Scalp acne A person may have raised bumps, whiteheads, or blackheads, which may be itchy, sore, or tender. Scalp acne occurs when pores or hair follicles become clogged with dead skin cells or oil. If someone has oily hair or adds certain products, they might be more susceptible to scalp acne.
Piedra is the Spanish word for 'stone' and that is reflected in the appearance of this ailment. You'll find white, grey, or tan, pearly nodules surrounding your hair shaft. These are soft and loosely clump together on your hair. You'll find white Piedra on scalp hair, facial hair, and body hair.
Clogged hair follicles cause pimples on your scalp (scalp acne). Your hair follicles are the canals where your hair grows out of your skin. They could be clogged due to: A buildup of hair products like shampoo, hair gel or hairspray.
Use a clarifying shampoo: Clarifying shampoos are designed to deep-clean your hair and scalp, removing buildup and impurities. Look for a clarifying shampoo that contains salicylic acid, which helps to break down sebum plugs.
Sometimes when we touch our scalp with fingertips, especially in case of oily skin and if we are particularly careful, we might feel some very small sand grains. These are nothing but sebum leftovers, dandruff or “pollution” which lie on the scalp and prevent it from breathing properly.
Lice eggs (nits) on hair shafts.
Nits stick to hair shafts and may be hard to see because they're very tiny. They're easiest to spot around the ears and the hairline of the neck. Empty nits may be easier to spot because they're lighter in color and further from the scalp.
Hair casts or pseudonits are 2-7 mm long, discrete, firm, shiny, white, freely movable tubular accretions that encircle the hair shafts of the scalp.
Not only does your scalp have a plethora of sweat glands, but it also has an abundance of sebaceous (oil) glands, which produce oily sebum. Have you ever scratched your scalp and noticed white, waxy buildup under your nails? That's sebum mixed with dead skin cells.
While it may not be visible at first glance, a simple scratch on your scalp could reveal tiny flakes around the part in your hair or even a white, oily substance under your nails. That substance is a high concentration of scalp sebum, along with some product buildup, sweat, and dead skin cells.
White piedra is a superficial fungal infection of hair caused by Trichosporon species. It presents clinically as white nodules encasing the hair shafts and may lead to increased fragility. It can usually be differentiated easily from clinically similar conditions based on clinical and microbiologic features.
Single-strand knots (also known as fairy knots) are small knots that form along the hair strand, especially in curly and coily hair. Due to the nature of curly and coily hair, when a strand grows from the follicle, it can loop and tie around itself or other strands. This causes a little knot to form.
A variety of health issues can cause bumps to form on the scalp, including sweating, folliculitis, acne, head lice, and eczema. Treatment will depend on the cause but may include medicated shampoos, ointments, and other topical products.
The white bulb at the end of your hair is essentially a bundle of protein, known as keratin.
Flaking of the scalp can be the result of dermatitis, dandruff or psoriasis. Of all types of dermatitis the most likely to peel your scalp are: seborrheic dermatitis and contact dermatitis. A dry scalp can be uncomfortable and if it leads to itching and peeling, you can have a bad feeling about your hair condition.
Symptoms of a fungal scalp infection include small patches of scaly scalp skin (which may be sore), patchy hair loss and itchiness. Other types of fungal infections (including ringworm) are generally treated with antifungal cream from the pharmacy, and you don't need to see a doctor unless it persists.
There are commercial shampoos specially formulated to treat sebum buildup. These "clarifying" shampoos contain ingredients like clay, activated charcoal, argan oil, or salicylic acid that gently remove sebum without damaging your hair or the skin of your scalp.
In therapeutic terms, the management of white piedra is considered straightforward. In most cases, antifungal shampoos are employed, with 2 % ketoconazole shampoo being considered the most effective.
Seborrheic dermatitis signs and symptoms may include: Flaking skin (dandruff) on your scalp, hair, eyebrows, beard or mustache. Patches of greasy skin covered with flaky white or yellow scales or crust on the scalp, face, sides of the nose, eyebrows, ears, eyelids, chest, armpits, groin area or under the breasts.
Scratching can disrupt the oil layer and add fungus to the scalp. Both of these are factors in dandruff and can trigger flaking. The skin sheds to get rid of the irritant or foreign object, and scratching just adds more of that.
Generally, he says, the range is somewhere between once a day and once a week. “If you have very fine or thin hair, you may need to wash more often, while those with thick or curly hair may need to wash less often,” says Dr Elizabeth Bahar Houshmand, a double board certified dermatologist and hair health expert.
Piedra is a fungal infection of the hair, characterised by the deposition of small black or white nodules along the hair shaft. These look like small stones, hence the name piedra, meaning 'stone' in Spanish. Piedra is also known as Trichomycosis nodosa or Trichomycosis nodularis.
Fairy knots occur when individual strands of hair become tangled within themselves to form single strand knots. On its own, a single strand knot may not seem so bad. But once it recruits other pieces of hair to join its ranks, you'll find yourself with a larger & more challenging knot to detangle.
The main symptom of white piedra is the formation of clusters of tiny nodules along the hair shafts. These rock-like structures appear white, gray, or tan. The stone-like depositions are soft, gritty, and easy to remove.