Diet for Scalp Health

Question
Hello Evelyn,
       I'm attempting to address a dry scalp condition that has gotten increasingly worse over the past 6 months living in Switzerland.  

I have had light flaking in the past - but am currently at a place, where I seem to have both dry scalp (small white flakes coming from generally dry looking patches under my beard and sideburns) AND something more serious on the top and back of my head.  There are larger patches of more encrusted dry skin that has a slightly more yellow color and has pink and red areas on the skin in and around it.

I am not exactly sure that this is indeed Dandruff, as I have tried using medicated Dandruff shampoo that hasn't done much to control or cure it.  In general, my skin is on the dry side and I would say that my hair is normally dry as well.  Since this has begun to get worse, I am washing my hair much less (now just twice a week) - but it doesn't seem to be getting better.

Ok, so that is the physical side.  And I have looked into natural treatments (it's difficult of course because I'm unable to know for certain what "condition" I have), but I'm also wondering about nutrition.

I have been a vegetarian for well over 10 years.  And while I am no longer ideologically opposed to eating organic, free-range meat, the times that I have tried, it doesn't seem to sit so well, slowing me way down (I actually have to lie down to digest it!).  So in general, I eat very well - lots of steamed biodynamic/organic vegetables and organic whole grains, with quite frequent nuts.  We generally use olive oil, sometimes coconut and I love butter.

I don't drink cow's milk (don't find myself attracted to it at all), but do consume a lot of yogurt and cheese.  I drink rice milk every morning with cold cereal.

I have had a cracking shoulder for several years that seemed to appear without a clear cause, and there are times when I seem to suffer from lack of energy.  But overall, I would say that I am in good health and have a optimistic, healthy outlook on life.  I do study a lot and am a thinker - reading philosophy and spiritual texts and try to get exercise (though I could of course get more!) after long periods of sitting at the computer, etc.

I appreciated reading what you wrote to a past question about one's relationship to thinking and about attempting too much too fast.  It is with these sorts of insights and your background with nutrition that I am writing specifically.  

Thank you in advance for your response Evelyn.

Answer
Dear Michael,

Sorry for the delay in responding ?the summer holidays are taking their toll on my time!
It sounds to me, that you are suffereing with a fairly clear cut case of seborrheic dermatitis. There may be a yeast infection underlying your symptoms, to which your body is reacting with inflammation (causing the crusts and redness, eventually). For the rest you are giving the indirect causes yourself, already!

As a form of neurodermatitis, you need only pick out the taxing things on your nervous system to support the medication of your choice for long lasting curative results, and to prevent a displacement or replacement of this disorder. Your life-style sounds very recognisable to me, and I would class it as generally sensible and healthy. The long hours behind the PC are sometimes unavoidable and we must pay the price. In an ideal world, however, you would make an effort to force some changes upon yourself.

For example: less PC. Yep, easier said than done, but the typing and interaction with the screen alone, as activities, tax the nervous system ten times more than watching tv, driving a car, or other sedentary, technical (modern) activities. Even when reading spiritual texts or looking at beautiful works of art. The electro magnetic fields all around you (no doubt) will be an additional 搒tress factor? Try using nice big chunks of black turmaline (crystal) on your desk and near your outlets to help reduce this, or dip your hands in to a small bowl of smaller crystals occasionally. If this is too New Agey for you (should not be, judging from your general open mindness to holistic living) we swiftly move on to the next measures.

Off-set this nervous taxation with artistic (therapy. Specifically painting would be good. But also looking at artbooks, preferably visiting galleries and museums would be a treat on your nervous system: colour soothes! You don't have to like the paintings, just observe objectively, bathing in colour (rather than form!). You don't even have to like painting yourself, but dipping a brush in highly diluted water colour paint and washing it rhythmically, slowly over paper can reach parts little else can: it hits the soul spots that are compromising the nervous system. To suffer with a nervous condition of any kind, you are dealing with a fragmentation or splintering of the soul, which manifests as crystallisation or mineralisation processes. Doing something artful and meditative reunifies you. Massage with aroma therapy can do this even more passively for you.

A neurotic disease is an excess of catabolic force and too much head pole. You already sense that stiff walks and a balanced diet are very necessary to keep the metabolic limb system in shape. Don't forget to nurture the rhythmic system a little extra as the connector between upper and lower pole, as well as inner and outer worlds. Breathe deeply, observe posture and some kind of physio therapy or exercise (Yoga, Tai Chi?) with the shoulder as an excuse could have a knock-on effect on the skin disorder. A cracking shoulder is a classic sub-symptom of any kind of neurodermatitis! That head is so heavy, don't forget (but we do!).

A homeopathic doctor might reach for Argentum ?silver potentised quite highly. Silver and moon go together and that should give you the connotation of anabolic, growth, rhythmic forces. It moistens the dry head pole, and brings the energy down into the metabolic system. Quartz is  often used to rebalance the inner organs and the skin. Your diet sounds healthy enough and you mention no digestive complaints specifically, but at some stage you might like to mildly detox with bitter herbs (artichoke elixer also works well on the liver, which tends to have some kind of energy leak in  neurodermatitis). There must be tons of great metabolic teas available in your neck of the woods (I am jealous, but Salus has a  fairly accessible range, eg). Or try mixing your own loose leaf herbs.

On the subject of herbs: equisitum or horsetail (rich in silicic acid) is often used as a hair tonic (with great success in children, and cradlecap). A handful of horsetail (Ackerschatelhalm, if that is any help to you, but you may be in a French speaking part!) to 1 litre of water, boil 5 mins, seive, cool somewhat, and use to rinse your scalp. Wala might have a dispersible oil. Then rub in some calendula oil (baby oil, Weleda), leave 10 mins, then brush out crusts (with baby brush). Don't be too harsh: remember we are trying to 揷alm?your nerves.

Oiling your system internally with poly unsaturated oils (gamma-linoleic acid) as found in primrose oil (capsules, or better still, 2 tbs a day) can help dampen the shocks to the system, too. This oil 揼ets inbetween?the skin cells of your upperlayer, building up a protective sheath.

In general, there is a dietary guideline to help ammeliorate the symptoms. There are foods which work wonders on the skin (rich in silicum): especially millet, buckwheat, spelt, barley. Likewise green leafy vegetables and roots are beneficial (for rhythmic and metabolic system respectively): specifically beetroot and carrot (a glass of juice a day may be very therapeutic for a few months). Salads will love you, so make sure you love salads!

You are right on the nose with most of your diet: butter, plant oils and sour milk products are fine ?milk would be no good at all, but also soy would not do. Rice milk is neither here nor there, really, in your case. Almond milk or oat milk might make a good change for a bit. (Eat plenty of calcium rich foods beyond dairy, broccoli, a little (fresh) goat's, sheep cheese, sesame seeds, etc to keep you grounded.) Meat is virtually guaranteed to make it worse. Try a 4-6 week cure of seabuckthorn elixer (Sanddornsaft, there I go again, hoping German will help you find what you need in a shop near you). Weleda makes a splendid one.

For the rest be moderate with citrus and tomatoes (highly astralising, and stimulating to the nervous system therefore), spices, coffee, black tea, alcohol. Naturally, avoid artificial flavourings, white sugar, additives etc, you know the story. This only stimulates catabolic (excretory) functions.  Go easy on nuts and hard cheeses, pepper, chives, and celery also with caution. You would do yourself a big favour to cut out peanuts (which are not nuts, of course) altogether. Other pulses should not be staples, either. Eat your heart out on lentils, but for the rest also mind not to eat superflous quantities of alfalfa (a legume). Other sprouts are very recommendable. You could learn to grow them yourself! Very rewarding and a great way to be up close and personal with the great Mama-healer Nature. You could slip in a humorous, light-hearted but informative read once in a while: sprout people tend to be young at heart and unpretentious, like their favorite food, perhaps. (e.g. Mark Braunstein, 揝prout Garden?gets you started nicely, but there are many websites, too).

Finally, the good news is, after all this hard work: unlike psoriasis which tends to be or become much more chronic, seborrheic dermatitis can clear up with some special attention or moderate life-style change or life-view change. There might be a change of life on the way (? I don't know your age or circumstances). It might be the right time to deal with a (karmic) biographical issue. This is why these conditions suddenly emerge out of the blue. Even if we blame a yeast, this will only grow in the 搑ight soil? Killing the yeast with a (corticosteroid) cream is not necessarily the way forward. Often a change of location/climate can bring such a condition on. Holistically seen such changes, though, often ask you to 揳cclimatise?on a deeper (spiritual) level, too.

You are right to not wash too frequently (water ironically tends to dry out our skin). Some say you could use a tar shampoo. Won't smell too nice, but oh well. A shampoo rich in salycilic acid otherwise. But Weleda's rosemary shampoo will also do as a general stimulant of the anabolic (etheric) force and a natural rebalancer in that way.

I hope you manage to intuit your way through an initial course of treatment with some of these tips. It goes without saying that if after a few more months of tinkering along you find no improvement, or even a worsening of the condition, it might be wise to consult a doctor for a little check-up, since sometimes (rarely) your complaint comes as a symptom of a deeper (more serious) underlying condition. Remember to remain sensible, and nip any bad habits you can in the bud, to prevent (environmental/life-style or any old niggling traumatic) stress factors from taking deeper root.

Take good care of yourself!
My warmest regards,  Evelyn.

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