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HeadandShoulders

WHY DRY SCALP IS A SIGN OF DANDRUFF

If your scalp is feeling dry and tight, it could be dandruff – even if you don’t see flakes. See how dandruff can cause your skin’s natural moisture barrier to become “leaky” and dry out your scalp.

Think about when you damage the skin on your hands, like when you graze or cut it. Pretty soon it starts to dry out and you have to reach for the hand lotion.

Your scalp is no different.

Your skin keeps moisture locked in …
The skin on your scalp is actually an intricately arranged network of cells, packed like a brick wall. It’s your natural moisture defense and it keeps water locked in and the skin looking healthy.

… but it becomes “leaky” when damaged
As soon as that arrangement is disrupted, the brick-like structure starts to break down.

The barrier becomes “leaky,” allowing essential moisture to escape and causing the dry, tight feeling you’ll recognize if you suffer from dandruff.

Dandruff chips away at your moisture defenses
While flakes get a lot of attention when it comes to dandruff, what you often can’t see is the damage happening on the surface of the scalp.

When you have dandruff, your skin cells replicate faster than usual, disrupting the protective cell walls. To make matters worse, satisfying the itch that accompanies dandruff with a good scratch can further damage the barrier.

All this undermines the brick-like structure and allows essential moisture to escape, drying out the skin.

The answer? Moisturize your scalp …
If your hands were dry, you’d reach for hand lotion. If the skin on your face were dry, you’d apply a moisturizer. And it’s no different for your scalp.

Choose a shampoo that provides extra moisturization like our Dry Scalp Care shampoo with almond oil.

…and tackle the root cause
Adding ordinary moisturizing shampoo usually isn’t enough to care for a dry scalp. Unless you tackle the root cause, your dry scalp will likely keep coming back.

That’s where an anti-dandruff shampoo comes in. Use it regularly and you’ll help keep dandruff away for a strong, healthy moisture barrier, so your body can get back the moisture that it needs. In fact, Head & Shoulders shampoo has been shown to lock in up to 75 percent more moisture than ordinary moisturizing shampoo.¹

More about dry scalp

¹ relative to the baseline, with regular use vs. the leading competitive brand’s base variant

What causes dry scalp?

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