Why I hate how dandruff is presented
You've all seen the jokes- old man with dandruff, shaking his head and a cloud of snow falls down, dandruff just being there for a laugh... It's never treated as anything serious, ever. It's just a joke! And just a joke about old men at that.
I'm 17 years old. I've had dandruff since I was at least 11. I've been made fun of all that time for the white flakes that are a constant on my head.
I just saw dandruff as a joke, too.
At most, it was just my scalp being a bit dry, so it needed a moisturising shampoo.
Yeah.... Turns out I have scalp psoriasis. I'm in near constant pain, which gets worse whenever I'm ill or stressed, because psoriasis is an autoimmune disease. My immune system is attacking my own skin. It's gotten to the point where shampoo doesn't help. I'm just in pain, always. I'll have a doctor's appointment where we can discuss options soon hopefully.
It's painful enough that I end up with scabbing all over my scalp from scratching. I pull my hands away and my nails are bloody from repeatedly picking and itching the scabs.
So no, not just a funny joke.
When I mentioned how painful it was to my friend, (only referring to it as dandruff rather than psoriasis) he said "I didn't realise dandruff could be painful!". In fact, several conditions that can cause dandruff have the fact that they're itchy or sore in their their symptoms list- eczema, dermatitis, and of course psoriasis.
And yet people just see dandruff as a joke. Even now, I feel anxious writing this- I feel like someone's gonna read this and think 'why are they getting so serious about dandruff? Lighten up!'
Sure, for some people it's not painful. Just flaky. But even then, they can experience the same social issues I did- I still remember a pair of kids seeing my large white skin flakes on my dark hair and exclaiming that I had nits (lice for Americans), and running away shouting at me. I hate that it's treated as a joke, or stigmatised, and seen as just an old man thing.
It's an actually serious issue for so many people. Why isn't it treated as such?