Ever since my early teens I have had an itchy head.
Nothing too manic, just the necessity for the odd surreptitious scratch.
I would say that over that thirty three year period I have tried most cures.
The assumption was that it was dandruff.
During the sixties and seventies dandruff must have been the most fashionable affliction, that is if the preponderance of television ads is anything to go by.
It seemed that the whole world at that time suffered from dandruff.
As time went by the cures became more quasi medical and could involve one in letting the shampoo or lotion stay on your hair for some time, I even remember one that made you put a shower cap over your head during this time.(That one even I baulked at)
None of these worked for me and I assumed that I would continue living with my head itch for the future.

About three years ago in a market in Vaison la Romaine I noticed a soap called Savon d’Alep which claimed to be particularly good for people with dermatitis.
As someone who also suffered from this from time to time I decided to give it a try.
It is a strange dull brown rough primitive looking soap, usually with some Arabic letters on the front.
As you use it the soap gradually turns into a rather more appealing bright green.
It worked beautifully on my skin itches.
I did a little research on it and discovered that it is soap which was originally from Aleppo in Syria is in fact a very simple product.
It has been made for several hundered years in exactly the same way, its only active ingredients are bay leaves and olives.
I decided that it was the soap for me, and bought enough that summer to last me through the Irish winter.
The following summer I was again buying my annual supply, this time in a shop in Pezenas in Languedoc when the kind assistant said that it was also very good as a hair washer.
I gave it a try as that and to my delight finally got rid of my head itch.
.
Maybe this has as much to do with the amount of hair I now possess (a fairly light dusting ) but I certainly am not going to put this to the test.
I am firmly committed to Alep now.