CAFFEINE AND DANDRUFF – IS THERE A LINK?

It’s the key component in some of the most popular drinks in the world. Is it linked to dandruff? Find out more about caffeine and your scalp.

It’s in soft drinks, food, energy drinks and your morning cup of coffee. Caffeine is consumed by billions of people around the globe every day. It’s claimed to be linked to everything from cancer (both as cause and cure) to better athletic performance.

The question we’re interested in is whether there’s any link to dandruff. To find out, we’ll discuss what causes dandruff, and how that lines up with the effects of caffeine that you drink.

Causes of dandruff

If you believe internet speculators, there are a million different causes of dandruff – many of which are blatantly contradictory. Luckily, the truth is far simpler.

Dandruff is caused by something that most of us don’t even realize we have.

A yeast- a simple, single-cell fungus called Malassezia globosa lives on everybody’s scalp. This mostly harmless fungus feeds on the oils on your scalp, and produces oleic acid as a by-product.

1 in 2 people in the world are sensitive to oleic acid and if they are, they exhibit the symptoms of dandruff:

• flakes

• itchiness

• dry scalp

• irritation

Effective anti-dandruff shampoos can help stop Malassezia globosa from  forming oleic acid, keeping dandruff and its symptoms under control.

What caffeine does

If you love foods and drinks with caffeine, you’ll be happy to notice that we didn’t mention it just now as a cause of dandruff. 

However, that doesn’t mean it’s harmless for your scalp.

In moderation, your daily cup of coffee is not enough to cause any great problems for your scalp.

Excessive caffeine consumption, though, can cause dehydration. Dried out skin can mimic some symptoms of dandruff, like flaking and redness. It can also make mild dandruff appear worse. 

The fact is, if you are suffering from dandruff, your soda or cup of coffee is not to blame, and avoiding them won’t help much in beating dandruff.

Instead, make sure to stay hydrated, and use something formulated to fight the both the symptoms  and cause of dandruff – like a good shampoo.