Itchy Scalp: Causes and Home Remedies

An itchy scalp can be annoying. It is important to clarify the causes. We reveal first aid measures.

Itchy scalp: When it itches and leaves us no peace

Our scalps itch, our alarm bells ring. Are those lice? It’s not always the little beasts that are behind the scalp. The itching can also have completely different causes:

• a very dry scalp
• dandruff
• a skin fungus
• the wrong hair care
• a harmful styling routine
• neurodermatitis or psoriasis
• hormonal deviations
• sun damage

The causes of itchy scalp

1. Lice

Anyone who has a lot to do with children is at a higher risk of being attacked by head lice. In autumn and winter, head lice are in high season in schools and daycare centres. It’s easy to check whether head itching is caused by lice – apply plenty of conditioner to damp hair and then comb carefully with a fine-toothed lice comb. In this way you can check whether lice or nits (the white eggs of the lice) find hair. If so, there is no reason to panic: In the meantime, there are fast-acting lice sprays available in pharmacies that kill the little crawlies in 10 minutes – purely physically with the help of oils. Important: After eight days, the procedure should be repeated, as the lice will then hatch out of the nits. Why do the lice itch so much? It is not their crawling, we are allergic to the saliva of the lice, which they give off when sucking.

2. A very dry scalp

The cause of itching is often a dry scalp. Although we always pay attention to our facial and body skin, we especially forget our scalp when caring for it. Instead, we even strain it daily with heavily perfumed shampoos, styling products and high blow-drying temperatures. Important: Our scalp also wants gentle care that does it good. It likes that:

• Not washing your hair every day is not necessary – and even rather counterproductive. The scalp becomes greasy faster if we clean it daily with foaming tensides. Better: Wash every two to three days, depending on your hair type. With gentle shampoos that contain little or no surfactants, are not perfumed and do not use mineral oils, silicones or parabens. Natural hair soaps or washing earth can also cleanse and at the same time protect the scalp.
• Some shampoos are equipped with special active ingredients to soothe irritated scalp: Urea (can help dry scalp to store more moisture), linoleic acid and Dead Sea salt, willow bark, heart seed, avocado, wheat germ oil are then on the INCI list of shampoos.

• A micelle shampoo with reduced ingredients is also an option: it cleans the skin with a different technique and uses the micelle technology to pull the dirt out of the hair. A mild baby shampoo can also be an option: they usually do not contain any controversial ingredients such as aggressive preservatives or artificial fragrances. However, the situation is already different with children’s shampoos – those with pink princesses and chewing gum scent…
• Do not wash hair with hot water – it removes lipids from the skin and dries it out.
• Do not wash too often, daily hair washing is not necessary. If you want to prolong the intervals between hair washes in a self-experiment, you can start slowly and then increase. Here we show you a few hairstyles for unwashed hair, with which this is not noticeable at all!
• Apply tinctures and hair tonic to calm the hair after washing.
• Do not blow dry too hot and do not hold the blow dryer too close to the scalp. Let the hair dry in the air, this is also good for the hair structure.
• Apply sun protection for hair. It is as important for the scalp as for the rest of the body.

Home remedies for dry, itchy scalp

• An oil cure does you good: make a hair cure with coconut, almond or jojoba oil, let it work for 20 minutes and then rinse it out with gentle shampoo and lukewarm water.
• Also done quickly: drip a few drops of sunflower or olive oil onto hair with a pipette in the evening.
• A gentle head massage can help to stimulate sebum production. Massage the scalp with a little oil (always use natural products) for 5 minutes.
• No Poo: What was haunting the social media as a hashtag has its purpose. You don’t have to abstain from washing for a year, but taking a break from washing your hair more often can only be good for your scalp.
• Important: If the itching is so severe that it no longer lets us sleep, redness, swelling of the scalp, crusts or even sticking spots and hair loss occur, the dermatologist should take a look at the head.

3. Dandruff

Dry white dandruff is caused by a dry scalp. Here it helps to bring the skin on the head back into balance with the right care. Dandruff shampoos can help, they contain antimycotics – these are active ingredients that combat certain microorganisms on the scalp. Their metabolic products irritate the skin and cause inflammation. It reacts with dandruff, redness and itching.

Yellow oily dandruff can indicate a fungus, a so-called seborrhoeic dermatitis (koofgneiss) is usually due to certain yeast fungi that overpopulate the skin. The dermatologist can help here and prescribe an anti-fungal shampoo.

4. Skin fungus

Head fungi are transmitted from person to person and from animal to human. This causes nodular inflammation or a superficial irritation of the skin. Skin fungi are contagious and should be treated internally and externally with an anti-fungal agent for six to eight weeks.

Hair care and styling routine

Shampoos with overloaded ingredient lists irritate the skin. Fragrances, preservatives, silicones that are supposed to soften the hair, surfactants that create the beautiful lather but dry out the scalp – often we ourselves are to blame for the misery through our longing for clean, fragrant hair. But it is not only important to choose a mild shampoo, the styling routine also plays a role. Never apply conditioner to the scalp and pay attention to the ingredients. Mousse, heat protection spray, hair gel etc. must also be checked for their quality and generally reduced.

Hormonal fluctuations can cause itchy scalp

Our skin becomes drier with increasing age. This also applies to the scalp. Therefore, we should also consider the changes in hair structure and scalp in our grooming routine. Special shampoos can also help with the lack of keratin formation, which diminishes with age. Hyaluronic acid is also contained in such special hair products, as are amino acid-rich essential oils such as argan, camellia, wheat germ or rice oil.