I have a really terrible dandruff/itchy scalp problem. It’s been an ongoing problem since my teens, I’ve tried T-Gel, Nizoral, Head, a fancy L’Oreal Professionnel three step system, Baby Shampoo, Kérastase, Lush’s Snake Oil bar, essential oils. I’ve run the gamut. I’m really careful to thoroughly dry my hair when I wash it because putting my hair up wet, seems to make my scalp worse in terms of itch. I stopped using mousse because that made my head itch. As you can see, I was less worried about the dandruff and more worried about the itch.

The only thing that worked was the L’Oreal Expert Anti Dandruff Shampoo for Men, it’s orange and it worked for years, it was my unicorn of a shampoo (worked well, didn’t require a mortgage to buy). A couple of years ago, L’Oreal rebranded it as being for men and it gradually became harder to get. So I tried the one that seemed to have replaced it and it didn’t work, I added essential oil to it, it didn’t work. My hairdresser started to comment on the dryness of my hair and asked if I’d changed conditioner (I hadn’t). I gave it over a year, I started washing my hair more often, I itched a lot. There were red and flakey patches of skin where my hairline met my face. It was not pleasant and a solution needed to be found.

Someone suggested the Body Shop’s Ginger Shampoo and because they sell in in sample bottles, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to try it. Over December I did and angels started singing because within three weeks, my scalp was better, not itchy, minimal dandruff. Which is a result.

I think that the products you use on your body and what you spend on those products are personal decisions, I try to use the cheapest thing that works and this shampoo is the cheapest thing that works on my head. It’s about double the cost of the L’Oreal that I used to use, the large bottle is £10, but as I only wash my hair once a week, it’ll probably last me most of the year and for me, it’s worth it not to have an itchy head.