User's Guide to Treating Seborrheic Dermatitis with Tea Tree Oil

I have been using fractionated coconut oil in combination with SLS free shampoo. It has not been effective
I am now dabbing apple cider vinegar onto my scalp, so far without success.
I am shocked by how much hair I am losing and can see myself being as being a bald FEMALE pensioner. Can anyone help?
Dawn

Hi Dawn,

Sorry to hear that. Ketoconozole seems to be the standard treatment approach from doctors, so you may consider giving this a try if nothing else is working.
For me, I’ve been using this shampoo for a while now and it seems to control the scalp most of the time. If I do see a random spot appear (usually around hairline), I use a bit of the Biom8 that I’ve recently created (details here).

Tea tree, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, and most other things didn’t work too well for my scalp.
Strange that the shampoo mentioned above fixed things so well for me.

Hope that helps and best of luck.
PS. You can also join the community, perhaps other members might have some input.

With all the short term solutions you’ve found (tea tree oil, shampoo, etc), have you ever alternated between them? For example, use the tea tree oil until its ineffective then switch to shampoo, then revert back to the oil.

Hi Carrie,

Not specifically, but with all the solutions I had attempted I guess I was inherently alternating between them.
In my journey I had always just wanted to understand what was going on and why the skin condition was there in the first place.

Hope that helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

All the best.

I have seborrheic lesions on my scrotum and severely dry skin on my testicles. is it safe to use the tea tree oils in that area of my body?

Hi Robert,

Personally wouldn’t recommend using any essential oils (such as tea tree) in those areas. These oils are quite volatile and may not be the best choice for sensitive skin.
Using more mild anti-fungal such as the oils contained in the Biom8 I created may be more suitable.

Have you ever approached a dermatologist with this issue?

Hope that helps and best of luck mate.

its vs “it’s”. Get an editor because your spelling is terrible.

I finally have my scalp under control! I gave up and saw my doc, who actually listened. I am allergic to SLS in shampoo so he found me one without parabens etc. He gave me Sebco coconut oil compound to use overnight as prescribed, then Capasal shampoo. For the first time in years my scalp isn’t driving me mad !

Hi Dawn,

Happy to hear you managed to find some relief. Thank you for sharing.

i’ve been dealing with this for a while on my scalp, and am also experiencing hair loss and thinning. i also tried tea tree oil shampoo and it worked at first, but then seemed to start acting as an irritant. i’ve tried t/sal, but it doesn’t seem to do much. for a really long time, i thought it was dandruff due to dry skin, so i tried t/gel, and i think i might try it out again.

(i had a limited supply when i first tried it, as i was living in korea at the time and could only find it when i would visit the US once a year. i thought that korea’s horrible air pollution and terrible water - which causes really dramatic thinning hair in the older population, while younger people have thick luscious hair - might have had something to do with it. i recently moved to oregon where the air is much cleaner, but i’m still experiencing the same issues. that was a bummer to figure out.)

i also read about “sebulex” on webmd and found its generic, sebex, on amazon for $5.04 plus free shipping. i’ll try them separately. i’ll be perfectly fine if the first one i try works and i have to give away the other! i have to say that it’s so nice to see others’ comments and know that others feel what i feel. it’s embarrassing, and i’m happy to see other things to try out! thank you!

Hi! I have been reading into a lot of this as I have had severe dermatitis on my face for six months now. Steroids from doctors have not worked and in fact I believe have worsened my situation. After reading all of the comments and your article, perhaps have you considered Dermodex mites as a possible cause? I have just discovered articles on these and a treatment for them is tea tree oil. However most comments on posts about TTO and dermodex have suggested that the skin responds well to the carrier oil/TTO treatment at first, then as the bacteria mites die off it becomes red again however, eventually levels out and the skin calms down. However the cycle of these little critters can go on for months and results take a long time to set it apparently. Perhaps this is similar to the cases here as these mites affect the skin and scalp. I believe you can get culture tests at doctors to see if the mites are present in large numbers. In fact according to these other articles, everyone carries these mites in their skin glands but if an extreme increase in numbers occurs this is when a skin reaction is caused. I am going to give castor oil/TTO a go and see if it helps.

I am a 49 yr old woman, currently going through menopause. I feel it important to mention the above as I NEVER had problems with sebborheic dermatitis until now. My first experience with s. d. was on my scalp along with hair loss. That said my hair loss is obviously not due to just s.d. alone. I have currently been using tea tree oil and olive oil as a carrier and it has most deffinently and successfully gotten rid of my seborrheic dermatitis. It is now on my face so I will be trying a tea tree water rinse on my face. I don’t claim to know all about essential oils, however tea tree has been a blessing and from here on out will be a staple in my medicine cabinet!! I hope this helps someone that has sebborheic dermatitis as it can be very difficult to get a handle on if not treated promptly.
GOOD LUCK I HOPE IT DOES THE TRICK!!

I’ve used the Tea Tree Oil for the last month and I thought that was the end after 1 years of dermatitis.
Unfortunately, one day I worked in the hot sun and when I came back home my skin became red and inflamed.
Now I want to take a brake of a week or two (I will use all my motivation and strength of will to don’t scratch myself) and then re-try with the tee tree oil.
Anyway … I want resist!!!

Hi Mikaela,

Any update on your castor oil/TTT experiment? About to try the same, starting from scalp and eyebrows tho…

Hi Lynzo,

Thanks for providing the details on your experience. Each single piece of information helps.
Interesting to hear about the shampoo, seems like the active ingredients are sulfur and salicylic acid. Personally, didn’t see much benefit from salicylic acid and sulfur has a really strong odor (kind of a pain for every day use).
However, at this price point it seems like it can’t hurt to give it a try.

For me, this shampoo has really been good:
Andalou Naturals Moisture Rich Shampoo
Haven’t had much issues with dandruff since I started using it.

Additionally, this article may be helpful:
Reversing Seborrheic Dermatitis and Hair Loss
It goes over quite a bit regarding hair loss and seborrheic dermatitis. And some of the research is going into a new scalp formulation I’ve been experimenting with.

How did the sebex shampoo turn out for you?
Wish you all the best!

Very informative article! Tea tree oil is really beneficial to treat any kind of fungal and skin infection. In my opinion tea tree oil is one of the best remedy to treat Seborrheic Dermatitis.

I used it every night for months. No change. Still have seborrheic dermatitis.

I’ve got an absolutely horrid patch of dermatitis across the left ear and the surrounding skin on my face. I have found that Tgel shampoo helps with the flaking and tea tree oil, when used very carefully, helps with the insane need to scratch and pick.

Hello all. I have had a very similar experience. The oil worked wonderfully for few days and today it suddenly stopped to make the difference. Don’t know why as it’s not irritating the skin, just stopped working as if the SD learned how to bypass it. My struggle is on again.

How about using TTO with carrier oil and also using a TTO containing shampoo? Would that be too much?