Sea Salt for Seborrheic Dermatitis - Treatment Guide and Research Summary

Hi Mathieu,

Thanks for the positive feedback.

It’s hard for me to say if you should keep going or that the sea salt won’t help any longer. My experience was pretty much identical to yours. At first they worked exceptionally well (skin calmed down, flakes went away). Then one day (couple weeks in) the salt treatments just seemed to stopped working. Flaking and redness returned and the salt became ineffective. Hard to say why this happened/happens.

In terms of the honey treatment, the one documented in the medical study is quite intense. I was never able to stick to such a strict regimen. Maybe that’s why I was never able to fully make it go away with the honey. However, overall it did seem to be better for me than the sea salt treatment. Even after it became less effective, it was still quite good at controlling it and keeping flakes at bay. The biggest issue was the amount of time the treatment took.

Not sure if your have read this post, but I try to sum up mostly everything I tried (some stuff is missing, but it’s a huge post as is). Towards the end of it I describe my current treatment technique. That regimen has been working out quite well for me and my seborrheic dermatitis hasn’t bugged me for ~9 months now.

Additionally I believe the whole depression, stress, and anxiety add another layer to the seborrheic dermatitis problem. It seems to almost create a cycle, which can drastically diminish results.
The right information is good, but too much information seems to create a ton of problems.
Lot’s of the forums I have come across in my journey have had a lot of disheartening info… This definitely didn’t help. Reflecting and mentally going back to when things were normal really helped calm the mind.

Hopefully you find something that works for you on a long term basis as well.
If you do end up trying my approach, let me (and other readers) know how it works out.

Best of luck and take care!

Just really started treating mine after realizing my eyebrows are disappearing. Didn’t have any sea salt in hand so used table salt. Worked some at least. I feel so clean right now.

Im testing this method I went to mama jeans health food store and picked up “real salt natures first sea salt” is that going to be what I would use

Hi Amber,

Thanks for the update. Yeah I always wondered if table salt would be as effective. In a way I thought it might potentially even work better due to the added iodine.

What method did you use to apply it for the eyebrows? Just the simple facial soak?

Hi Kathi,

Thanks for the update. Hopefully it works out for you. Personally I think most the sea salt is the same. The expensive dead sea salt from Amazon had worse results for me than regular Trader Joes stuff.

If you find the time, drop an update as you have some time to test the salt. Additionally this post might be of use. It’s my most comprehensive summary of my whole experience with seborrheic dermatitis.

All the best and look forward to any updates.

I mixed a pile of salt in my T-gel shampoo lol. Let it sit for a few minutes. Washed my face with the salt/shampoo.

Sounds like a crazy combination. Lol. T-Gel was powerful enough for me on it’s own. You think the combo made it better?

Also a good friend of mine used Castor Oil and Caffeine to get a grasp on premature balding. Maybe something too look at. However, not sure how it either of those would interact with seborrheic dermatitis.

Best of luck.

My scalp irritated easily with this problem. I e tried three different dermatologists and nine work. Only relief I get is when I have very short hair so I have to cut my hair ever 10-14 days. How much salt to water do I need to use for my scalp and how long do I keep it on. Thank you in advance

Hi Art,

Sorry for the delay in response. For the salt I was using about a teaspoon mixed and just rubbed it into my scalp.
For me it seemed to help better than most of the other natural treatments. However, sometimes it would work while other times it wouldn’t. Not sure why this happened. Apple cider vinegar on the scalp was okay as well, but same thing (sometimes worked, sometimes didn’t).

Anti-fungal shampoos (Head and Shoulders or Tgel) always seemed to work though. However, they often left the hair feeling unhealthy. For about the past year I stopped doing everything and just switched to a highly moisturizing shampoo and it seemed to work. But, here again I’m not sure if it’s because of the shampoo or from taking l-glutamine. Take a look at this post, I’ve tried to outline my whole journey (most the treatments I tried are here).

Short hair did seem to help when I had issues, but I don’t think it was the decisive factor.

Hope that helps and look forward to hearing any updates.

I have it really bad. Knew I had scalp issues but didn’t realize it was the reason my face was so red until my eyebrows started disappearing and I had to do something. T-gel gave a bit of relief, but mostly just left me itching crazy. So I discovered salt. Helped a bit more, but ultimately it has proved not to be any kind of quick cure.

Apple Cider Vinegar is a God sent so far. Haven’t been this white and flake free in years and this with a few applications in one day. I pour some diluted over my head in the shower. I have some diluted in a spray bottle for touch ups which also gives my hair a lot of body! And I have some in a little container to use as an astringent. Much better than salt!!!

I’ve been using dead sea salt for my scalp. At first, it was almost magical (though extremely painful) to use. I was mixing it with my conditioner to make it easy to apply. Now, it doesn’t seem to make quite a strong improvement. It really only ever reduced itching and reduced the amount of flaky. It never cleared up my SD completely. I saw your other post about your current regiment and might have to give those things a try.

Is there a better way to be using sea salt on my scalp as a topical relief? Direct application in the conditioner can be quite painful if there are open lesions or cracking. Would soaking my scalp in water be better? If so, what do you think would be a useful concentration?

Diluted apple cider vinegar gives serious relief.

Thanks for the update. Great to hear that it’s working out so well.
If you like, send I can append your specific approach to the main ACV post.

The best way I found was the head dunks. Rubbing the salt into my scalp was okay as well, but not as effective. For the soaks I was using about a teaspoon and half for about 2-3 litres of water. It was never precise thought, I just kind of put in as much I felt would make the water similar salinity to ocean water.
Not sure how this would work out, but looking back I might have considered adding a drop of iodine to the water if I was still going with this treatment approach. Way back I tried directly applying pure iodine on the spots, but that was way too crazy and slightly burnt my skin.

It’s strange to see why the salt stops working so quickly. For me it was quite magical at first too, for about a week I was riding high and thought I had everything figured out. Then it kind of just stopped working.
Even now though, I still think sodium and iodine might play a role however. I eat quite a bit of iodine rich foods and I’m not really watching my sodium intake as intensely as I did before. This seems to help the sweat glands behave more naturally.

Let me know which route you end up perusing. Best of luck either way!

hi
I am suffering fron SD too on my face nd scalp
Right now I am applying the creams and shampoos which r prescribed by dermatologist but I am not getting the effective results.Even I feel like this SD becomes worst when I apply facewash.What should I do? Should I use dead sea salt or apple cider vineger? I scared of SD.Plzz reply soon

Hi Neerja,

Thanks for checking in. Sorry, but I don’t really have a clear cut answer.
This is the regimen that has worked for me. Other readers have reported great results as well, but others didn’t see any changes. Additionally, it might be fairly difficult to find the Restoraderm wash in Indian, but I’m not sure. Perhaps you can update in this regard.

Overall these appear to be the three most popular treatments on this site so far:

  1. Restoraderm
  2. Apple Cider Vinegar
  3. Nystatin
  4. Sea Salt

Another post that might be of interest to you is this one. It’s basically an outline of my experience with everything that I had attempted.

Hope that helps and sorry I don’t have a clear answer for you.
Unfortunately, seborrheic dermatitis appears to be quite complex and differs significantly among sufferers.

I’m currently going through a ton of medical papers trying to find a more concrete answer. Will update as I have more details

All the best.

Thanks for response MICHAEL
Can u tell me one more thing?? From where should I oreder it online?? I mean which one will be the best…

Hi Neerja,

Just to clarify, what are you trying to order?

Apple cider vinegar

Hi Neerja,

Braggs apple cider vinegar is really popular here in North America. However, in my experience it really doesn’t matter all that much.
Seems like any quality apple cider vinegar is practically the same.

Perhaps check out some local stores. I would imagine it would be available.

All the best. Let me know how things turn out.