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Head-Shaving and T-Gel Treatment Working Well Again

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Yesterday it was time to shave my head again and let my itchy scalp air-out again.  Immediate after the haircut I washed my scalp with Neutrogena’s Stubborn Itch Control T-Gel (Coal Tar is the active ingredient for this shampoo with Menthol for therapeutic effect).

Result: For the last 24 hours or so my scalp has felt completely normal, with virtually no itching.

A few of the benefits of shaving your head (if you’re a guy probably) is an increased exposure to the sun’s rays and ease of access by psoriasis medications.  You can also save money on psoriasis shampoo since you don’t need as much to get through a lot of hair to the scalp.  This is one more practical reason I keep in mind if I ever hesitate to shave my head (I work in a cubicle on the phone so no body sees me anyway), as T-Gel sells for between 5 and 7 bucks for a little 4 ounce bottle.  It’s expensive for sure, but certainly worth it in my book.

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How Does Salicylic Acid Work as a Psoriasis Treatment?

Sunday, September 27th, 2009

All of my interaction with salicylic acid has been through Neutrogena’s T-Sal psoriasis shampoo.  I have found that my scalp tends to feel a lot better when I intersperse this shampoo with my usually coal tar / standard shampoo rotation.

Salicylic acid doesn’t treat psoriasis directly so much as it cleanses skin that is affected by psoriasis.  Besides scalp shampoos, salicylic acid is used widely as an exfoliant.   The fact that it is the active ingredient for “warming” facewashes should ring a bell — it is the acidic quality of this compound that deep cleans the skin and clears off all that dead skin and dirt build up.  It also deep cleans and disinfects pores.  It can also be used as an anti-dandruff medication.

Salicylic acid acts as a helping hand for other treatments that have a more direct effect on the psoriasis itself, such as coal tar and other chemical compounds that are continually being developed (Neutrogena’s variation on coal tar, for example, is ‘Neutar’).  After it clears out dead skin build-up, then other medications can have more of a direct access to affect skin cells.

I tend to think that coal tar itself (via shampoos such as Neutrogena’s T-Gel) creates a build-up on my scalp.  This is my hypothesis / observation, partially based on the fact that coal tar is a derivative of a fossil fuel and fossil fuels are inherently dirty.   Also, when I use T-Sal, this residual build-up feeling that develops over time as I use coal tar shampoos goes away immediately — at such times it feels like my scalp can breath freely again.

I would like to verify this suspicion with a dermatologist one of these days.

In any case, I prefer to mix salicylic shampoo into my topical treatment rotation to keep the psoriasis guessing, clean off any residual dead skin on my scalp and to make sure my skin isn’t getting too accustomed to coal tar treatment (and thus immune) which seems to be possible over time judging by my own experience.

I’ll have to ask a dermatologist one of these days whether or not this coal tar build-up hypothesis is true as well.

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Back to Using Neutrogena’s Stubborn Itch Control T-Gel

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

I’ve been using regular TRESemme shampoo for the last few days.  Throughout that time, I’ve only had a few intense itching spells, but relatively few and far between.   By now, on the fourth day, using Neutrogena’s “Stubborn Itch Control” T-Gel seems to be especially effective.

I have found that using T-Gel sparingly, with about two days in between each use, helps to keep the psoriasis at bay long term.  This level of frequency is also what the directions on the bottle advise.  Also, using T-Gel too much causes my scalp to become excessively sensitive to sunlight, which is not a good idea since sunlight can be one of the most effective anti-psoriasis treatments.

As another informal observation, it would seem that using T-Gel too often can cause the psoriasis on my scalp to become accustomed to the effects of the active ingredient (coal tar, or “Neutar”) thus minimizing the shampoo’s effectiveness and maximizing the negative effects that it can have on the rest of my scalp, which is healthy for the most part.

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Where to Find Cheap T-Gel

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Ounce for ounce, Neutrogena’s psoriasis shampoos (T-Gel or T-Sal) can be a lot more expensive than standard shampoo (the kind I would consider standard anyway).   So it would be nice to save a buck or two on this item which, to me, is not a negotiable expenditure.

There is the option of waiting for it to go on sale at your local grocery store, at which time it might drop from 6 dollars and change to 5 dollars and change per bottle.  If you don’t want to wait for it to go on sale, you can usually find it at Walmart for sale at regular price for about half of what it normally sells for a standard grocery stores.   Whenever I go to Walmart, I try to stock up on it (though it is still expensive, even at 5 dollars and change).

There are also a variety of deals online for even less (and you don’t have to drive anywhere):

Click here to buy standard Neutrogena T-Gel for less than $5.

Click here to get larger sized bottles of Extra Strength T-Gel for about $9.

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