Ahab1973's Full Review: Nizoral Anti Dandruff Shampoo
Intro - I was a relatively healthy kid. I hardly ever got colds, viruses or such. I never had skin problems or anything like that, either. I'm guessing the community I grew up in was fairly typical and if so, most every kid I knew was always coming down with something. I didn't seem to. So I was pretty surprised (and a little worried) when I hit my early 20s and noticed something very odd. Whenever my body became overheated and I would start to sweat, I would get this almost intolerable itching on my chest, neck and back.
When I first noticed it, I looked for a rash but didn't see anything so I just ignored it (as much as you can ignora a maddening itch that appears every time you start to sweat). Some time later, I noticed a fairly small, tan, circular patch right in the center of my chest. Then, in short order, I started to notice more and more of them (some of them patches, some of them small tan dots) appearing in all of the areas where I'd been itching. Needless to say, I was more than a little concerned. OK, I get pretty neurotic about these sorts of things anyway. When something unexplained just appears out of nowhere, I tend to obsess about it until I know what it is.
I was working a pretty low pay job at the time and had no insurance so I wasn't going to the doctor. I went to the library instead. It took me a while but I managed to find a picture in a medical reference book that looked just like what I had and the description of the symptoms was right on. Turns out I had a skin fungus called Tinea Versicolor. Apparently, the fungus that causes this problem is always present on everyone's skin but it gets out of control with some people for some unknown reason. It isn't contagious so it isn't really exactly a disease in the way you would normally think of one. But I still felt tainted, for some reason.
Relieved, I went to the drug store and bought a tube of an antifungal creme. I went home, showered and applied it as best I could to all affected areas. As I was doing so, the problem with this approach became almost immediately clear. The spots and patches were so widespread, over such a large area that it was virtually impossible to cover them all. Additionally, a lot of them were right in the center of my upper back, where I couldn't possible reach. But the biggest problem was that the creme wasn't exactly cheap. About $6 US Dollars for a small tube of it and it went pretty fast.
But the real issue was the question was whether or not it was going to work. I applied it every day for a few days and just waited. Indeed the patches almost immediately started to fade and the itching really eased up after a couple of days. So I thought I'd found my solution. I used it for about a week or so (until I didn't see the patches anymore) and the itching was pretty much gone and then stopped. I was fine.....for about 4 months. It then made it's gradual (and dreaded) return.
Well, I'm going on 34 now and I've been fighting with this for all these years. I've gotten better at it, using various antifungal cremes and sprays. If I really work at it, I can get it to go away completely for 5-6 months now. I decided against taking it to a doctor because even in medical texts, it's noted that Tinea Versicolor usually comes back over and over and that there is no definitive "cure". Great! I did mention it to my doctor when I was in for something else and hinted that I would like to try an oral antifungal but for whatever reason, he refused to prescribe it for me. That would be ideal but I'm not going to fight with doctors for the next however many years every time I need a prescription. Not to mention the cost.
Enter Nizoral - So, over the last year or so, in my frustration with trying to figure out a way to deliver some kind of antifungal to all of the spots and patches, I had a thought. What if I could find an antifungal soap or shampoo that I could shower with or put in my bath water? I recently began to search for just such a product and found it in Nizoral shampoo. Now this shampoo is marketed as a shampoo to fight dandruff but it's active ingredient is a very effective broad spectrum antifungal called Ketoconazole. The OTC version of it (at least in America) comes in a 1% concentration. I've seen many recommendations online during my research into this stating that the use of Nizoral as a sort of body wash for Tinea Versicolor may be an effective treatment. When I first spotted it in my local store, I hesitated to buy it. A four ounce bottle of this stuff costs $9 (USD)! That's pretty steep for something I'm going to be liberally applying to my body and then rinsing off (literally money down the drain). But it actually is a real antifungal (used to be prescription only) and would offer a way to get much closer to complete coverage. I've also began having problems with itchy scalp and dandruff recently so I bought it.
So does it work? Well, I've only used it twice so far. I can say that I noticed right away that it seems to wash out of my hair much more cleanly and easily than other shampoos I've used. After my first use of it, I noticed my hair was very soft. It has been very dry and coarse for many years so it's something I would definitely notice. I also noticed my scalp isn't itching as much now.
Only time will tell if it will be effective on the Tinea Versicolor. I do have a good feeling about it, however. Having used it a couple of times now, I don't seem to be itching as much as I was. I will attempt to update this review regularly in order to inform anyone who might be thinking of using it for the same, or similar purpose whether or not it's effective. The good news is that if it doesn't work, I'll definitely have an answer within a few months because my Tinea Versicolor is (obviously) very tenacious and absolutely will come back even with proper treatment (once the treatment is stopped, that is). I've stopped using all the other antifungals and am just using this a few times a week. I plan to continue for a good couple of months. So if it comes back and I'm still using it, I'll know it isn't effective.
I'll also try and give regular updates on the condition of my scalp. The itching was also starting to become maddening on my scalp and I was noticing more and more dandruff. I really do think this shampoo also does something for your hair other than just helps (hopefully) control dandruff. I'm not sure what that would be but I've used quite a few shampoos that are supposed to soften your hair (even some expensive ones) that did pretty much nothing for mine. I didn't buy this one for that but it seems to be doing it anyway.
Any Cons? Well, if something works for the purpose you intended to use it for, it's hard to find fault with it. Besides the price, there's, perhaps, a couple of small cons -
1. It has a slightly medicinal smell to it when you're using it. It doesn't seem to linger long after you shower, however.
2. The consistency of the shampoo is pretty thin and the material of the bottle is kind of stiff (you have to squeeze a bit harder than with some bottles, it seems) so it's all too easy to squeeze out way more than you intended to. The top of the bottle doesn't seem to come off (or if it does, I couldn't figure it out) so it's pretty hard to put the excess back in the bottle once you've gone and done it. With the cost, you obviously don't want to waste a drop.
3. For it to be effective (on dandruff, at least), you should work it into your hair and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before rinsing. It doesn't exactly say this on the bottle but it's common sense. It's a medicine. It needs time to work before you rinse it out. This can add to your water bill if you (like me) are the type to just leave the shower running while you wait for such things.
4. You don't get the full prescription strength in the OTC version. Prescription strength is 2% Ketoconazole. 1% may seem like a small amount to quibble over but remember that it seems to be pretty effective at 1%. Logically, 2% should be twice as effective. But of course, in my situation, I need as much potency as I can get. People who are just buying it for dandruff are probably fine with the 1% strength.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.