How I healed my seborrheic dermatitis (naturally)

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Introduction

I have a history of eczema, but I had never experienced anything like this.

When the seborrheic dermatitis appeared on my scalp six months ago, I thought it was dandruff.

However, as the weeks and months progressed, it got more and more flaky.

Every time I scratched, mountains of flakes covered my shirt.

I was like a human snow globe.

And that wasn’t the worst part. It was itchy as hell. I developed large angry red patches all over my scalp. It was a relentless cycle of itching and scratching, worsening with each day.

It finally got to an unbearable point and I knew I had to do something about it.

I’m about to share everything I believe helped me heal my seborrheic dermatitis in three months.

It wasn’t a linear path and some things had bigger impacts than others, so you’ll have to experiment and see what works for you.

What is seborrheic dermatitis?

Seborrheic dermatitis (or seb derm for short) is a common skin condition characterised by scaly patches and inflamed skin, and often accompanied by dandruff.

It commonly affects the scalp but can also appear on the face and chest.

Fortunately, it isn’t contagious.

According to the National Eczema Society, seborrheic dermatitis can’t be cured.

Mainstream medicine focuses on ‘managing’ seborrheic dermatitis symptoms, which includes the use of corticosteroid creams and shampoos containing selenium sulphide and coal tar.

If this approach to treatment doesn’t have you jumping with excitement, you’re not alone.

I wasn’t thrilled at the thought of dumping harsh chemicals on my skin either.

Nature’s way to healing seborrheic dermatitis 

The rest of this post has been split into two parts – the first deals with reducing seb derm symptoms without the use of harsh chemical treatments.

The second part goes beyond the symptoms and looks at addressing the underlying cause – seborrheic dermatitis is the body’s response to some form of stress; the body has gotten stuck in the sympathetic state (fight/flight/freeze response).

I outline what I did to bring my body and mind back into a parasympathetic state, which is the body’s rest state.

Let’s start with Part 1 – addressing seborrheic dermatitis symptoms naturally.

Part 1 – Addressing seborrheic dermatitis symptoms naturally

While the following suggestions won’t necessarily heal your seborrheic dermatitis, I did find these helpful in giving me much needed relief while I worked on the underlying cause.

Let’s dive in.

#1 I shaved my head

I know this isn’t going to be a popular recommendation, but if you’re serious about healing your seborrheic dermatitis, it’s worth doing (hair will grow back).

While I had hair, my scalp felt hot, with the heat aggravating the flakiness and itchiness.

Shaving my head gave me immediate and dramatic relief.

Not only did my naked scalp feel incredible, the flakiness reduced a lot as well. 

#2 be mindful of what comes into contact with your head

I found hats aggravated my seborrheic dermatitis due to the increased heat and sweat caused by the lack of fabric breathability.

My cotton pillow case had a similar effect. Especially in the summer months, opt for a silk pillow case and change it regularly (i.e. every week or so depending on how much you sweat).

#3 use cool water to clean your head

I found this worked especially well once I had shaved my head – the cold water felt so soothing.

While this will be great in Summer, it could be too cold in winter. In this case, I recommend using lukewarm water or nothing at all.

I’ve found I don’t really need to wash my head these days; the only time I do it is when I’ve just shaved my head.

I clean the hair off with a gentle tallow based soap and pat my scalp dry (patting your head is more gentle than rubbing with the towel).

#4 Don’t scratch

Whatever you do, don’t scratch.

This only inflames the area more and delays the healing process.

I know it can be crazy itchy but please don’t pick or scratch at those flaky spots.

For some relief, I found applying firm pressure on the itchy spot with my fingers helped.

#5 MCT oil – the magic seborrheic dermatitis serum

MCT oil stands for medium-chain triglycerides. It’s basically coconut oil* but has gone through a process called fractionization which separates and concentrates the MCT.

*Note: MCT can also be derived from palm kernel oil, but due to ethical considerations, I recommend sticking with the coconut oil version.

Promising research has shown applying MCT oil to skin conditions like seborrheic dermatitis can have incredible results.

While I was sceptical, I started applying MCT oil morning and night once my seborrheic dermatitis was 95% healed (which I achieved by addressing the underlying cause, covered in Part 2) and only some small red, slightly flaky patches remained.

Within days, the red patches disappeared, and my scalp went completely back to normal.

Please note: you need to get an MCT oil that does not contain Lauric Acid or C12, as these can exacerbate seborrheic dermatitis. The Malassezia yeast, which is responsible for seborrheic dermatitis, feeds on oil with carbon chains 11 to 24.

We now sell 100% Organic Coconut MCT Oil :) You can check it out here if you're interested.

Now that we’ve gotten some relief and managed the symptoms, let’s address the system.

Part 2 – Addressing the system 

Homo sapiens (aka modern humans) have been around for 300,000 years. For most of that time (over 99.99999%), homo sapiens were living in, and with, nature.

While we are incredibly adaptable, we did not actually evolve to thrive in today’s modern environment.

Think about it for a moment – the average person spends 8 hours a day, 5 days a week sitting at desk under artificial lights.

Modern diets are high in processed foods.

Down time involves spending even more time sitting down on their phones or streaming shows.

Addictions to food, technology, and drugs (legal and illicit) is rampant.

Where am I going with this?

Our modern lifestyle completely ignores what our bodies and minds were originally adapted for.

While it’s easy to consider our modern lifestyle normal, when we look at our history and what nature intended, it becomes obvious our modern lifestyle is anything but normal.

It’s no wonder our bodies and minds are so unwell.

When I started looking at how our ancestors lived and started to respect the way my body and mind had evolved, I was able to bring my body and mind back into a healthier state of being.

This is not a quick fix – it took me over three months of perseverance to heal my seborrheic dermatitis, but it was worth it.

Not only is my seborrheic dermatitis gone, but I feel better than ever before.

With that said, here is how I addressed the system, starting with what I consider to be probably the biggest factor - stress.

#1 Stress.

Stress increases the cortisol levels in your body and puts your body into a sympathetic response (e.g. flight, fight or freeze).

While stress can be beneficial, for example, when we’re in danger, it’s important that the stress response completes at some point so we can go back to our default parasympathetic state.

Chronic stress wreaks havoc on the mind and body, leading to a host of health issues including anxiety, depression, heart disease, digestive issues and muscle tension, to name a few.

In fact, many auto-immune diseases are thought to originate from chronic stress.

As I was in a chronic state of stress during the onset of my seborrheic dermatitis, I knew it was a big factor.

This is how I reduced my stress.

Therapy

Therapy is often given a bad rep but it can be an awesome tool when done right.

Trauma has become a buzz word these days but most of us do carry, consciously or not, some level of trauma.

This can include shock trauma (i.e. a one-time event like being in a car accident) or developmental (a.k.a complex) trauma (i.e. repeated trauma like childhood neglect).

Either way, the impact of trauma on the human psyche can have profound effects not only on our mental health but also on our bodies.

The Body Keeps The Score is the #1 New York Times bestseller by Bessel van de Kolk, and is an eye opening deep dive on trauma and how to heal from it.

The research that Bessel covers is insightful and the strategies to healing trauma profound.

After reading The Body Keeps The Score, three approaches stood out to me (you may find other ones appeal to you):

1. Somatic Experiencing
2. Internal Family Systems
3. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) training

Let’s now explore each of these in more detail.

1 – Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing (SE) was developed by Dr. Peter Levine.

The basic premise is that the body has failed to successfully complete the fight or flight response when faced with a traumatic event, leading to trauma being stored in the body.

The trauma presents itself as sensations in the body, and Somatic Experiencing helps to release this by tuning into what the body needs to complete the fight or flight response.

The following video provides more info on Somatic Experiencing:

When done with a competent practitioner, this can be a very empowering experience.

If you’d like to learn more, I can recommend Peter’s book, Waking the Tiger.

Having said that, you’ll want to find a mental health professional with Somatic Experiencing if you want to experience this for yourself.

2 – Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Internal Family Systems (IFS), developed by Dr. Richard Schwartz, is a transformative approach that posits the mind is made up of various sub-personalities or "parts," and these parts can often be in conflict due to past traumas.

By addressing these internal conflicts, IFS aims to restore harmony within the mind.

In the following video, Richard Schwartz outlines Internal Family Systems

Richard’s book, No Bad Parts, is an excellent place to learn more about IFS and how to apply it, but as with Somatic Experiencing, it’s worth getting an experienced mental health professional to get the most out of it.

3 - Heart Rate Variability (HRV).

In ‘The Body Keeps the Score’, Bessell outlines Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as a key way to bringing the body and mind back into a parasympathetic state.

HRV training focuses on the connection between the heart and the nervous system.

HRV refers to the variation in time between each heartbeat, and it is a key indicator of the body's ability to respond to stress. Higher HRV is generally associated with better stress resilience and overall health.

Even 5 – 10 minutes of daily HRV practice can have a massive impact to your mental wellbeing. You can practice HRV by purchasing a coherence monitor (I use the HeartMath Coherence Plus) and using the HearthMath app.

I always feel calmer and more at peace after doing HRV practice.

If you’ve done therapy in the past (i.e. talk therapy) and haven’t had a great experience, it really is worth trying again – remember, the therapist you have is critical to a successful outcome, so if you’re not vibing it, try another one until you do. 

#2 Diet

Your gut microbiome has been shown to have a major impact to your mental state (through the gut-brain axis) and skin health (through the gut-skin axis).

Research increasingly suggests an imbalance in gut microorganisms and inflammation of the gut have been linked to mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, as well as skin conditions, including seborrheic dermatitis.

A healthy gut is imperative to maintaining healthy skin and mental health.

Unfortunately, the system (including the government and the food industry) has conditioned us to believe falsehoods.

The trusty food pyramid – a total lie.

The US government was pressured to change their dietary guidelines by lobbyists from the dairy, vege, fruit, meat and grain industries.

 

Fat is bad for you. Also a lie. Don’t believe me?

Have a read of The Big Fat Surprise, by Nina Techolz, an investigative science journalist who debunked the research that led us to believe that fat is bad.

There’s a lot of conflicting info out there, so it’s easy to get confused about where to start, but my first recommendation is to stick to fresh, local and seasonal whole foods.

Yes, that means cutting down on processed foods.

You’ll need to experiment with what foods work best for your skin and overall health, but here are some additional things to avoid:

1. Nuts and seeds: contain polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), including larger amounts of omega-6, which causes gut inflammation.

Nuts and seeds also contain anti-nutrients, which impedes the absorption of other nutrients such as protein.

So if you’re munching on handfuls of almonds hoping to get a big protein hit, you’ll want to keep that in mind.

Seeds also includes seed oils such as sunflower oil. Even vegetable oil is a seed oil.

Despite its deceptive name, it’s usually made up of seed oils such as sunflower, canola, safflower and cottonseed oils. 

Instead, use healthy fats such as olive oil, tallow, butter or ghee.

Grains and legumes: can inflame and bloat your gut.

They can also contribute to lowered insulin resistance and contain antinutrients such as lectins and gluten.

2. Soy: this seemingly innocuous plant is highly problematic.

Here are a few reasons why:

• High levels of phytic acid in soy reduce assimilation of calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc.
• Trypsin inhibitors in soy interfere with protein digestion and may cause pancreatic disorders.
• Soy phytoestrogens disrupt endocrine function and have the potential to cause infertility
• Vitamin B12 analogs in soy are not absorbed and actually increase the body’s requirement for B12
• Soy foods increase the body’s requirement for vitamin D.

Check out this Western Price article for more information about soy.

3. Caffeine: can increase anxiety.

4. Alcohol: dehydrates you.

So what can you eat?

Two diets worth looking into for inspiration on eating well include the Western A. Price Foundation and the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) diet. 

The Weston Price diet focuses on nutrient-dense foods, traditional preparation methods, and the avoidance of processed foods.

It encourages the consumption of raw dairy, organ meats, fermented foods, and bone broths, all of which support a healthy gut microbiome.

The GAPS diet, developed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, is designed to heal the gut lining and restore microbial balance.

It begins with a strict elimination phase, featuring broths, fermented foods, and easily digestible vegetables, gradually reintroducing more complex foods as the gut heals.

Personally, I eat a lot of animal products including grass-fed meat, free-range poultry, wild-caught fish, prawns and shellfish, raw honey, as well as seasonal fruit and vegetables (particularly root veges).

#3 Functional exercise

Research has shown exercise is effective at reducing anxiety and depression. 

It does this by increasing blood circulation to the brain and influencing the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis including the limbic system, which controls motivation and mood and the amygdala, which generates fear in response to stress. 

While exercise is great, it’s important to do a form of exercise that respects human evolution.

Humans evolved to walk, run and throw (i.e. moving around and hunting).

The only exercise I’ve found based on this idea is Functional Patterns, created by a guy named Naudi Aguilar. 

Through compound and resistance exercises, Functional Patterns helps correct and optimise posture and gait.

While I was skeptical at first, I’ve seen my posture change from bloated, constricted and hunched to svelte, relaxed and un-hunched.

The pain in my shoulders is gone and I feel stronger and healthier than ever.

One of the best things about Functional Patterns is that everyone can do, young or old, regardless of body type or injury.

Functional Patterns has proven to be highly effective at bringing people out of pain and helping them move more athletically.

It truly is amazing, but it’s something you need to experience for yourself.

#4 Non-native EMFs

At the risk of sounding like a 5G conspiracy theorist, modern humans often live immersed in non-native electromagnetic fields (EMFs).

This includes EMFs emitted from devices such as cell phones, wearables, WiFi routers, as well as infrastructure such as cell towers.

Unlike the Earth’s natural electromagnetic fields, prolonged exposure to non-native EMFs can disrupt the body's natural electromagnetic environment, potentially leading to issues such as sleep disturbances, headaches, fatigue, and even more serious conditions like increased oxidative stress and inflammation.

EMFs are believed to affect the body's cellular processes by disrupting the voltage-gated calcium channels in cell membranes.

This disruption can lead to an influx of calcium ions into cells, triggering a cascade of biochemical reactions that result in oxidative damage and inflammation.

These processes can impair the body's ability to repair and maintain healthy cells, ultimately affecting overall health and well-being.

I personally have found limiting my time around devices and turning on airplane mode when I have my phone in my pocket or next to my bed to be helpful.

Even more effective is spending time in nature (again, make sure your devices are on airplane mode, or better yet, leave them at home).

#5 Nature

Humans evolved to be in nature, so it’s not much of a surprise that being in nature is super relaxing.

The more time you spend being present, the easier it is to appreciate the incredible beauty of nature: the colours, shapes, and sounds.

The feeling of the sun and wind on your skin.

If you live in a city, you may want to make getting out into nature more of a regular occurrence.

#6 Grounding

Grounding, also known as earthing, is the practice of making direct physical contact with the Earth's surface, typically by walking barefoot on grass, soil, or sand.

Yes, this might sound like some hippy bs, but it can be incredibly powerful.

When you think about how native peoples typically didn’t wear shoes (or if they did, the soles were usually made of leather, not rubber), this makes a lot of sense. 

The Earth carries a natural, subtle electrical charge, and grounding allows the body to absorb these electrons, which can help neutralise free radicals and reduce inflammation.

Grounding has been found to influence the cardiovascular and nervous systems, leading to improvements in heart rate variability, stress reduction, and enhanced mood.

How much time you should you spend grounding?

I found 10-30 minutes, 4 times a week had noticeable effects.

#7 Sleep

We always hear how important sleep is, but do we ever really appreciate how important it is.

High quality sleep (i.e. REM and deep sleep) allows your body to heal.

I noticed when I had poor sleep, my seborrheic dermatitis would flare up a lot more than when I had a good night’s rest.

Here is what I do to get the best night’s sleep possible:

• I wear ear plugs and wear an eye mask
• I put on mouth tape – most of us don’t realise that we tend to breathe through our mouths while sleeping. I noticed I slept much more deeply when I started putting mouth tape on before bed.
• I eat a few hours before going to bed – this helps with digestion
• I wear blue blocking glasses after sunset to facilitate my natural melatonin production
• I avoid caffeine and alcohol 

#8 Minimise artificial blue light

Natural blue light during the day is good.

It helps us stay wake, thus why the sky is blue.

The problem is when we get artificial blue light, emitted by screens from smartphones, tablets, computers, and LED lights.

Blue light exposure, especially during the evening, interferes with the production of melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating sleep.

The lack of melatonin not only contributes to the ease in which you fall asleep as well as poor sleep quality (i.e. time in deep and REM sleep), it can also lead to a range of other health issues such as eye strain, headaches, and even long-term vision problems.

Ideally, reduce the amount of screen time, especially after the sun sets.

Wearing blue light-blocking glasses has been a game changer for me. Make sure to get glasses that block 100% of blue light as many blue light blocking glasses on the market do not. 

#9 Sunlight

This one is controversial, especially in the southern hemisphere where we have all been taught from a young age that the sun will give you cancer.

Being sun-phobic myself, it took a long time to come round to questioning this belief.

When you think about the sun through the perspective of human evolution, some sun exposure is actually critical to being healthy.

Humans, even white-skinned humans, didn’t live in caves all year around.

We had to find food, water and other provisions (such as medicine) which would require us to leave our shelters.

Sunlight is critical for vitamin D synthesis, which in turn promotes muscle growth, bone strength and mitochondrial health.

Beyond that, the sensation of warm sunlight hitting your skin feels amazing.

It’s like the body was designed to respond positively to sunlight.

Now, I’m not saying bake in the sun until you look like a lobster.

However, getting sufficient natural sunlight really is important.

You can use an app like Dminder, which takes into account your skin type to make sure you don’t overexpose yourself.

If you’re worried (like I was at first), start with small amounts of exposure and work your way up so that you get enough vitamin D.

I also found getting sunlight directly on my seborrheic dermatitis had a very healing effect.

I noticed my seborrheic dermatitis go from super fragmented flakes to solid and crusty flakes, a sign that the seborrheic dermatitis is healing.

I would spend 10-30 minutes every morning, getting some sun on my skin (including my seborrheic dermatitis). The UV was generally around 3. 

#10 Red light

We’ve already talked about blue light, but what about red light.

Red light helps regulate our circadian rhythm, primes our skin for sun exposure, reduces inflammation, accelerates wound healing and boosts collagen production.

You can get natural sources of red light from sunrises (preferable), but you can also buy red light therapy devices (not the same as a red-light bulb).

I found my seborrheic dermatitis responded really well to being exposed to sunrise red light.

Conclusion

Seborrheic dermatitis is an unpleasant skin condition, there’s no doubt about it.

However, there is hope.

I’ve covered some things that have helped me in healing my seborrheic dermatitis completely – no more flakes, red patches or itchiness, and I believe they can help you too.

If you try some of these suggestions, I’d love to hear how you go. You can drop me a line here.

In case you missed it, we now sell 100% Organic Coconut MCT Oil :) You can check it out here if you're interested.