Sea Salt for Seborrheic Dermatitis - Treatment Guide and Research Summary

Just curious what kind of moisturizer do you recommend for the hair? I have SD all over my scalp. Hair is thinning daily, it seems and very dry. I thought about using the Dead Sea Salt as a rinse in the shower but worry about it drying my hair out more than it is already. Thank you

Hi, I have sd around my mouth and it makes me so self conscious. I saw you mentioned a saline spray that was isotonic. Do you remember the brand of the one you bought? Please write soon. Thanks!

please suggest me can we use this sea salt on our scalp or not Please answer me I am suffering this for 2 years its urgent for me

Hi Charity,

First of all, sorry for the delay in response.
Everyone’s skin is different, but two natural ingredients that have really stood out to me from my readings are:

  1. Caffeine
  2. Arginine

In correct amounts, these two appear to have good outcomes for overall scalp health (hair growth, barrier function, hydration).
The Reversing Seborrheic Dermatitis and Hair Loss post goes over them in a bit more detail (with references).

Don’t have any experience with any of the products that contain these ingredients, so can’t really suggest anything.
However, working on a scalp formulation myself which uses both of these.

Hope that helps and you can find something that works for you.
If you have the time, please let me know how things unfold (or have already unfolded).

All the best.

I’ve been suffering from flaking and oozing scalp much of the summer tho it’s gotten worse in the last week. I also have patches of irritated skin on my back, face, arms, legs, feet. I did try laying on the floor and soaking my head in epson salt water in a pan.

I researched salt water pools and a friend recommended a Salt Float company that I am planning to try in the next day or two.

Salt pool is only 3200 ppm, you can’t even taste it. Ocean is 32k ppm. A tablespoon to a liter is maybe a little more than that

I have used H&S conditioner for mine, works well. Not the shampoo and conditioner combo.

Try a SHAMPOO BRUSH! It sounds counter intuitive to scrub on the worst areas but it helps so much! I have tried everything for years. Nothing works except to scrub off the flakes. It seems the flake build up in the worst areas cause the itching so when the flakes come off the itching eases up.

Been suffering from scaly flaky red inflamed scalp for more than 20 years…
Tried many steroid creams, shampoes essential oils, sea salt…

today I put on extra virgin olive oil on my scalp (massage and leave on for couple of hours then rinse) and…all the flakes are gone and has not come back… omg cannot believe this

UV radiation works a treat - if you can’t sit outside go to a salon and get 5 mins once a week…couple that to a good moisturiser and diet…salcura zeoderm works wonders on my face…yes a few salt water baths (any sea salt seems to work) from time to time helps (with ketoconazole shampoo foamed up over head area)…if you can get a good mud face pack from Dead Sea also very good…no steroids they make it worse…manuka honey used as a face pack also very good but expensive…if you are using steroids forget all this it won’t help one bit…you need to stop steroids get on to these things wait 6 months for steroid damage to heal (push through flares) and eventually it settles right down as long as you keep a maintenance dose of the above up…steroids stop the healing!

Intetesting theory, never thought about it, but I can definitely confirm that my seborrheic dermatitis appeared at the same time I decided to reduce salt. I was really using too much, on virtually every food - on bread and butter, on vegetables, in yogurt, on meat, everything. They say salty is an acquired taste so one can easily reverse it. It took two weeks to get used to just the amount of salt already in these foods, and it wasn’t actually difficult, I also lost weight quickly (sodium in excess may lead to fluid retention), but I realize now I had cut down my salt intake abruptly - from too much to potentially too little salnow. My occasional and completely manageable dandruff turned into seborrheic dermatitis soon after, but never thought the two events might bed connected. This is definitely worth further investigations.

My dermatologist told me the reason there has been an explosion of skin conditions like this is due to our public water, they now put chloramine in the water which strips the skin of natural defenses against skin conditions. So there is now an over-growth of skin yeast / bacteria disorders. You have to filter all water in your house /apt. To prevent this, which gets very expensive.

Your site has really been helpful; I’ve made a list of things to try! I use Magnesium Oil Spray to get more mag (I’m overcoming adrenal fatigue), and discovered it makes THE best ‘deodorant’ ever! So I might just try it on the affected areas of my scalp, and see if it helps. I just made an essential oils roller containing org. jojoba as a base…Tea Tree, Lavender, Peppermint, and a few drops of Frankincense. I’ll try that for a few days first. I’m dealing w/ significant hair loss to sides of my head, and some on top. I discovered awhile back, it was initially caused by a build-up of L’Oreal hair color on my glasses earpieces (!). I’ve switched to a healthier hair color (Madison Reed), keeping mostly-organic diet clean, taking Biotin and SIBU liquid along w/ other supplements. I can see some regrowth, but I’m still shedding faster than it grows back. Thanks again for all your information!

This makes total sense! Two years ago, we got a chlorine-filtering shower head (from Amazon, for a little under $30, and a $20+ refill every 10-11 months: very hard water here) and it helps a lot. And we drink bottled filtered [usually] alkaline water now. Such rampant yeast overgrowth (Candida) is also caused by over-use of antibiotics, grains and dairy (for those sensitive to them), too much sugar and a generally processed diet.

I’ve suffered with sebborheic dermatitis for years! Everything I tried was only temporarily. I saw a dermatologist and I was hopeful and that didn’t even work. I went on a low carb diet and didn’t even think about my skin condition. Within a few weeks my skin issue was gone!!! Around my period the hormones would make it flare up even more. That issue is gone! Carbs are sugars and I feel that treating the issue from the inside is the best solution.

First of, thank you so much for all the research you have done and shared!

Sea salt works for me, the trick is to find right salt to water ratio and stick to it. Don’t put to much salt or use this treatment for long periods, cause ,unfortunately, skin/ sd gets used to it. Try to rotate the treatment with alternative one (highly recommend raw honey one).

the way i use sea salt:

morning:

  1. after shower, disolve minera dead sea salt in a bowl a soak my face for 1-3 mins.
  2. wash face with cold water and let it dry
  3. put on ‘gold bond healing’ on problem spots

evening:

repeat 1,2
3. put on aloe vera gel for face.

Hi Michael,
your site is great for anyone suffering with seb. derm. I had a severe outbreak and some spreading of this awful skin condition. the corners of my mouth, lips and under my nose. nothing worked, and it turned into a vicious cycle of redness and flaking. the mineral sea salt has been fantastic. I am afraid to stop for fear it will return with a vengeance. I plan to continue once a day with the wash and will somehow incorporate something daily in the shower which would be more convenient. I will continue to follow your site and look forward to learning more on how to keep this condition under control more naturally. Also, I find the aveeno excema skin cream very nice and gentle on my facial skin. Who knew?
thanks again for a great and informative site.

I have had SD for the past 18 years, im now 36. The first few years, i used steriod cresm, when flareups got bad. But the cream had less effect and the area affected got bigger. I was finally told about the side effects of using steroid cream so I stopped and was now desperately looking for another remedy. I read about Nizoral shampoo and tabs. I took the tabs for a month and it totally cleared my SD and I thought I was finally cured. After 3 month it came back, now worse than ever. I started using Nizoral shampoo, and it worked about 4 years, then I upped it to 2% solution and it also worked a few years and finally I got another shampoo of 2.5% which also worked a few years. A few weeks ago, my SD came back with vengens. My back, chest and most of my face was affected this time and nothing seemed to be working. I went to the pharmacy and was about to use hydrocortisone, terbinafine cream and tabs well knowing how bad it is. On the day, I was about to start my treatment, I came across a site writing about sea salt for SD. I though, what do I have to lose from trying and it made sense… so I washed my face twice a day for 4 days and then once a day for 3 days and all the SD had cleared - gone! Without chemicals and expensive shampoo… just salt and water. It’s now 2 weeks and still no sign of SD!

The best thing that has worked for me is taking my eczema/psoriasis cream, diluting a little bit in some water inside of a spray bottle and spraying my scalp. Works like a charm. I keep the water around forever and it still works later on.

With a cream you can barely spread it far enough through the hair!! This is what I do.
Diluting a little bit in some water inside of a spray bottle and spraying the scalp works great for me. I keep the water around for a while and it works later when I need it too.