What is dandruff?

Dandruff is a problem that is familiar to many millions of people all over the world, with Procter & Gamble (who manufacture one of the best known commercially produced anti-dandruff shampoos) suggesting on their website that perhaps 60% of US citizens will suffer from dandruff at one time in their life or another.
The basic cause of dandruff is the shedding of dead skin cells from the scalp, which is in fact a process that takes place all of the time for every person. However, the difference between the shedding of dead skin cells for a non-dandruff sufferer and for someone who has the condition is a question of degree.
In the normal course of events for someone who does not suffer dandruff, the life cycle of average skin cells is somewhere around 28 days. During this period of time, the skin cells are formed within the body before being gradually pushed to the outermost epidermal layer of the skin. Once the cells reach the very outer layer of the skin, in contact with the air, they quickly die and are shed by the body.
However, because these dead cells are infinitesimally small, invisible to the naked eye, and because the number of cells being shed is ‘normal’, the process is unnoticeable.
On the other hand, in the case of someone who suffers dandruff, the situation is significantly different. In this case, the individual concerned is producing far too many skin cells, with the whole cell production process taking place in something between two and seven days. The result is that these cells are shed in oily clumps or as flakes, hence this person has dandruff.
In effect, someone who suffers from dandruff is simply showing the visible signs of an exaggerated physiological process, with their body working too quickly to process the job that for a non-dandruff sufferer is something that they will not even notice.
However, the shedding of oily clumps or flakes of skin is often accompanied by redness and irritation as well, so not only does dandruff look unpleasant to other people, it can also be an unpleasant problem for the sufferer too.
Contrary to popular theory, dandruff does not necessarily imply that your head or your hair is dirty, nor is the condition contagious.
As a physiological process, dandruff can never be can be completely cured, only treated. Consequently, anything that claims to be able to
cure dandruff is something to be viewed with a good deal of skepticism and doubt.
Dandruff is a condition that can be suffered in varying degrees, ranging from extremely mild to severe.
In most cases, there is no need to consult the medical profession to deal with a dandruff problem unless it is extreme is serious, or because it is related to some other condition which does necessitate medical attention.
Dandruff problems