Dry scalp may be due to both environmental and dietary factors. Normally you can see dry skin, and take action to make it moist again. However you'll rarely take action for the scalp, as you cannot see your scalp. Your scalp produces an oily substance just like your skin, and it's called sebum. The amount of sebum is what makes the scalp, oily or dry.
Environmental factors also include commercial shampoos, hair conditioners and curling or straightening hair solutions or creams. These chemicals can block the duct of the sebaceous gland and prevent sebum from being released. This will soon cause the scalp to become dry and when it begins to flake it will become itchy too.
Here are some home remedies for dry scalp which you can use in your home daily or weekly, and bring it back to normal.
Use a hot oil treatment for the scalp. Heat some olive oil till it's warm. To apply oil onto the scalp, start with the middle parting and work down one side of the head. Let each parting be about one centimeter from the earlier one. Take some cotton wool and dip into the already heated oil, and apply the heated oil to the scalp, at the parting. Once you've completed one side of the head, do the same for the other side, until the whole scalp is covered with oil. Leave it on for around an hour and wash off with mild shampoo. The oil will moisturize the hair and scalp, so that it does not look dry again.
Aloe vera is usually used for dry skin, cuts and injuries. You can buy an Aloe vera plant from the nursery and grow one yourself. Cut a fleshy leaf longitudinally so the inner flesh is exposed. Remove the succulent flesh with either running a fork or a serrated knife along the cut surface, till all the flesh comes out. Then apply to the scalp by parting the hair, as explained in the method above. You can leave it to dry, and then just leave it as it is. You may need to remove some dried pieces of Aloe vera from the hair. Otherwise your hair will look good without washing.
Use Vinegar or lemon juice as the last rinse, after shampooing with very mild shampoo. This will remove sebum build-up and also unblock the sebaceous glands. Then, more sebum can be released that will make your scalp less dry.
Massage the hair everyday for five minutes to stimulate the scalp. This will stimulate the sebaceous glands to increase sebum production, which as it flows unblocks the blocked glands and so oils the scalp.
Diet is also an important part in ensuring a good production of sebum. Eat lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds. Eat a diet rich in natural oils and Vitamin E, to increase the production of sebum. Almonds, tomatoes and sunflower seeds have lots of Vitamin E.
