How to Fix Itchy Dry Scalp: Men’s Products and Tips
It's not a head scratcher: You've got a few obvious solutions for dry, itchy scalp, from habitual changes to specific scalp-balancing products.
July 31, 2024
Thank you for using our links to make your purchases. All products featured are selected for editorial purposes, and are not sponsored placements. Any purchases made with our links may help us earn an affiliate commission, including but not limited to Amazon’s Associate Program. If possible, please prioritize brands’ own websites when they are provided by us.
Some of us are born with naturally dry scalps, and some of us experience the condition periodically—be it seasonally, or through habits that lead to dehydration, flaking, and itching. When it isn’t a chronic issue, dry scalp is often caused by one’s showering, shampooing, or (lack of) humidifying habits. Some behavioral changes and targeted active ingredients should solve things. Read on to learn how to fix itchy dry scalp, men, for once and for all.
But first: You’re probably aware that dry scalp and itchy scalp aren’t always hand-in-hand. You can have an itchy and oily scalp, or a balanced but itchy scalp, or a dry but non-itchy scalp, and so forth. Still, typically when you have a dry scalp, the itching follows suit—hence why I’ve paired them together in this article.
I gotta say this too: If you have chronic or aggressive itching, dryness, pain, flaking, or anything under that general umbrella of agony, then you should see a dermatologist, pronto. A trichologist (scalp expert) can also diagnose the problem and recommend holistic remedies, but they can’t prescribe medicine. Both are top-tier options. But if you suspect a big problem, get to the skin doctor.
And with that, below are the most important tips for getting things balanced quickly—and hopefully for good.
The Best Products for Dry Scalps
These are some of the dry scalp products that appear throughout the article.
- The Best Shampoo for Dry Scalps: Pura D’or Therapy Shampoo
- The Best Co-Wash for Dry Scalps: Geologie Cooling Co-Wash
- The Best Hydrating Mask for Dry Scalps: Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal + Tea Tree Cooling Hydration Scalp Mask
- The Best Exfoliating Mask for Dry Scalps: The INKEY List Glycolic Acid Exfoliating Scalp Scrub
- The Best Custom Mask for Dry Scalps: Prose Custom Scalp Mask
- The Best Dandruff Shampoo for Dry Scalps: Nizoral A-D Anti Dandruff Shampoo with 1% Ketoconazole
- The Best Shower Filter for Dry Scalps: AquaBliss High Output Shower Filter
- The Best Humidifier for Dry Scalps: Levoit Top-Fill Humidifier 2.5L
Please use our links (those above as well as any links featured throughout the article); doing so supports the work we put into making Blue Print by Adam Hurly.
Scalp Itch + Dry Scalp Solutions
Many scalp issues stem directly from the shower, and how you approach this daily regimen.
1. Shower Different
If your shower water is too hot, you dry out all the oils in your skin. You probably know this from overwashing your hands in hot water. And if it can happen to your hands, it can happen to your scalp. So, turn the temp down in the shower. It’ll benefit the skin head to toe, and will prevent things like hair breakage and frizz, too.
And on that note: Take shorter showers, too. Though your scalp probably isn’t under the nozzle that entire time. It’s just one thing we preach about showers and skin/hair wellness.
2. Shampoo Less
Alright, next thing: Shampoo less often. It dries out your scalp (and your hair, at that). If this is a rule for people with oily scalps then it is absolutely imperative for people in your situation with dry and/or itchy scalps. You need all the moisture you can get, so try to dial the shampoo down to, ohh, every 3 ish days. I can envision exceptions for people who work out excessively and need to wash away the sweat. But there is no reason you can’t get by with just rinsing your hair (quickly) most days, and also relying on conditioner or co-wash to flush away any excess grime while also nourishing the scalp and strands, as well as scalp treatments or masks to hydrate and restore balance. More on co-wash in the next tip…
The Newsletter: Subscribe to Blue Print by Adam Hurly
The best grooming gadgets, new products, gift guides, and game-changing advice—all inside our free newsletter. (Plus occasional big-ticket giveaways, too!)
3. Consider Co-Wash, Too
As for the type of shampoos you use, it depends on the core issue. Chances are, you need to combine a boost of moisture with some anti-inflammatory ingredients, plus find a solution that works as a long-term preventative measure. And since your hair is also likely dry (given the lack of oils it’s getting from your dome), then you may want to avoid really aggressive active-ingredient dandruff shampoos which might just dry things out even more.
Hydrating shampoos (or rather, non-depleting ones):
So, look for shampoos that are less-drying in nature, like Pura D’or’s hydrating shampoo.This one specifically targets the scalp with tea tree oil and aloe to calm inflammation, as well as argan oil to nourish scalp and strands.
Co-washes:
On that note, I’ll make my second endorsement of using co-wash, which is kind of like those 2-in-1 shampoo-conditioners, except heavily weighted in favor of the conditioning aspects. Geologie’s cooling co-wash is one of my absolute favorites (And guess what? It also uses tea tree oil and aloe, like the shampoo above.)
4. Audit Your Water Hardness
If your water hardness is on the “hard” side (in that it has a high mineral concentration, especially calcium and magnesium), then it can be extremely drying on your skin and hair alike. Now, hard water is a hard thing to “fix” in the shower, since it has more to do with your region and your local water provider. And unlike using a simple Brita filter on the sink tap, it’s less sure that a shower-head filter will parse out all of the minerals while you pump water through quickly.
Still, it will filter some of that mineral concentration; perhaps enough to make a noticeable difference. (It might save you some time and agony when it comes to “removing calcium deposit stains from the shower glass” too.) AquaBliss has the undeniably best- and widest-reviewed filter head for a slight improvement on your shower’s water quality…
More importantly, water hardness is nice to be cognizant of, so that you can course correct on the types of products you use. It might mean incorporating a scalp or hair mask into the mix—and it might be an argument for keeping your hair shorter, too, since that water hardness can lead to more brittle and fall-prone strands. (I for one noticed a significant drop in hair shedding after leaving the extremely hard tap-zone of Berlin, after spending six years there. My hands benefited too, in that I had far fewer cracked knuckles and hangnails.)
On the topic of scalp treatments…
The Best Scalp Treatments for Dry Scalp
In scalp care, the word “treatment” can be anything from a serum to a mask to a scrub. So when I advise using a scalp treatment, the vehicle you use is less important than the end goal (and the active ingredients within the product).
The aim here isn’t to upsell you on a $70 mask that you’ll never actually use, either. Instead, I encourage you to think of your scalp as a key part of your grooming regimen, right up there with your face and hair. I mean, it is literally right there, under your hair and above your face. (And any bald guys will echo my sentiment on the importance of scalp wellness, too.)
So, think of two different types of treatments: hydrating/soothing treatments and exfoliating treatments.
1. Hydrating + Soothing Scalp Treatments
As the name suggests, these are the treatments that focus on scalp nourishment and a reduction in inflammation. Target ingredients might range from nourishing oils like argan and shea butter, hydrating actives like hyaluronic acid or niacinamide, cooling treatments like colloidal oatmeal, calming ones like lavender or chamomile, or the most cooling and centering options of all—aloe and tea tree oil.
Again, how you incorporate these into your regimen depends on each product’s instructions and also your personal preferences. (However, don’t be surprised if, when you don’t follow the instructions, you experience subpar results.)
Some balancing scalp treatments I recommend are:
- Briogeo’s scalp mask: This uses tea tree oil and peppermint oil to calm itching and soothe skin, coconut oil for extreme moisture, as well as charcoal to purify the scalp. (Sometimes, the dry nature can also trigger an excess of sebum production, risking dandruff—I know, it’s weird. The charcoal helps with that, without dehydrating skin.)
Briogeo Scalp Revival Charcoal + Tea Tree Cooling Hydration Scalp Mask
buy on:
- The Ordinary’s scalp serum: This is powered by hyaluronic acid and squalane to severely quench your scalp’s thirst.
The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + Hyaluronic Acid Scalp Serum
buy on:
- Prose’s custom scalp mask: While everyone’s customized formula will be different, I can’t not endorse this mask; it can target whichever key problem areas you need it to—namely in favor of more balance and hydration.
2. Exfoliating Scalp Treatments
While not all dryness and itching can be solved with exfoliation, many cases can be, assuming the problem stems from a buildup of dead skin cells. Plus, keeping your scalp exfoliated can help other ingredients penetrate the scalp better, and promote better absorption of nourishing products.
While scalp scrubs are a nice way to keep your dome routinely buffed, I think chemical exfoliants are the better route for their more uniform application. Glycolic acid and salicylic acid are key options here, the former by targeting surface exfoliation, and the latter by seeping into the pores to unclog trapped cells as well as offer surface smoothing.
I love The INKEY List’s glycolic acid scalp serum, which uses a generous 10% concentration to buff away dead skin up there.
I think the argument can be made that some shampoos, like the salicylic acid option from Neutrogena (listed above, and again below), also qualify as exfoliating treatments, if you use them to temper problems as they arise. This one cranks up the salicylic acid concentration to 3% so that you get extra balancing and exfoliating bennies.
3. Consider Dandruff Solutions
However, if the itching has evolved into flaking, or you feel like you’re just fighting a one-off bout of itching, you can introduce a more self-prescriptive measure with anti-dandruff ingredients, such as Nizoral A-D (with 1% ketoconazole) or the aforementioned Neutrogena T/Sal Shampoo (with its 3% salicylic acid concentration).
Both are usually targeted at dandruff caused by excessive oil and fungal proliferation, but they should soothe and remedy your situation. (They are both really drying for the scalp and hair, too, so despite their fix for one problem, you then need to introduce some kind of hydrating treatment to introduce moisture.)
Shampoos aren’t the only solve for flaking, either. Read more of my go-to recommendations for nixing dandruff.
4. Humidify Your Home
While most of us prefer to sleep in a cool, dry room—or work in a constantly air conditioned one—this may also be negatively impacting your skin and hair. As it pertains to your scalp, the arid environment acts like winter weather, in that it dries out the skin and promotes dehydration, itching, flaking, etc.
So, I highly advise finding a better balance with these things, and perhaps pumping a little hydration back into the air with a humidifier, especially as you sleep. Hey, 6-8 hours captively resting in a dry space is going to parch your pelt. Even an extra couple cups of moisture in the air can make a huge difference, in that the air doesn’t try to extract that water from your skin and hair.
Levoit is the brand name to trust with humidifiers. You can keep it simple with their 2.5L tank; that should keep things balanced as you slumber.
More from Blue Print by Adam Hurly:
