Reader Questions : Dandruff

Kadiane says, 'Jojoba is not an oil. It is a wax so the fungus can not change it into oleic acid.'



Actually the distinction between and oil and a wax relates to its temperature/physical properties. Jojoba oil is a liquid wax as you say correctly but it contains oleic acid as do many other natural oils (Journal of the American Oil Chemists, pg 239-244, 1996). However, if your method is working for you and you have no problems, there is no reason to change it!



Kadiane asks 'I never put a rinse out conditioner after a shampoo.........i believe it will not completely rinse out and that will mean a moisturized scalp which fungus love. do you think i'm over doing it for the rinse out?'



Yes I think you are overdoing it :). You are right to say that you probably cannot rinse out all the conditioner but you can rinse out most of it. I think unless a doctor has recommended that you don't use conditioner, I would say it is fine to use and do spend five minutes properly rinsing it out.



Anon asks 'Does bentonite clay pull toxins from the hair and skin?'



Bentonite clay is not widely researched for use on hair and skin. It is researched in the wine industry where it is known to adsorb proteins, fats and oils (meaning the proteins in the wine stick to the clay). I would therefore expect that with hair or skin, bentonite clay works by effectively 'moping up' grease or other particles in a solution. It is used for colon cleansing too where I would think it would work by adsorption. I have not heard of the clay pulling toxins from the hair or skin.



Alice asks 'Did your paper say have far there were decoding it (the dandruff fungus genome)? That's so cool'



Yes , the genome actually has been decoded (PNAS, vol. 104 no. 47 18730-18735 , 2007. ).



Finally a very important word of advice from Urban Sista - 'Flakes don't always equal dandruff or a medical condition. I found that my flakes were due to a coconut allergy. Who knew coconut was in 99% of shampoos?'