FAQ: IS DANDRUFF HORMONAL?
Hormones do have a role to play in causing dandruff – it’s why many people experience it for the first time during puberty.
One of the key ingredients needed for you to experience dandruff is sebum – it’s an oil your body produces on your scalp, as well as the face and chest. Its production is controlled by hormones.
Dandruff is caused as that sebum is broken down into irritants like oleic acid by a naturally occurring microbe, Malassezia globosa.
If your scalp is sensitive to oleic acid, it can become irritated and your scalp’s skin cells may start to flake off as dandruff.
So the hormones controlling your sebaceous glands are crucial to causing dandruff, providing the key ingredient needed to create the scalp irritant, oleic acid. It’s why many people notice dandruff for the first time during puberty
But hormones aren’t the only factor. You also need to be sensitive to oleic acid. Around 50% of the population is, so there’s a 1 in 2 chance you’ll suffer from dandruff at some point in your life.