A review on potential herbal treatments for ‘dandruff’ - the embarrassing scalp disorder

Dandruff is a scalp disorder that is characterized by itching, and abnormal and rapid turnover of the outermost layer of the skin of the scalp. The fungi of the genus Malassezia are responsible for causing dandruff.  Several herbal remedies have been in use since ancient times for curing dandruff. The effectiveness of herbal extracts and their formulations against the fungi causing dandruff has been assessed previously. This review summarizes the findings of the studies which were focused on assessing the anti-dandruff effect of medicinal plants that are commonly available in Sri Lanka. Punica granatum, Mentha piperita, Bacopa monnieri, Asparagus racemosus, Azadirachta indica, Elaeocarpus serratus, Psidium guajava, Trigonella foenum-graecum, Cuminum cyminum, and Hibiscus spp. have been shown to be having in-vitro anti-malassezial action. However, the number of clinical trials done on assessing such effects of herbal preparations are limited, and the knowledge generated through the clinical trials hitherto shows that the use of combined preparations of plant extracts are successful in treating dandruff compared to single herb preparations.