You know there was never any reason for me to miss snowflakes during the winter, even though it never really snowed here in Delhi. Simply because my scalp turned into a flaky land of dandruff with constant itching to make me forget all about the joys of the winter season or life in general.
Since I hardly ever used hair styling products and couldn’t blame it on them causing an allergic reaction to kick off dandruff, I usually spent my winter months blaming my condition on Malassezia.
It is a yeast-like fungus that shamelessly fed on my scalp’s oil and increased ten folds to make my life and my black sweaters miserable during the dry winter season.
But then the Head and Shoulders’ ad became my reality
An innocent daughter bullied for the state of her black dresses getting ruined by dandruff, a concerned mother with abnormally shiny hair comes up with the commercial way out: hands over shampoo to the daughter. The little ones sorted as she’s now got hair as shiny as her mother and the duo sits on a swing to flaunt their exaggerated mane.
This is exactly (or not) what happened between me and my mother. The only difference being, that my extremely non-commercial mother handed out a home remedy for my problem instead of a shampoo bottle.
Also read: 6 completely-natural DIY hair masques to give you the hair of your dreams
The good-old lemon juice came to my rescue
With no belief in my mother or any hope of her recommended remedy showing any effect, I started applying one tbsp of lemon juice diluted with a quarter glass of water on my scalp as a pre-shampoo ritual. I massaged it in, left it on for a few minutes, and then washed it off with shampoo as usual.
On days, I’d feel like giving up on this anti-dandruff routine, mother would make sure to knock on my bathroom’s door until I’d finally get irritated and helplessly come out to take the lemon juice inside to continue the routine.
Yet again, mom became the saviour
This routine started showing positive results within 4 weeks and as dramatic as it sounds, I got back to wearing black and missing the winter snow—thanks to mom. No blindingly shiny hair though. Just the dandruff left me alone for good.
Science agrees…
Sometimes, it feels like my mother bribes researchers to find evidence in favour of her home remedies. But, there’s no way she could have partnered with researchers at the Stellenbosch University, who found lemon juice to be an effective way of treating dandruff caused by Malassezia.
Being acidic in nature, lemon juice can help balance the pH of the scalp. Apart from this, the antioxidant vitamin C content in it can give your immunity system all the healing power it needs to fight off the dandruff and maintain healthy hair.
Now that you’ve got all the proof you need, why don’t you give this one a try if you happen to be suffering from the same problem?
Also read: 10 women talk to us about the one hair care hack that they swear by
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