While dandruff causes annoying white flakes on your clothes, it is not a serious medical condition. Perhaps the best news of all is that no hair loss will result from dandruff. Home remedy solutions can normally take care of the problem or a change in shampoos could be in order. Dandruff shampoos are readily available as over-the-counter formulations.

It is nothing more than dead skin cells falling from your scalp in excessive amounts. Dandruff can be a mild scalp condition in its own right or a symptom of a larger problem such as a fungal infection, a form of dermatitis, or even an infestation of head lice. These more serious conditions, however, usually manifest with some kind of visible lesions (scales or acne like bumps), red inflammation, and severe itching or burning. If all you see are white flakes on the shoulders of your clothes, you have simple dandruff.

The old wives' tale is that dry scalp or excessive washing of the hair causes dandruff. This is actually not the case. People who have oily hair and scalp are much more likely to suffer from dandruff because of a naturally occurring fungus on the surface of the skin called malassezia furfur which eats fats and oils. When the fungus grows too rapidly in the presence of excessive oil, however, it disrupts the natural renewal of cells on the surface of the scalp and the result is the flaking of dead cells present in dandruff.

This is the most normal cause of the condition but dandruff can also be traced to a genetic predisposition, to food allergies, excessive sweating, soaps with a high alkaline content, too much yeast in the system, and stress. Thankfully even when caused by these factors, dandruff should respond to home remedies or to a special shampoo. If a simple dandruff treatment does not seem to be lessening the extent of the flaking, however, some of these other possibilities should be considered and if possible, ameliorated, for instance with allergy testing or a change in hair care products.