8 Old Wives Tales: Which Should You Believe?

[Tuckervill]

One of my sons has dandruff that is only cured with Head and Shoulders. I think it's genetic, not a result of any kind of habits. He has also developed psoriasis over the last few years, so I'm thinking his dandruff is related.

Karen

[MommyBird]

One of the dad's at the forensics tournament I was at last week swore by onion skin tea with honey for a sore scratchy throat. Yuck! His son was an LDer with 5 speeches so he drank a ton of the stuff over the 3 day tournament.

[VeloVT]

I know you're not *supposed* to put ice on a burn, but it works wonders for small kitchen-type burns on your hands. It can be the difference between getting a painful blister and not getting one. My two cents.

I'm a big fan of juice (orange, grapefruit, or cranberry) cut in half with hot water for colds. My boyfriend sometimes makes me "orange juice tea" when I'm sick: black tea, made with about 2/3 water and 1/3 orange juice, finished with a little sugar or sweetener and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I don't know if any of this makes any difference other than just the benefit of taking in extra fluids, but taking lots and lots of extra vitamin C supplements really seems to help.

I like ginger tea. I don't know if it helps my stomach feel better, but it feels "healthy" in general.

[Crankin]

+1 on the ginger tea. I have a very "fussy" stomach and I use this remedy quite frequently.
I know nothing about wet hair and dandruff. I recently cut my hair very short again, after 2 years of having to blow dry it. I go out with it damp quite a bit.

[Selkie]

I swim every morning before I head off to work and I don't have the motivation/time to dry my hair. Therefore, I've been outside with wet hair year round---and we had a very cold winter. No colds/coughs/viruses until this week, when I caught an awful upper respiratory bug from my DH (my hair was dry at the time!!!).

[Thorn]

Ginger in any form....now that I'm older I find I get motion sick when travelling. Chai made with soy milk, ginger snaps or the Ginger People's ginger chews all work for me. Better than the drugs did.

But, not to forget, Grandma's wisdom and chicken soup. I believe it was actually shown that the thyme (???) in the broth did help clear the sinuses and, of course, the extra fluids were correct. Even as a vegetarian, you can make up a batch of "chicken soup" with seitan and the spices and feel better, if for no other reason than it is good comfort food.

[sarahspins]

OT, but maybe she's just got sensitive skin. My DH had awful dandruff, for decades, until he switched to SLS-free shampoo.

I would honestly wonder if this isn't the case for a lot of people... I have never had dandruff but I can't use anything with SLS or I break out in hives all over and eventually developed an excema like rash over my arms that just wouldn't go away. I struggled with it for YEARS before someone clued me in. Once I switched it all went away.

Now I use special shampoo and make my own soap... and couldn't be happier

I'm not discounting that some people have dandruff and it is an actual fungal issue, but I think there has to be some that are simply reacting to the SLS's in the shampoo.

[GLC1968]

Those "anti-dandruff" shampoos turned into a huge vicious cycle for DH. They're SO harsh.

Really, the first thing I'd try is SLS-free shampoo.

Ditto this for my DH. While I've got oily skin (except for my scalp, go figure), DH has very dry skin. Dandruff was a seasonal issue for him that got very bad our first winter here (even though winters are the 'wet' season for us and summers are dry). Now he takes fish oil every morning with me and we no longer have SLS shampoos in the house. No dandruff problems in over a year!

Mr Bloom - yeah, I can see how having a ton of hair would make a difference on the cold/wet/scalp reaction equation. I have always had way too much hair, so that makes sense.

[Catrin]

I'm not discounting that some people have dandruff and it is an actual fungal issue, but I think there has to be some that are simply reacting to the SLS's in the shampoo.

What are "SLS's"? I've psoriasis on my scalp - was born with it - and the only thing I've ever found that helps it is to dye my hair! Yep, you read that right. I figure the chemicals shock it into remission for a time Hey, whatever works and it gets ride of that aggravating mixture of gray that just sucks all of my color away.

[tulip]

Sodium laureth sulfate. It's a very common ingredient in soaps and shampoos. Check the label for non-SLS products.