Lost in the Oyster: Scalp Eczema

Well now here is an attractive topic to chat about...

I have suffered with eczema pretty much my whole life. It comes and goes, flares and calms, and recently I’ve been having a real problem with eczema on my scalp. I have had it before, but it has always been for short periods of time and has cleared up on its own, however this time I just haven’t been able to get a grip on it.

The eczema was at its worst on my hairline and continued about 3cm back from the hairline into my hair. It then avoided my double crown and reappeared in a band around the back of my head. I had a particularly bad patch at the back where my hairline joins my neck which was like a large, raised, crusty welt. It was extremely flaky with small, white, dry flakes, very itchy and very noticeable. It regularly would bleed when I scratched it. I've input photos at the bottom of this post (at the bottom, so you can avoid them if you want)

I decided a while ago that I was going to do a blog post on my trials and (many) errors in trying to find out how to get rid of it, because I relied so heavily on other people’s recommendations online when I was doing my own research. I find eczema is an incredibly individual experience, and what works for some doesn’t always work for others, but everyone putting their experiences out there certainly does help when you’re desperately seeking products that might help.

My story isn’t a great one. I didn’t find a wonder product that got rid of my dry scalp, and although I’ve got it under some semblance of control, I don’t feel I’ve got rid of it completely.

What I can offer, is quite a long list of products that didn’t help. Not particularly positive, but it may save you a bit of the money it has cost me to reach this point!

First of all, I tried dry scalp shampoos. These included:-

· Wella System Professional Balance Shampoo

· Aveeno Skin Relief Soothing Shampoo

· E45 Dry Scalp Shampoo

· Philip Kingsley Flaky Itchy Scalp Shampoo

· Garnier Ultimate Blends Oat Milk Shampoo

· Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo (the original one)

· L’Oreal Elvive Clay Shampoo

To cut a long story short, none of these worked for me. The Wella System Professional shampoo was the product my hairdresser used on me in the salon and it kept my dry flakes away for a few days but I never recreated the success when I used it myself at home. It is a lovely shampoo but it just didn't do what it said it would.

The Neutrogena shampoo did seem to work the first couple of times I used it, and it left my hair really clean. But the 3^rd time it started to burn my scalp and made it really sore (I possibly left it on too long – about 6 minutes?) and I found the scent really unpleasant (like a car garage) so quickly gave up on it when it wasn’t giving me results.

I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the E45 and Aveeno shampoos felt, and how clean and soft they made my hair. The Aveeno shampoo was probably the most effective of them all, but my scalp still dried out within 24 hours.

Scalp Treatments

I then tried scalp treatments:-

· Salon Science Hydrafoliant Scalp Scrub (£12.00)

· Wella System Professional Balance Scalp Mask (£30.00)

· Phillip Kingsley Scalp Toner (£17.40 for 250ml)

· Eucerin DermoCapillaire Calming Urea Scalp Treatment (£8.00)

The Salon Science one was useless. The consistency of it was really bizarre and it was really difficult to apply and “scrub” into the scalp.

The Wella Balance Scalp Mask is very pricey and quite awkward to apply as you have to apply it after shampoo, leave it for 5 minutes and then rinse it off and condition. Having to get out of a warm shower mid-way to towel off, apply a mask section by section, hang around for 5 minutes then hop back in, is just a bit faffy. Especially as I didn’t find it hydrated my scalp much.

The Phillip Kingsley Scalp Toner was my most used. It didn’t get rid of my dry scalp but it would temporarily soothe it. When my flakes got particularly bad, I used to apply it and it would hydrate the skin for several hours without making my hair greasy or sticky. It was a good temporary fix but it takes a while to apply, it is fiddly and my god it dribbled into my eye SO many times.

The Eucerin product was by far my most successful. Again, it didn’t make my hair greasy or sticky and it really hydrated my dry skin. It also wasn’t as runny or difficult to apply as the PK one. I’m still using this one after I’ve washed my hair to keep my scalp hydrated and if I start to get a bit itchy and dry in between hair washes. (see update below)

Going Sulphate-Free

I then decided to go sulphate-free. So I cut out Sodium Lauryl Sulfate from my shampoo. I was SHOCKED at how many shampoos designed for dry scalps contained SLS. As an ingredient which is known to dry skin out, it seemed so counter-productive. ALL of the above dry scalp shampoos I have listed contained a form of SLS (except the Neutrogena one).

The SLS free shampoos I tried were....

·         OGX (Organix) Lavender Luminescent Platinum shampoo (all OGX shampoos are SLS free) – (a lovely shampoo, cleans my hair, didn’t feel stripping and I felt it did genuinely brighten my blonde)
·         Yes to Carrots Nourishing Shampoo (not much to write home about, just a standard shampoo.)
·         Pureology Hydrate shampoo (a lovely hydrating shampoo that lathers well and felt lovely on the hair)
·         Pureology Clean Volume shampoo (this shampoo is crazy, it cleans your hair until it is mega squeaky. Quite a nice feeling but I wouldn’t recommend it as a regular use shampoo)
·         Shea Moisture Superfruit Complex 10 in 1 Multi Benefit shampoo – (quite a moisturising shampoo. It didn’t make my hair feel particularly light and clean but I’ll use it up, probably by pairing it with a more clarifying one)
·         OI shampoo – (this was a sample I received and I really didn’t enjoy it. It is a pricey shampoo and yet my hair became greasy quicker than normal and felt very heavy)

For info, both the Pureology and Organix ranges are all sulphate free.

Going SLS free didn’t solve my dry scalp on its own but I am persisting with them as I think they may help stop the dryness coming back. The Pureology range is really nice and often on offer, and does everything I need a shampoo to do without the sulphates.

So what did work?

If this was me reading this post, I’d so have scrolled right down to this point...

In the end, what worked was my prescription steroid ointment. I am prescribed Betnovate Betamethasone, which is a topical corticosteroid. It comes in the consistency of Vaseline as it is the ointment version.

My scalp got so bad my entire hairline was covered in flakes, the skin was white and dry, and it was so itchy and uncomfortable. So in a bratty little moment of desperation, I sat and chipped away at all the flakes with an old eyeliner brush and then just whacked a load of betnovate on. When I say whacked, I mean I sat with a sectioning comb and literally sectioned off my hair centimetre by centimetre, got a bit of cream on my finger and pressed it into the scalp. I had to really pull the hair down either side of the parting to try and get as much skin to show as possible, and I pressed it down onto the skin to try and make it absorb better. My hair after this was G-R-E-A-S-Y. but I just tied it up in a ponytail and took the hit. The next night I put some more on and put it up in a ponytail again. By this point, I’d made the flakes super greasy so they were stuck to my hair and it was just one flaky, greasy mess. It looked terrible. But when I then washed it (in a sulphate-free shampoo) the flakes came out and my scalp stayed clear. So far I’ve managed to keep it that way just by using the Eucerin scalp tonic, but if it flares again then I’ll probably just reapply the Betnovate again. It’s not pretty I’m afraid, but it was genuinely the only thing that worked.

**UPDATE: A few weeks after writing this post, and my scalp eczema was pretty much back to where it was before. As much as I said I would go back to using the Betnovate again, it just wasn't practical to keep using it as it was so greasy and made such a mess. I've been using the Eucerin Urea Scalp Treatment and it has been the product that has gone the distance. I apply it every time I wash my hair, and sometimes in between if my head gets dry. It hasn't cleared it up to the point that I don't have to treat it any more, but for now it works enough to keep it at bay. So the routine I am using now is......(1) SLS free shampoo - (2) As quickly in the shower as possible to minimise water exposure - (3) Apply Eucerin treatment by sectioning my wet hair in 1 inch sections and applying direct to my scalp - (4) dry my hair on a low heat. The "After" photo below is after doing this routine....

A couple of other points of note...

·         I am aware that hot showers make eczema worse, but it is winter and I just am too much of a wimp to endure a lukewarm shower, so I never tried this technique of keeping my eczema at bay
·         I live in an area with hard water, which is known to irritate eczema. I did try washing my hair at my parents’ house as they have a water softener but it didn’t seem to help. I think this is because the scalp eczema was already pretty bad and the soft water alone wasn’t enough to get rid of it. I’d imagine soft water is more prevention than cure.
·         The areas I can’t reach on my head are still sore and I haven’t quite decided how I am going to sort that yet.....
·         I have tried “the eczema diet” and it didn’t help my eczema so I believe mine is more environmentally triggered
·         I am a persistent and dedicated dry shampoo wearer, which I am convinced dries my scalp out. But as I am also an only-every-4-days hair washer, I just cannot shake the habit.
·         My head is really itchy writing this post. So some of it is probably in my head too (no pun intended)

Photographs of my scalp eczema before and after.

*Spoiler alert* - these 2 photos are the "before"