Sea Salt for Seborrheic Dermatitis - Treatment Guide and Research Summary

Hi, I have been suffering from SD on my scalp for a year and half now and I
have been to a few dermatologists and all they give me is prescriptions for
cortisteriods and dandruff shampoo but research further these things are temporary
fixes and in the end you will lose your hair faster . So I ordered a natural dandruff
shampoo it doesn’t smell all that pretty but applying a bunch of creams does not
either so you weigh the two evils right? I live by the ocean and started going to
the beach every weekend, filled up two gallon jugs of beach water changed to a gluten
free diet not that I was allergic to gluten but I may have a sensitivity and actually
my scalp felt good going to the beach… well now the weather is getting cooler and
my scalp is in aggravation mode so last night I took my dead sea salt and purified water
and dissolved it to a two cup rinse and 8 oz to a spray bottle and used it on my scalp this
morning nice… M intuition told me to try it I did and I will keep on doing it . I believe in my
heart that salt makes the difference like yourself I wasn’t much of a salt person but since I
developed this I have actual cravings for salt and the salt water has proven more beneficial
then creams and shampoos from a dermatologist and saved my hair from probably more
falling out. I hear all of you that suffer from this it is rather depressing but learning in your own
way how to deal with it you find the hope that is not the end. I miss nice smelling shampoos
but the aggravation of what I feel could not match the one day of a nice smelling shampoo
that is for sure so bland I will be … Salt and more salt is what I say… oils be gone!

Furthermore, pure aloe is wonderful if yo u live in an environment that can grow it please
make yourself a plant of aloe you will be so happy you did. The aloe in it’s purest form
soothes the inflammation of the dermatitis even on the scalp … I use pure aloe on my face each morning
instead of anything chemical …

Can the mixture be put on your scalp?

Hi Susan. Thanks for the details.
Glad to hear that you found something that works for you!

Which natural anti dandruff shampoo did you end up trying? Jasons?

For me I ended up getting some natural one from Amazon with Pale Shale Oil, but it was like 30 dollars for a small tube. So that was a bit too steep for a re-order.
Currently I’m just using a “mostly” natural moisturizing shampoo, seems to be working fine.

The salt added back to my diet seems to really have helped. Also avoid milk as much as I can, as it seemed to closely correlate with flare ups for me in the past.
Stuff with gluten makes up large part of my diet. When looking for the cause of my seborrheic dermatitis other forums convinced me that gluten was responsible.
At that time I did everything I could to stay away from gluten, but honestly avoiding gluten didn’t seem to have any direct effects for me.

Also washing with sea salt is really nice. Seems to almost fortify the hair.

Yeah, I heard great things about Aloe.
It’s been used in my family since I was little and my parents always have a few plants around the house.
For some reason anytime I tried to apply freshly squeezed aloe on my seborrheic dermatitis, my skin would go crazy, becoming even more inflamed!
Knowing how amazing aloe vera is I kept attempting to use it against the seborrhea, but always had the same result (inflammation).

However, I’ve read quite a few posts of people saying it has done wonders for their dermatitis.
For me this was a prime example of “Everyones skin is different”.

When using sea salt on my scalp I usually massage it in. Leave it for a couple minutes. Than shampoo the hair to remove the residue.
Other times I don’t even shampoo. However, using too much or too often seems to dry the scalp for me (which is why I usually shampoo).

Before when I had thick scaling on the scalp. Baking soda seemed to do the trick a bit quicker than sea salt.

All the best.

Hi, I started salt treatment almost two weeks ago. It’s a carnalite dead sea salt, and i’m adding one and a half teaspoon for 1 litre of hot water. I mix it in a bowl and then soak my face in it for several minutes (5-10). After 1st week there was a huge improvement on the affected by SD areas (i have it around my nose and under eyes, on ‘good days’ you can see almost a full butterfly. In my case it’s only reddish, it doesn’t flake, before salt treatment it was greasier than other parts of face and i had to wash it few times a day cause it got sweaty.) All redness ALMOST disappeared, you could still see from close distance that something is not alright. 2 days ago, after 12 days of doing my morning/evening soaking regime, SD returned and i don’t know what to do. It seems that my skin got used to salt, becasue in first week when i was working out i litteraly sweated out all this salt I ingested in by soaking. I also felt like i ate some salt, not anymore, it’s like my skin stopped absorbing it. Can you please give me some tip? Should I continue my regime, buy a new pack of salt (this one is going to end i few days) cause maybe it will change for good(little pimples appeared, since SD started in octobre i havent got any in infected area). I’ve read about honey treatment on your GREA GREAT site and I think that I’ll try it next if salt completely fail, but six months…man, it’s so long. I’m 20 and deeply depressed, I’ll appreciate any help from you. Greetings

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.