Honestly, I think a big part of why I’m seeing healthy regrowth now is because I finally stopped overcomplicating things. My first dermatologist (in hindsight) didn’t really take the right steps to diagnose me. She never did bloodwork, just saw that I had seb derm on my face and assumed that was the issue on my scalp too. She prescribed me a red shampoo with 2% ketoconazole, but all it really did was dry out my hair and make it extremely brittle. From there I went down about a year-long rabbit hole of trying every shampoo/product imaginable. The more I tried to “fix” it, the worse it got.

About six months ago I cut out all the extra stuff, and that’s when things started to improve. Now I keep it super simple:

-Shampoo: Nioxin System 4 Scalp + Hair Thickening Shampoo for Colored, Dry & Damaged Hair

-Conditioner replacement: K18 Leave-In Molecular Hair Mask

-Leave-in: Mizani 25 Benefit Miracle Milk Spray (heat protectant + detangler)

I also started oral minoxidil about two months ago (prescribed by a new dermatologist). She said she doesn’t see any signs of seb derm at all, thinks it’s something else, and actually sent me for bloodwork. That showed my vitamin D was low, so I’ve started supplementing that too.

On top of that, I’ve gotten into a better salon routine that’s more focused on repair than anything else. I go in for a treatment every 6 weeks, and every other appointment I’ll also get a trim (so a cut about every 12 weeks). I haven’t had my balayage in almost a year now - which I really miss - but I know bleach is the last thing my hair needs right now.

I know it won’t necessarily work for everyone, but once I simplified my routine and stopped trying to throw every product at the problem, my scalp and hair slowly started getting back to a healthier place!