok to use for a short period of time. I tried it for two weeks and it went away, but as soon as i stopped using it, the flakes came back even worse! I wasn't about to use the steroid again because I read so many horrible side effects and diseases that could be accumulated from using such a horrible drug. Why would they make such a frightening thing legal? I started looking up natural remedies, which I should have just done in the first place. I found this website, and tried about 6 different ways of using ACV on my scalp. I tried the spray bottle with part ACV, part peroxide, part water--this didn't work so well. I tried using a dropper and dropping it on the parts of my scalp--this didn't work so well either. I tried pouring capfuls of straight ACV on my head before shampooing, after shampooing, between shampooing....and tried leaving it on for 10 minutes, 1 hour, half an hour....just to see what the best method was. Although this got rid of many flakes, there were still some, and it still drove me crazy. Finally, I tried shampooing my hair with an all natural jojoba treatment shampoo, then conditioning with the jojoba treatment conditioner, and combing off the flakes very carefully with the conditioner in, on my scalp. I rinsed my hair, and poured capfuls of a mixture of a 70% organic (braggs brand) Apple Cider Vinegar, a dash of hydrogen peroxide, and a little bit of distilled water all over my scalp and hair. I put my hair up in a towel for about an hour and hung out smelling bad in my house :) After an hour, I showered and washed it all out, then I combed my hair and put organic ACV on a Q-tip and rubbed it into the specific flaky, inflamed areas, and left it on all night. Now, this sounds crazy, but after trying everying, I woke up this morning, and I am like 95% flake free. The really bad inflamed, dry flaky spots have improved like 60% and look better than they ever have. After trying everything, I was shocked to see that just trying different methods led me to discover a very natural, very safe solution to a very annoying problem. I will let you know if it comes back. Good luck and stay healthy everyone. We will find a way to rid ourselves of this miserable problem!

You posted this a few years ago, did it work? I have always had Seborrheic Dermatitis, but it is has been under control by using t-gel once a week for about 5 minutes. I think my hormones (peri-menopause) have got it out of whack. Nizoral works but it does dry my hair out and makes it brittle. I want to try the apple cider vinegar on my hair but I'm worried that it will make my hair fall out. Seems people mention it doesn't work and causes hair to fall out, but did they have dandruff that wasn't Seborrheic Dermatitis? There are many different types of 'dandruff' aren't there?

Hi NC, could you tell us more about your ACV and hot cream oil mixture? I'm just wondering what exactly the hot cream oil is, so I can try it myself. Thank you!

I've had moderately severe seborrheic dermitis of my face, scalp since puberty, and in the 15 years since then, I have seen 4 dermatologists and tried every OTC dandruff/sd shampoo and every prescription cream, corticosteroids, etc. My facial skin was always red, inflamed or recovering from a flare up, or about to have another one. I really believed that I would always have to deal with this. On your site, I read about treating my skin with a cottonball of ACV. I tried it, it stung the skin until it dried. But immediately there seemed to be a benefit. After 3 days, my skin looked noticeably better and was soft and the inflammation went away. My skin completely quit flaking. I do treat it with a cottonball of ACV at least once a day it has successfully treated my problem since the first day I used it, 6/11/07, about 5 months straight! I've NEVER had anything work like this. It is almost unbelievable. My theory is the ACV kills the microscopic fungus that likes my chemistry on my skin. If I skip ACV for several days, I notice my skin slowly starts to get red and flaky again. ACV stings the most over the "flared up" areas, barely at all on healthy skin. I can't say enough about how thrilled I am about ACV for SD.

I have "suffered" for more than 15 years with red, scaley, itchy scalp. It's so embarrassing. I have tried all kinds of shampoo: with salicylic acid, zinc, ketoconazole, coal tar, selenium sulfide. I finally gave in and bought a bottle of Apple Cider Vinegar. Last night, I poured some over my head and rubbed some on my face, since it was really red, itchy and flaky too. The smell was horrendous! Thank goodness my family was asleep! I watched a little tv and after the ACV dried, I then washed my face and scalp. I could not believe the difference. This morning, I look nearly "normal". No flakes, and almost no redness. And no smell either! Who would have thought that a few dollar's worth of apple cider vinegar would work? On a related note, I used a little diluted ACV on my daughter's diaper rash and the next day it was cleared up! I am going to start taking ACV internally next week after I get some litmus strips to test my internal pH. Thank you so much

To Teekup 11/14/07 from Metrowest, Ma. Half & half ACV/water is best hair conditioner you can use - leaves hair silky soft & shiny & dandruff free ( I think it works by acid vinegar taking alkali shampoo off hair) but best of all it leaves the hair in place (unlike H & S dandruff shampoo Or any other dandruff shampoo with same active ingredients) every time I see someone that looks too young to be losing hair naturally I always ask them if they are using head and shoulders shampoo- a few of them had already figured out what was causing their hair loss and stopped - It works real good for controling dandruff, but then I don't think I've ever seen a bald person with dandruff

WORKED TEMPORARILY

I left feedback for borax saying that it worked for my rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis. It worked initially but it came back today. So I detract my initial claims in the feedback I left yesterday. Thanks.

Hi, I just wondered Ted - are you saying to apply the borax/peroxide externally and drink internally in order to clear it long term?

Hey there Bill, That's what Ted is saying, oral and topical borax-H2O2 are two popular remedies he suggests for various skin disorders like this (often caused by mites). Oral Borax & H2O2: 1/8 teaspoon borax and half cap (or 30 drops) of 3% H2O2 in one liter of water (drink this throughout the day). When it's done, drink plain water. Topical Borax-H2O2: Add enough 1 to 1. 5% H2O2 to borax to make a paste and apply it to the problem area. Repeat as needed. Borax can cause skin to get dry, so make sure to stay hydrated and use a good moisturizer (e.g. Jojoba oil) on dry skin.

Hi, I can't find 1% hydrogen peroxide to apply topically to my face, only 3%, Is this okay? and can someone please explain to me very clearly how I make a mixture to apply to my face, how many times a day and for how long? I'm finding all the descriptions of topical amounts very confusing. Thanks

Billy72, a 1% solution for your face is sufficient. Simply purchase the regular 3% from your grocer and mix it with 2 parts purified water. Splash on at will.

I found that mixing one half teaspoon Borax with two tablespoons of Hydrogen peroxide worked great for me! You want the borax to dissolve completely and you may have to add a half a teaspoon hydrogen peroxide until it disolves completely.

Was that 3% hydrogen peroxide?! With no water? I want to get it right as I've just had a terrible experience with iodine and my face looks worse then ever! How often did you apply it? Thanks

I have had seb derm in the creases at the side of my nose for the last 15 years, on and off, mostly on. The doctors all prescribed steroid creams and antibiotic lotions, which worked temporarily. 2 weeks ago I decided to give apple cider vinegar a go. I stuck a clean q-tip in my bottle of acv and then applied to my clean skin, dabbing all the area around my nose that has the dermatitis. I did this 2x a day for the first day, then 1 more time on day 4. Then I gave it a break. The dermatitis cleared up on day 6 and hasn't yet returned. I no longer look like I always have a cold! The redness that accompanies the dermatitis is almost gone.

I figure I will apply the acv once a week for preventative measures. This is undoubtedly the best treatment I have tried thus far. If it stops it permanently, I will be thrilled. However, in the past the dermatitis flared up after consuming a lot of dairy products, so I always thought it was an internal condition... We shall see! I will report back in a month or so.

ACV cured my psoriasis on my scalp. I have been aflicted with psoriasis on my scalp for twenty years. I have tried more "remedies" than I care to count with little or no success. After reading about how people were helped by putting ACV on dry spots on the body I decided to try it on my scalp. I put undiluted ACV in a spray bottle and sprayed it on my scalp before going to bed. Within a few days I could see that the scales were getting thinner. In two weeks they are practically all gone! Even if the scales never fully go away, the ACV has made the scales easier for me to live with. By the way, ACV is better at drying up acne that any treatment on the market.

THIS IS THE ONLY CURE FOR DANDRUFF..."PREVENTION"

While a blood test for a skin allergy is at least going to work, why not try a muscle test, then just get it cured instead of having to avoid it. Better yet, treat the allergy, using NAET practitioners, and then avoid the lousy soaps anyways, and use a vinegar rinse to boot. Your scalp and hair, not to mention body, will love you for it.

I had dandruff for many years and dermatitus for 4 years or more. I read on this site how acv works and tried it. wow ,i took a q-tip and would rub the acv on the areas with the dermatitis, and in two days it disappeared. I also started taking acv tablets and my dandruff is totally gone. thanks to everyone for the helpful advice

Seborrheic Dermatitis- Having tried all natural products available from health food stores, potions prescribed by Chinese Dr, Naturopath & Homeopath over the past 8 years, I gave ACV a go. It's been 1 month now I still have dry patches on face & hand but the severe pussing and coarse skin lesions have disappeared. Ted also wrote a response 1/22/06 giving 6 main causes for this dermatitis, I took this info to my Kinesiologist/homeo and we found I was lacking in Nitric Oxide, he is now looking for appropriate suppliment- any ideas??

Hi, you asked about supplements for nitric oxide. I'm sure you found something by now, being that this post was so long ago, but for anyone reading this now for the first time, as I am, I thought I'd reply back to you. There is a great supplement on the market sold in the sports section at health food stores called NO2. You should check it out if you have a deficiency of nitric oxide. It's also great for numerous things as better and faster recovery after working out, building lean muscle, burning fat, enhanced circulation, and more energy. The company that makes it is MRI. There are several other products in the sports nutrition field that are similar, but this is still the best one, and it's timed released, for maximum absorption. Hope this helps you, and maybe someone else reading this.

I was diagnosed with SD some 3 years ago and was prescribed Nizoral shampoo by my dermatologist who said that my condition will go away "just don't know when"! I also suffered with constipation, bloating and flatulance after every meal but never mad a conection with the two problems. Then I started reading about Yeast Overgrowth and did the saliva test which was positive for candida. I took one therapy (2 weeks) of a product called CandiGone by Renew Life, started taking probiotics in pill form, cut sugar and carbs in my diet, started drinking kefir and eating lots of yougurt enriched with probiotics. The results - I just did the saliva test and there are no more nasty little legs in it. I will slowly start to introduce carbs and sugar back into my diet, although in very small amounts since I don't crave it anymore. For my scalp I did the following: I would mix 15 drops of tea tree oil, 10 drops of lavander oil, 4-5 drops of grape seed extract in my organic jojoba shampoo and apply that to my scalp. I would leave it on for 15 min and then rins out. I repeated that every night for the first week and then switched to every second day. I don't have anymore lesions in my hairline, the itching is almost all gone now. I've been doing this for three weeks now and I'm really happy with the results. I hope my story will help other pople suffering from candida and seborrheic dermatitis. PS. Great site! keep up the good work.

The only thing that helped me with my Seborrheic Dermatitis is tea tree oil and the Scalpicin with salicylic acid, but then started using Rite Aid Brand of Scalpicin which I had better results. I don't have that many flakes, but the itching is unbearable. What's funny is when I tried the tea tree oil by itself it did not do much. And when I tried the salicylic acid by itself I only receive temporary relief. But when I alternated the tea tree oil and the salicylic acid every other day I received tremendous results. What I do is one night I put on Scalpicin and leave it in all night and take a shower in the morning, and the next night I apply the tea tree oil. I had a really bad case, so I put on a lot (almost half the bottle per application). The tea tree oil has a strong odor that could smell up the house, just to warn you. Also note that there are two Scalpicin's. One contains hydrocortisone and one contains salicylic acid. So if you try my method make sure you get the right one. For me, the hydrocortisone only temporary relieved my itching. I would by the Rite Aid brand or the CVS brand that says Scalp Relief of Scalp Itch and Dandruff Relief, as I received good results with these. Again I tried almost all of the products on the market, also Apple Cider Vinegar and Lemon Juice, and this is the only thing that has helped me. Another thing to note is your itching might occur on the day after the night you used the tea tree oil, but it will go away the next day when you take a shower the day after you put on the salicylic acid. I used to have a rough scalp and this has truly helping my scalp return back to normal.

Salicylic acid is a power chemical that causes skin peeling or possibly scalp damages in some cases depending on the concentration but it does kill certain fungus causing the condition. Dermatologist used the salicylic acid, likely in higher concentrations to remove scarring tissue too. I however prefer a milder solution if given a chance such as using acetyl salicylic acid, which is actually a plain aspirin dissolved in water and apply to the scalp, plus some epsom salt for example and alternate that with tea tree oil. I would probably also try a saturated borax in 1% hydrogen peroxide that was not considered also, since borax seems to be most effective against the fungus, without damaging the scalp.

I'm 39 years old and have been struggling with severe seborreheic dermatitis since the age of 14. apple cider vinegar was a BIG NO for me. I recently started using pure simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil.Leave in for an hour or so,than lightly rinse. My scalp, forehead, and eyebrows have been my problem areas. This seems to be working great for me.

I'd be careful with jojoba it may feel nice to moisturizer but unfortunately the high oleic acid content will only feed the dermatitis because it feeds on oils.. Especially jojoba cuz it's so close to normal skin oil n the high oleic content