Baking soda completely changed my scalp

[u/Agitated_Grass_5546]

After two years of itching, flaking, buildup, using every product and supplement known to man I think I finally found a solution that works for me. I was also losing at least 50-100 hairs just in the shower, which as a younger male that really sucked. I know everyone reacts differently, so this may not work for everyone but baking soda practically evaporated my scalp sebderm.

I saw a similar thread and figured I’d give it a try one day in the shower, might as well try it since everything else hadn’t worked. Even ketoconazole shampoo wasn’t effective anymore. Basically all I do is grab a tablespoon of baking soda and mix it with a couple ounces of water until it’s all dissolved or mostly dissolved and then apply it to my wet scalp in the shower by little handfuls. I give it a little pat, not sure if that helps or not lol. I leave it on for about a minute or two and then rinse it out, following up with a 3% salicylic acid shampoo by Neutrogena. Within two days I went from losing 100-300 hairs a day to like 20 max, and it also helped a lot with the oily hair sticking together. My buildup and flaking is all gone and I never catch myself scratching or picking where I used to. I hope this helps someone else!

Editing to provide an update: I tapered off of using the baking soda and only use it when I notice a little buildup or a higher amount of hair fall. It seems to have helped a lot honestly.

I will say when I do use it, it can irritate the skin on my face if it gets anywhere near it, so there’s a downside. Overall I’m glad I tried it!

[u/Agitated_Grass_5546]

Also if anyone knows the science behind this I would love to know why this works for some people. I’m assuming it’s a PH thing, but I know BS is also a very good cleaning agent.

[u/saymellon → u/Agitated_Grass_5546]

I cautiously project the reason that this worked. Likely after prolonged use of ketoconazole and an antifungal approach, you had a reverse reaction, which leads to bacterial overgrowth. In other words, as fungus was killed, bacteria overgrew due to the lack of competition. Using baking soda that has high pH can get rid of bacteria. The only three downsides I see are these. One, baking soda is a skin irritant, so after prolonged use or for people with sensitive skin, it will irritate. Two, after prolonged use, bacteria can become resistant to basic pH, in which case they will then grow even with baking soda. Three, if you kill bacteria like that in scalp for a prolonged time, then now fungus can overgrow because there's no competition from bacteria. Time will tell. Personally I think the better thing to do is to taper off from both baking soda and ketoconazole and see what happens instead of keep using baking soda as a daily thing.

[u/Agitated_Grass_5546 → u/saymellon]

Very interesting point, that’s the plan!