The antifungal action of dandruff shampoos

The disease commonly known as "dandruff" is caused by numerous host factors in conjunction with the normal flora yeast Malassezia furfur (Pityrosporum ovale). Indeed, clinical studies have shown that administration of antifun gal agents correlates with an improved clinical condition. Almost all comme rcially available hair shampoos publicize that they contain some form of an tifungal agent(s). However, few studies have been published in which antifu ngal activity of commercially available hair shampoos have been contrasted experimentally. In this study six commercially available shampoos (in the P hilippines) were assessed for antifungal activity against a human (dandruff ) isolate of M. furfur: (a) Head & Shoulders (Proctor & Gamble); (b) Gard V iolet (Colgate-Palmolive); (c) Nizoral 1% (Janssen); (d) Nizoral 2% (Jansse n); (e) Pantene Blue (Proctor & Gamble); and (f) Selsun Blue (Abbott). The results demonstrated that all six of the assayed hair shampoos have some an tifungal effect on the test yeast. However, there was consider variation in potency of antifungal activity. Nizoral 1% and Nizoral 2% shampoo preparat ions were the most effective. The 1% Nizoral shampoo was consistently 10X b etter at killing yeast cells than the next closest rival shampoo. The 2% Ni zoral shampoo was 10X better than the Nizoral 1% product and 100 times bett er than any of the other products assayed. The study demonstrated that sham poos containing a proven antifungal compound were the most effective in con trolling the causative yeast.