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Why Does My Dandruff Keep Coming Back?

The haircut is fresh, the beard is neat and the outfit works, but you’ve got flakes on your hairline or dusting onto your shoulders again.
The generic advice is get anti-dandruff shampoo, follow the directions and give it enough time to work. By now you’ve tried quite a few, and they helped for a bit but not anymore.
Your GP or dermatologist could prescribe something stronger - but you don’t want to live on prescriptions.
We won’t bore you with another lecture about your bedding, laundry detergent or getting more sleep. You know all of that already. We're talking about food here.

Test Dairy Without Missing It

Collage of meals that don't look like they contain any dairy.

Dairy May Still Be All Over Your Plate

Just because you don’t have milk in your tea or eat cheese doesn’t mean that you don’t eat dairy. Actually the dairy that most people eat is Whey powder.
Say you haven't touched milk, cheese or yogurt all week. Breakfast was sausages, toast and sauce, lunch was kebab flavoured pot noodles and smoky barbecue crisps, then meatballs, instant mash and gravy for dinner. Nothing there looks like dairy, yet whey powder and milk powder can sit in ALL of those foods. 
That means your itchy scalp and dandruff might calm down after you remove obvious dairy, but start itching again after an accidental exposure to dairy products like whey or milk powder. The reaction is going to be different too.
a huge plate of cheesy chips with bacon bits.

One Large Portion Is Easier To Spot

When you had melted cheese on chips on Friday evening, the itch started before bed - that’s an easy link to spot. But when you have a little whey in your breakfast sausages, milk powder in your lunchtime crisps and a bit more in your dinner burger and sauce, you won’t notice until your scalp flares up a few days later.
Man checking the back of a packet of sausages for signs of dairy.

Check Every Label For Two Weeks

For the next two weeks, put the packet back if you see:
  • Milk
  • Whey
  • Casein
  • Milk powder
  • Skimmed milk powder
  • Buttermilk
  • Cream
  • Cheese powder
And before you decide ‘Oh, I’ll just swap diary for the soya version’, stop right there, because that creates a second test at the same time.

Bring Back One Dairy Food

For this test, only choose clearly dairy-free sausages, plain fresh meat or fish, and unsweetened non-soya drinks that you already tolerate. It’s also not the time to try out imitation cheese - a lot of those contain a long mixture of starches, oils and flavourings that’ll make your result harder to read.
When the itch has calmed down, choose one dairy food - not a full day of milk, cheese and creamy sauces - just eat a normal portion. Then carry on with your day.
If your scalp kicks off that night or the flakes look worse by morning, you can decide if you want to swap dairy out for good.

Give Soya Its Own Test

Collage of Dairy Free Meals that are full of soya.

The Dairy-Free Meal May Be Full Of Soya

Tofu is plain, soft and nowhere near as suspicious as cheese, chocolate or alcohol. That doesn’t mean your body wants it.
Dairy has gone, so now it's a soya latte with a vegan cheese and spinach wrap for lunch, then a tofu stir fry with rice and vegetables for dinner. It all looks like the sort of food that should've helped. But then the scalp stays itchy, while the rash around the nose and chin refuse to go away. At that point, soya foods need to go on the suspect list too.

Remove Soya Now

Start now - the rice and sauce can stay, just take the tofu out of tonight’s curry and use chicken, fish, aubergine, chickpeas, mushrooms or whatever works for you. Make your coffees with unsweetened oat or coconut milk. Then for the next two weeks. Don’t eat anything that contains:

Remove Soya For Two Weeks

For two weeks don’t eat anything that contains
  • Tofu
  • Soya milk
  • Soya yoghurt
  • Tempeh
  • Edamame
  • Soya protein
  • Textured vegetable protein
  • Soya flour
  • Soya sauce
  • Miso
  • Soya lecithin
Choose alternatives you already know suit you. Don’t use the next two weeks to introduce foods you’ve ‘always wanted to try’.

Remove Sweetness Properly

Giving Up Sweets Is Not Enough

You heard sugar overload can cause dandruff and flareups. As the solution-driven guy you are, you stopped the biscuits and chocolate weeks ago. There's been no lattes, or spoonfuls of sugar in your Americanos. That should count as sugar-free, surely. So why is the dandruff being so stubborn?
Now look at breakfast: sausage and baked beans on toast. Then there was that chocolate chip cereal bar with coffee at midday.
And what about lunch that was smothered in sauce and the sparkling lucozade that washed it all down. None of it feels like a sweet treat, but your body still has to deal with what’s inside it.

Stop Searching For Every Name For Sugar

There are 65 names for sugar. No one's got time to memorise all that. For two weeks eat plain meat instead of meatballs, potatoes instead of instant mash, plain beans with tomatoes and spices you made at home instead of baked beans in a can. There's no space for syrup, maltodextrin, fruit concentrate or any other randoms to creep in. 
That doesn't mean you have to endure miserable plates of chicken and broccoli for a fortnight. Season your food and make sure it's always delicious.

Sugar-Free Still Keeps The Sweet Taste

Also, “Sugar-free” gets far too much trust. A zero-calorie drink can taste like syrup, sugar-free gum keeps sweetness in your mouth for hours and most toothpaste tastes sweeter than the biscuits you gave up.
If you want a proper test, let your tongue forget what sweet tastes like for two weeks. Drop the zero drinks, chewing gum, mints, sweetened supplements and flavoured water. Keep up your dental care with unsweetened fluoride toothpaste, dental floss and mouthwash.
This test will help you understand if your dandruff is linked to having concentrated sweetness several times each day.

Fruit Does Not Fight Back Anymore

Fruit gets a free pass because it’s fruit.
Ten of those old-fashioned wild brambleberries would slow you down. You have to deal with the crunchy seeds and then decide if the taste is worth the effort of reaching for another. These days fruit doesn't fight back like that. Grapes have no seeds, mandarins peel in seconds and both can taste exactly like sweets.

Test The Fruit That Disappears Fastest

So when you say you don't eat sugar, are you ignoring how much sweet fruit your body has to deal with? Fruit may be fine for you. The only way to know is to test it instead of assuming natural sugar can’t affect your scalp.
What's the fruit that disappears fastest in your house? Don't eat it for two weeks - get a savoury snack instead. If your scalp calms down, bring the fruit back and see whether the itch returns; if nothing changes, move on.

Finish Each Test Before Starting Another

Test Gluten First

For two weeks, leave bread, pasta, cereal and pastry alone, and use potatoes as your usual starch instead. If your scalp stays exactly the same, gluten can come off the suspect list.

Don't Replace Bread With A Mountain Of Rice

Don't remove bread and then pile the plate high with rice instead; you might swap one problem and end up with another. Test grains, eggs and alcohol separately for two weeks each, and move on whenever your scalp shows no change.
Phone Screen shows the results of a dandruff food test.

Take Your Results With You

No change still gives you an answer: food is not where your scalp wants you to look next. If one result stands out, keep the note and take it with you.
“Dairy makes me itch” can disappear in the conversation. “Nine days without dairy calmed it, one sausage with whey brought it back overnight” is much harder to brush aside.
Instead of asking a professional to guess what's happening, you can show them exactly what your scalp did.
Food, skincare and shaving can all leave clues on your face as well as your scalp:
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