My Seborrheic Dermatitis Skin Regimen

Hi John,
I’ve tried an immense amount of things to try and control SD. Everything from Apple Cider Vinegar, to Grapefruit Seed Extract (external/internal), Clay Masks, Honey Masks, MSM, Biotin, diets, cleanses, fasting. Pretty much everything that you can find online I’ve tried it. I’m even putting together a post that outlines every single thing that I’ve tried (will be a huge post). However, my current regimen has been working for the longest and it’s been quite bulletproof so far.

The biggest thing I recommend against is strong anti-fungals. Seems like they just burn the intestines and cause things to worsen.
If you have Skype, message me your ID (I wont make the comment public) and I can try to walk you through each step of my process and regimen.

Thnx for your thoughtful comments!
I read this info quite a few days ago but read it one more time as you linked it.
I read comments as this morning my skin feels so hot and redness gets severe after soaking dead sea salt water. It feels like sun burn. Also dryness was so strong that i applied moisturizer a little bit. Although it calms down little by little now but i think sea salt water is harsh to my skin. My skin got worse after trying it 5 days. Some says patience is needed as it can be worse at first but im worried.
Should i give it a try for one week more or quit?
Or just doing once a day?(night)

I think cetaphil would be great to me so i will give it a try.
I once tried cetaphil gentle skin cleanser but that was awful as it made so many pimples.
But i think restoraderm line will be different.
I used organic cleanser,skin and cream before using sea salt water and that improved my
Sd so much but didn’t cure it entirely. My redness still presents.

Also i will try l-glutamine. But worried about it a little bit as some said it made sd worse.

Anyway do you know astaxanthin and tumeric are good in curing sd?
I read it in the internet. They are anti oxidants.

And do you recommend probiotics?
People say immune system is important and some’s improved very much after taking it.

Also i tried candida test at home(saliva in glass of water) and it seems like i had many candidas. Leaky gut, maybe. I kept my diet healthy for 1 yr and it helped me a lot. I didnt quit bad things entirely but consumed it twice or third a week although didnt quit brown rice.
Do you think quitting them entirely is the answer??

Thanks for reading this long comment.

Oh sorry
I wanted to edit sth and then it seems like i cant erase mine.

Haven’t heard of astaxanthin, but have tried tumeric. Went about two-three weeks taking a tablespoon with some almond milk.
Personally the tumeric didn’t have any affect on me. However I have a friend that uses it for his sport injury and it seems to work well for his inflammation.
It’s quite gritty and unpleasant to take as a supplement. Sometimes I still add it to fried onions, but that’s about it.

As far as anti-oxidants and supplements go. I’ve tried tons based on recommendations found online.
N-acetyl-l-cysteine, resveratrol, quercetin, high dose vitamin c (in many different forms), colostrum, msm, zinc l-carnosine, regular zinc, vitamin d, plus tons of others.
Honestly in about 3-4 years I spent a ton of money trying all the different supplements people online recommended.
In the end nothing really had any long term effects on the seboorrheic dermatitis and now I got a ton of supplements laying around that will soon expire.

My experience with practically every single treatment option that I tried was the same. If I didn’t see results and positive changes from the first 1-2 times, they never came later on. For example I used aloe vera for about 2 weeks and it made my seborrheic dermatitis extremely inflamed and red. However, I was convinced by stuff I read online that it should heal it and that if I kept at it everything will go away. The aloe vera never ended up working for me and instead it forced me to go school and work with a blistering red face.

Another takeaway from all my experimentation is that much of the time less was more. For example too much sea salt (too alkaline) or too much apple cider vinegar (too acidic) would burn and damage the effected skin. This resulting damage would make the skin more prone to bacterial penetration and also actually be the cause of much of the inflammation. As a result more damage would be done than the benefits gained. Using milder solutions, taking things slowly (allowing the skin to adjust) and being gentle with the skin seemed to produce the best results.

For probiotics I tried a bunch of different store bought stuff (let me know if you would like a list) and experimented with home-made.
The biggest effect was that they made me go to the wash-room frequently. As for the seborrheic dermatitis it was still coming and going on it’s own schedule.

Two that stood out where biotin which gave me strange rashes all over my body and caprylic acid which made seborrheic dermatitis vanish completely for about a month.
Not sure if the caprylic acid was just a coincidence or it actually did something internally. After it’s initial success it never did anything again.

In regards to candida and all the diets. My opinion is that a lot of it is misinformation written by uneducated people. If you believe you have candidadis you should be able to get simple testing at any local medical facility.
To be honest though, for while this whole theory drove me nuts. I had all of kinds of scary thoughts about deep fungal infection or something of the sort. At one point I attempted to cut carbohydrates completely, but this just made me weak and my mind was always in a foggy state. Honestly I think all of this misinformation serves to make seborrheic dermatitis as it spikes stress and the bloods cortisone levels. Lots of the stuff written out their is quite scary and can easily put you in a constant state of tension, fear and anxiety.

H pylori is much more common than candida. When I went to take full medicals they actually found that I had h pylori and I was given some antibiotics for it.
At that time I was quite hesitant to take the antibiotics since so many forums say that antibiotic use is one of the initial causes of seborrheic dermatitis. However, in the end I took the antibiotics, got rid of h pylori, but this didn’t have any effect on the seborrheic dermatitis.

My biggest progress actually came when I read about leaky gut in some research papers (exact reason I started supplementing with l-glutamine).
At the same time I took a moment to reflect on the past and remember how things were before the seborrheic dermatitis started effecting my life.
I decided to completely stop browsing the internet for solutions suggested by random people, stopped reading forums, stopped searching online in general.
Instead I enrolled in a nutrition course through Coursera and re-learned the fundamental basics of modern nutrition.

Returned my diet to normal and the only two supplement I would take were l-glutamine and vitamin c.
At this point my seborrheic dermatitis became much less aggressive and the areas that remained were eye-brows, ears, nose and scalp.
Then completely by chance I was taking my little brother to his paediatrician and the doctor noticed my flakes. She said it looked very similar to some eczema she had and that the Restoraderm worked well for her. When I was leaving she gave me a whole bag of different moisturiser and cleanser samples (a few of which were the Restoraderm). A few weeks went by and I didn’t touch the bag of samples since my skin was mostly doing well (also I previously tried so many different cleansers and moisturisers that I really had lost hope for them).
Then one day that I had a bit of redness that appeared I decided to give it a try. It ended up working very well and since then it’s been my go to cleanser.

Hope this answered some of the questions you had.
Wish you all the best and hope you find something that finally works for you.

Thnx then i don’t have to control my diet too harshly, right?
Thanks for ur comments!
After trying l-glutamine and cetaphil,
I’ll let you know how’s it going.
Thank u!

Everyone is different. If your concerned about candida or food sensitivities the best thing to do is get tested.

For me all the diet restrictions and modifications seem to have resulted in unnecessary stress. Currently I eat mostly anything, except dairy (which I’m not really a fan of anyway).

Too much fatty foods especially mixed with lots of carbs seem to get the skin tingling though.

Never found the exact connection, but I do believe that the seborrheic dermatitis is somehow linked to digestion. Something along the lines of fat not being properly assimilated and causing all sorts of immune responses.

On the few occasion I attempted water fasting my skin would normalize completely. At about the second/third day even the worse of it would heal.

All the best.

Yesterday night i tried honey cleanse wanting to soothe my skin.
It felt like boiled water+raw honey was a little bit thick but i just put it on my face. I couldn’t rub it as it was so thick.
Just put it on and washed it after 1 min.
Tzone and place near nose became red(worst of all moment)
I thought it would relieve overnight but it didn’t.
Redness is the worst and my face feels hot.
Does this mean honey is not suitable for me,
Or bcuz it was so thick?(maybe i put water so little)
I wanted to try it in the morning but it could be even worse so i just washed my face with kiehl calendula cleanser(what i used for one week before)

Should i quit honey too?

Maybe the honey isn’t right for your skin.
It does sound like your mixture was too thick. My mix was the consistency of a typical cream and application was very easy.

Perhaps try patch testing before fully committing to a treatment. Like a small application in the area of skin behind the ear on near the hair line. This could give you clues on how your skin should behave to the treatment.

Wish I could give you a more concrete answer on which treatment option will be best for you. Seems like each persons skin behaves differently to things.

Wish you all the best and hope you manage to finally get it under control. If you have any updates/changes it would be interesting to hear back.

Hi Ladies and Gentlemen.

I actually came across this blog because I suffer from SD myself. However I didnt come here for a solution but because I was amazed at the results that dead sea salt had on me, so I decided to look around online to see what others have experienced, in a way to convince myself that this isnt a temporary treatment.

I have tried a billion things in the past (just like michael). But this seems to be doing it for me.

I dont just suffer from SD but also from bad eczema . Both combined is a very distressing exoerience.

in the past two weeks I have stuck with dead sea salt called “magik” (bought from holland and barratts) and aveeno eczema therapy moisturiser. That was it.

My method. I would use a bucket and put very hot water and then pour ALOT of the sea salt. I would then mix it and taste it to make sure its very concentrated. I then will use a cloth to soak it in the solution then slowly place it over my face very slowly and lay down for 5-7 minutes. Whenever I feel the cloth getting cooler, I just soak it again in the solution. I spend about 20 to 25 minutes repeating this method. Its very painful but I just think of the relief that follows. I’ll then rinse my face with luke warm water under the shower for 10 minutes. Straight after ill pat dry my face and apply the aveeno.

I repeat this method 2 -3 times a week before I sleep. It has been amazing. The comvination of the cream and the salt has been so good that my skin feels normal. I am praying that this carries on so that my skin heals. It has been the most promising method I have uswd within the 4 years I have seeked relief. I also want to try it with hamilayan salt. Ive never drank a salt solution but will deffo start that tomorrow.

Please dont underestimate my situation with SD …it is worse than most people I have seen with SD. the method my seem basic and obvious but it has been great.

Am tired at this very moment to cover everythingI want to say but please ask any questions if u have any.

thanks

mo

Dear Mo,

Thank you for taking the time to get back online and write about your experience and provide details on your specific approach.

I’m glad to hear that you have finally found some relief and excited to hear that it was with the sea salt.
Seborrheic dermatitis is a horrible condition and has a detrimental effect on day-to-day life.
Even though it is not life threatening, it can really impact a persons well being.

Definitely stay in touch!

PS> If you have the time and energy, send me a write-up of your exact approach and I can add it to the sea salt post.

Best of luck.

Michael.

your very welcome.

I think this is a link sent from God himself. I cannot believe someone has found relief and a cure from the methid I strongly believe…read this …I couldnt have written it better. Its EXACTLY what I do/use (the aveeno etc). I believe that this is a cure. There is hope people!

Hi Mo,

This was one of the first posts/places I had heard about the sea salt treatment. Followed the exact method there and even purchased that specific dead sea salt.

For me I had to adjust the treatment. Aveeno didn’t work too well so I used Gold Bond Healing instead (was recommended on Youtube video). Also the dead sea salt actually had worse results then my regular one from Trader Joes.

Thanks again for the update.

Hi Michael,

I will find out the name of the dead sea salt I tried. Of course everyone is different but to be honest the sea salt I was using didnt work for me in the beginning and I was just using it for desperate days. There was an occurance were I poured too much of it on a small bucket of hot boiling water, I knew thatit was too much for the little water I had in the bucket but I was so desperate I didnt care. I soaked a cotton cloth and placed it on my face gently pressing without moving the cloth…it hurt like hell! But I didnt care. The next morning I felt a huge difference and the parts that were so bad and had no hope of feeling soft have softened without any itching or tightness…I will find out the exact name of the dead sea salt and will let u know…

Hi Mo,
Yeah, i heard similar experiences from others online (intense treatment approaches that pay off).

For me it felt like there could be a possibility of damaging my skin. This made me very cautious and I would give up quickly if my skin experienced any intense reactions. For example my sea salt treatments were always very gentle.

Look forward to hearing which brand of dead sea salt you used. The one I bought was the Minera one (believe it was cited in that curezone post). Also have you tried actual sea/ocean water? I found it was even more effective for me.

Beat of Luck.

Hey Michael, I’m Darryl and I just turned 30. And I have been diagnosed with SD. I’ve nevrr experience anykind of allergic reactions or skin conditions in my life. Tho exsema and psoriasis both run in my family. 4 months ago I tried a hair fertilizer cream for a few months and it irritated my scalp and started the SD. Ever since I’ve noticed a correlation between irritation and inflammation and my hair fallin out which has been happening ever since. The GP just told me to use selsum blue and won’t refer me a dermatologist cuz she so sure she knows SD so well. I had to beg her for some kentonazole 2%. My cousin, with SD, just sent me a bottle of selsum 2.5 and the flakes are minimal but my scalp is so dry and itchy! And I haven’t out anything but on my head for the last month cuz the GP recommend me not to. Can you please give me some advice. Btw in a black male with course hair so I have to use somthin to keep my scalp moisterized and a pomade to hold style my hair. Thank you and it’s most appreciated.

Hi Darryl,
Currently the Restoraderm has still been working well for me. Haven’t had any significant seborrheic dermatitis on the face for over 6 months. Also I’ve stopped supplementing with L-Glutamine as outlined in the post. Wanted to stop supplementing with it for a while as I don’t enjoy supplements very much.

For my hair (which had pretty intense dandruff) I’m still using this moisturising shampoo . Has been working well for me. When I feel the dandruff starting up I just wash thoroughly with the shampoo and it seems to balance out. When I was using anti-dandruff shampoos previously they seemed to work by nuking the scalp and killing everything there. The moisturising shampoo approach has been quite different, it seems to balance the oiliness quite well and the dandruff never get’s a chance to build up. Not sure how this would work for you. I’ve got have regular short blonde caucasian hair. In conversation with Jina I outlined quite a bit of my whole experience so far.

Let me know if you have any updates or questions.

Best of Lucky Darryl

Thanks gent, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I’ll def get these products you mention. Especially the glutamine. I used to take it b4 the sd anyway. How often do you wash your hair with the shampoo and can I find it at a whole foods store or just online? And do you use any oil to moisturize your scalp or just the shampoo? And again thanks for your help.

Hi Darryl,
Typically I shampoo almost everyday just because I exercise regularly and usually use styling gel (both of which require washing).

As far as oils, I haven’t been using any oils on my hair, strictly just the shampoo (no conditioner or anything either). In my whole experience with seborrheic dermatitis oils always seemed to make it worse. Most research papers I looked at typically demonstrated that oils feed the bacteria which is believed to cause the seborrheic dermatitis.

In terms of availability, my guess would be that it is available at Whole Foods and many others. I’ve seen it for sale in two of the most popular supermarkets here in Canada (Superstore and Save on Foods both had it in the natural section).

Best of Luck in 2015 :slight_smile:

Thanks Michael its appreciated. I recently went to the derm and he gave me some nizoral shampoo and luconazole. And a steroid for the face. I feel like they’re effective but are too hard for my skin. Yet and still I’m still having flaking and even a few sensitive patches that still are going away. My hair is still thinning and kinda got me depressed. Just trying to shake It off. This is so frustrating. On the days I don’t use the nizoral shampoo, I use the shampoo you recommend with a natural conditioner but i find even the oil on there kind off feeds the dandruff maybe. It’s just a lot of trial n error I guess. Thinkin of trying acv with baking soda and see what that does. Thanks as always.

Hope everything start improving for you. During my time with seborrheic dermatitis I had quite a bit of ups and downs. It was like a roller coster ride to be honest. One day you find something and you see things improve you get all happy and think its over, then bam it comes back out of nowhere. Then you have a bunch of bad days and you feel like staying home all day so no one sees your messed up skin. Main thing is hang in there, stay calm and keep trying things I guess.

For me the transition to this shampoo was quite strange as well. Especially coming from shampoos like Head and Shoulders and T-Gel. It definitely took a couple weeks of adjustment. However, I believe it was key to getting my scalp under control without anti-dandruff/anti-fungal shampoos. The only reason I went for the switch is because everyone who has dandruff is advised to use oil controlling shampoos, however this never seems to actual solve the problem, but control it instead. So I thought why not try the opposite, give my scalp an highly moisturizing shampoo and try to trick it into stop producing oil on its own. Seemed to pay off in the end. Everyone is different though, so i’m not sure if your results will be the same.

Baking soda and salt was quite effective for my head dandruff, but did very little for my face. The apple cider vinegar was more effective on the facial skin and not very effective for the scalp. Let me/others know how they work for you.

Here in Vancouver I saw some of the best dermatologists and to be honest I got ton of crap advice along the way. The top rated dermatologist in my city told me that the seborrheic dermatitis will never go away, that it’s genetic, and the only solution I have is using anti-fungal creams and shampoos for the rest of my life to keep it away. At the time his words really affected me and I thought I had to live with it forever. After a bunch of other visits to different clinics one young Indian doctor told me she had the same thing and got rid of it. She is the one that advised I try the Restoraderm and the importance of protecting the affected area from the sun. If you have medical coverage you could keep trying different doctors/dermatologists if you have the time. Maybe you stumble upon someone who gives you that magical advice.

Did you end up trying the Restorderm by the way or is the issue just on your scalp?

In terms of hair loss, this was never an issue for me. However, a friend of mine who doesn’t have dandruff had rapid hair loss and balding. He read about using some Jamacian Castor oil treatment and that seemed to get things under control for him. Maybe you should look into that, somewhere in my research I remember reading that it might be effective for seborrheic dermatitis as well.

On a side note.
My treatment is still going strong. Even during the holidays when my diet went to shit and I was drinking a bit, I had no inflammation. A few flakes in the ears, on the scalp and the nasal folds sometimes still appear. These are really minimal though and nothing problematic like before.

Also I found a lot of the depressing aspect can come from reading stuff online. Some of the stuff people theorize and state can be really disappointing, frustrating and even frightening. My two cents is don’t get too attached to most of the stuff you read online and be wary of people who state they know exactly how the condition works.

Once again, best of luck. Hope you find something. This condition is a real pain in the ass.