Dandruff and Tweens

I think being a tween has got to be one of the hardest times in life. Everything is changing. Your body is doing all sorts of crazy things. One thing that has affected my daughter at this lovely age is dandruff.

It is very frustrating to her and it has taken awhile for us to put it under control. First I had to deal with informing her that she had dandruff. She either didn't know or didn't want to know. Still not sure on that one. Anyway when I told her there was a complete and total break down. She started yelling "Why is this happening to me?" "It's not fair" oh and my personal favorite. "I hate my life." followed by the stamping of her feet and running upstairs crying and slamming her door. It's so hard because she doesn't want to be picked on at school. Girls can be very cruel so I knew exactly what she was worried about. I wish it wasn't this way, but it is so the only thing we could do was attack the dandruff.

Anyway when she calmed down I told her all she had to do was use an anti dandruff shampoo. Well I thought this would be the simple solution. You know buy the shampoo tell her to use it and in a few days it would be gone. We were not so lucky.

I started out buying Head and Shoulders and told her she needed to let it sit for 2 minutes on her scalp. Well I left her to it and in a few days it wasn't better. I asked her if she was rubbing it into her scalp and letting it sit. The reply I got was "What do you mean?" Right so I wasn't getting through. I knew at this point I had to show her what I meant. I did and we seemed to be on the right track. She got the hang of it.

This was wonderful for about two weeks and then it seemed to stop working. Okay well I thought maybe we needed a stronger shampoo. We moved on to Neutrogena T/Gel I remember using this when I had the same issue. The only problem is she didn't like the smell of it. I told her to try it. She only needed to use it twice a week so she got used to it. This shampoo seemed to work much longer and then the dandruff started to come back again. This really frustrated her and me because I take the brunt of it. It seemed to be happening to many of her friends as well. I talked to some of the mothers it seemed we were all doing the same thing. I was at a loss. I called my pediatrician and she didn't really have anything else to tell me. All the over the counter shampoos are pretty much the same.

One of my friends who has a daughter the same age was also struggling with this. She suggested Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Shampoo I bought it for my daughter. It smells like peppermint and it tingled on her scalp. She loved it and it worked wonderfully. We seemed to have found our answer. However, after a few months it seemed to not be working as well. I discovered that if we interchanged it once in a while with the Nuetrogena T/Gel the evil dandruff stays away for the most part. Thank goodness. It seems like every part of early adolescence is a struggle so if I can make it a little better I will.

These products work great for my daughter. I can't guarantee that they'll work great for everyone, but if your a mom struggling with what to do for your tween or teen who has dandruff I would definitely give it a try.