NHT News. Vol. 3 No. 2 Feb 2007

A woman in her 80’s gets her hair done once a week. That is the only time she gets her hair and scalp washed. She has done this for years and wonders why she has sheets of dry skin which flake off in big chunks. She goes to her doctor who prescribes a salve to rub on her head to slow down the growth of cells which prevents the skin that’s on her head from drying up and flaking off making an even bigger mess than before. This is an extreme case, but it is more common than you think. The skin turnover rate is about every 10 days. Now, that means that a new healthy cell is born, matures, ages and dies all in a ten-day period. Air flow, body heat, sunshine, brushing, rubbing, scratching and bathing help to disperse these dead cells freeing up the skin for more to come off. When one doesn’t mechanically wash/scrub off dead skin cells, they pile up like a log jam on the scalp (and other areas of the body) causing dandruff, psoriasis, and eczema.