Looking for ways to soothe dry scalp naturally?
Look no further than Desert Essence’s NEW Dry Scalp Care line.
Powered by botanicals and gentle exfoliants like lactic acid (AHA), this luxurious dry scalp system addresses the root causes of dry scalp in three easy steps, leaving your hair and scalp nourished, hydrated, and beautifully balanced.
Symptoms of Dry Scalp
Dry scalp can create various symptoms depending on severity.
The most common symptoms are itchiness, tightness, and dry skin, which may flake.
More severe cases can cause relentless and embarrassing itching and excess flaking, giving the illusion of dandruff.
If you’ve experienced dry scalp, you know how uncomfortable it can be. It can also be challenging to treat, especially if it comes and goes, and/or you can’t pinpoint the cause.
What Causes Dry Scalp?
Dry scalp can be caused by various factors, including:
- A reaction to hair care products such as shampoo, conditioner, hair color, etc.
- Excess use of mechanical drying and/or styling tools
- Skin type
- Sunburn
- Over-cleansing
- Over-styling with styling products, such as hair gels and/or hairspray
- Unbalanced scalp microbiome
Like dry skin, dry scalp that comes and goes. Occasional dry scalp can be a result of environmental changes in hair care products, diet, seasonal changes, excessive sun exposure, over-styling or over-cleansing.
Chronic or more persistent dry scalp conditions may indicate deeper issues such as an adverse reaction to products or scalp microbiome disruption.
More serious conditions like dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, staph infections, and scalp ringworm often display similar symptoms and are often mistaken for dry scalp. They are very different and require medical attention.
Related reading: What Is A Damaged Skin Barrier And How Do You Fix It?
How to Solve Dry Scalp With Desert Essence's NEW Dry Scalp Care Line
Desert Essence’s NEW Dry Scalp Care line of a pre-shampoo treatment, shampoo, and conditioner are formulated with evidence-based natural and botanical ingredients to address common root causes of dry scalp.
Our star ingredients include:
- Lactic acid (AHA) and Glucosamine HCL: Naturally derived ferments gently exfoliate and break down dead skin cells, providing hydration and relief from flaking, itching, and inflammation.
- Inulin: A prebiotic sourced from Chicory helps promote the healthy microbial balance of the scalp microbiome.
- Tea Tree Oil: This potent essential oil has well-documented antiseptic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antifungal properties, making it vital for a balanced scalp.
- Manuka Oil: Like tea tree oil, manuka oil has natural antiseptic, antifungal, anti-dandruff, anti-inflammatory benefits, and anti-parasitic properties.
- Aloe Vera: Soothes itching and inflammation while hydrating scalp and hair.
- Peppermint Oil: Invigorating and therapeutic, peppermint oil has natural antimicrobial properties, is cooling and soothing for the scalp, and naturally promotes hair growth.
The Dry Scalp Care line also contains nettles, rosemary, and horsetail, three herbs traditionally used to support strong, shiny, healthy hair and roots.
These soothing, nourishing, and moisturizing products are SLS-free and safe to use daily to promote healthy hair and scalp.
How To Use Desert Essence Dry Scalp Treatment: Easy As 1-2-3
Dry scalp treatments can be cumbersome and even uncomfortable, or painful, to use.
This is not so with the Dessert Essence Dry Scalp Line, which is easy to use, gentle on the scalp and hair, and a pleasure to experience.
No harsh chemicals, no pillow-staining overnight treatments, and no compromises in quality and clean ingredients.
Here’s how it works.
Step 1: Apply Dry Scalp Care Pre-Shampoo Intensive Treatment
This concentrated pre-shampoo treatment is massaged into hair and scalp before shampooing to exfoliate dead skin cells, soothe, cleanse, and work its moisturizing magic. No wait time needed.
Use 1-3 times per week as an intensive dry scalp treatment before shampooing.
Key benefits:
- Exfoliates dead skin cells
- Calms dry, itchy skin
- Boosts scalp hydration
- Cools, calms, and soothes
- Promotes a healthier scalp ecosystem
Shop Dry Scalp Care Pre-Shampoo Intensive Treatment here.
Step 2: Work in Dry Scalp Care Shampoo
The Dry Scalp Care Shampoo can be used daily to cleanse, exfoliate, and gently eliminate dry scalp.
To use, massage into hair and rinse clean.
Use on its own daily or immediately after applying Dry Scalp Care Pre-Shampoo Intensive Treatment.
Key benefits:
- Eliminates excess oil
- Gentle, cooling, non-irritating
- Non-drying
- SLS-free
- Helps neutralize bad bacteria that can cause or contribute to a dry, itchy scalp
- Maintains scalp’s pH balance
- Gentle enough to use daily
Shop Dry Scalp Care Shampoo here.
Step 3: Dry Scalp Care Conditioner
As a final step, apply a small amount of Dry Scalp Care Conditioner from root to tip, focusing on your scalp and roots.
Dry Scalp Care Conditioner also contains pure jojoba oil, a natural ingredient that promotes healthy hair, skin, and scalp.
Leave for 1-2 minutes and rinse clean.
Key benefits:
- Moisturizing, lightweight, silicone-free formula
- Nourishes and soothes
- Helps control “bad” bacteria that may cause or contribute to dry scalp
- Leaves hair and scalp healthy and hydrated
That’s it! Just three steps in about 5 minutes to promote a healthy, balanced, and clean scalp and strong, shiny, manageable hair.
More Dry-Scalp-Solving Tips
As you learned previously, dry scalp doesn’t happen randomly; there’s always a cause.
Fortunately, the Desert Essence Dry Scalp Care line addresses many causal factors, including fungal, bacterial, dryness, inflammation, dandruff, scalp microbiome, and skin barrier issues.
Other helpful tips for scalp health include:
- Staying hydrated from the inside out
- Doing weekly or monthly hair oiling treatments
- Taking omega-3 fatty acids, which help support a normal inflammatory response and may have skin and scalp health benefits
- Addressing inflammatory skin care issues or other healthcare issues with a dermatologist and/or integrative health practitioner
- Cutting back on shampooing to allow your natural oils to regenerate. If you shampoo every day, try switching to every other day
- Focusing conditioning on the roots of your hair versus just the tips
- Paying attention to other hair products, such as styling products, serums, dry shampoo, etc., which may be causing an allergic reaction
- Eating a healthy, balanced diet high in whole foods and low in ultra-processed foods, alcohol, sugar, and inflammatory fats
- Including probiotic and prebiotics in your diet, or taking a supplement, to promote a healthy gut and dermal microbiome:
- Sources of probiotics include fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, and real pickles
- Sources of prebiotics (a type of fiber that feeds probiotics in the gut) include green bananas, Jerusalem artichokes, mushrooms, leeks, onions, garlic, wheat germ, soy beans, inulin, and chicory
All these tips have the potential to help improve scalp health as well as your overall well-being.
Related reading: 8 Ways to Help Hair Grow Naturally + Little-Known Causes of Hair Loss
Rediscover The Health & Beauty Benefits Of A Balanced Scalp Today
Isn’t it liberating to know you can treat dry scalp without resorting to drugs or harmful chemicals?
Click here to shop Desert Essence NEW Dry Scalp Care products and experience the comfort and beauty of a balanced scalp in just three steps, a few days a week.
Sources mentioned in this article:
- “Epidermal and dermal effects of topical lactic acid”. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Volume 35, Issue 3, 388 - 391
- “Lactic Acid Chemical Peeling in Skin Disorders”. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol.
- “Glucosamine: an ingredient with skin and other benefits”. J Cosmet Dermatol.
- “The prebiotic effect of triple biotic technology on skin health”. Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications (2021).
- “Efficacy and safety of Melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) oil for human health—A systematic review of randomized controlled trials”. Frontiers in Pharmacology.
- “Review of Antimicrobial and Other Medicinal Properties”. Pharmaceuticals (Basel).
- Pharmacological Update Properties of Aloe Vera and Its Major Active Constituents. Molecules,
- “Antimicrobial efficacy of five essential oils against oral pathogens: An in vitro study”. Eur J Dent.
- “Peppermint Oil Promotes Hair Growth without Toxic Signs”. Toxicol Res.
- “Jojoba Oil: An Updated Comprehensive Review on Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Uses, and Toxicity”. Polymers.
- “Changing our microbiome: probiotics in dermatology”. Br J Dermatol.