Those white flakes adorning your favorite black jacket are not seasonal embellishments that were a courtesy of Mother Nature. It appears that dandruff is the culprit of these “snowflakes!” Dandruff is a chronic and persistent scalp disorder that is often a cause of embarrassment. It is not contagious or serious in nature, but dandruff can be very bothersome and may even lead to social withdrawal.

Causes and Risk Factors

Recent studies have identified a scalp-specific yeast-like fungus called malassezia globosa as a possible dandruff-causing agent. This fungus thrives on the scalps of most healthy adults without causing any problems. However, in some cases this fungus grows out of control, feeds on the oils secreted by the sebaceous glands on the scalp, and causes irritation that leads to an unnatural increase in cell turnover. As a result, the scalp contains a large number of dead skin cells that eventually fall off. Since these cells are rapidly discarded and are clumped together by the oil secreted from the hair and scalp, they appear white, flakey, and very visible.
The reasons for the prolific growth of this fungus are unknown. However, some factors such as increased sebum (oil) production, hormonal imbalance, stress, illness, reaction or side effect of certain medications, neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease, imbalanced diet, shampooing excessively or infrequently, and excessive use of fancy hair styling products may contribute to scalp flaking or aggravation of an existing condition.

The following are some of the risk factors of dandruff: