Hello, I wasn't sure if this was the appropriate place to post but I've been really in need of some answers. I've been having troubles with my scalp for about the past half year and the only thing that sounds like what I'm experiencing is Seborrheic Dermatitis . However, I'm really not sure so it would be wonderful if anybody who knows more about SD could confirm or deny!

Let me explain what has happened so far. Around this time last year, I started getting massive amounts of dandruff. I have black hair and if I parted it, it looked like I had sprinkled powder into my hair. I tried Head and Shoulders and it didn't work, so I resorted to picking out the pieces of dandruff after every shower. After a month or two of this, I travelled to China in the summer and this persisted for a day or two but then it suddenly went away. I was free of flaking all summer.

I moved to a new city for college and maybe two weeks in, my scalp started flaking. I had run out of my shampoo and borrowed a roommate's Head and Shoulders. Immediately when I stepped out of the shower, I noticed that my hair was covered in flakes. After numerous different shampoos, the only thing that worked was the T-Gel medicated shampoo. The flakes disappeared if I used it but by the end of each night, if I ran my fingers against my scalp, I could feel new tiny flakes forming. I don't have large scaly red patches like I've read about it in some SD descriptions. It's more like if I run my nail against my head, I can pick off lots of little pieces of dandruff. There were nights where I would wake up at 3 am because my head was itching so badly and I would have to shower with the T-Gel and then my scalp would feel better. Sometime during this period I also started getting small red bumps on my head. Some of them itched, and some of them hurt, kind of like a pimple would.

I stopped buying the T-Gel just because it was rather expensive and I wanted to see if anything else would work. I've been spritzing my scalp with ACV every night, and then showering in the morning with Head and Shoulders. It gets rid of the flakes and makes the bumps stop itching or hurting, but the bumps are still kind of there. Not very noticeable but still there. And if I skip the ACV for one day, bumps immediately return and itch. When using ACV, there is minimal flaking when I run my nails against my scalp, but if I skip it, they start forming again and sometimes they'll bleed.

I'm sorry this was so long but if somebody could help identify if this is SD, it would be amazing. I've been struggling with this for the past few months and my parents don't think it's a big problem so they don't want me to see a dermatologies about this. They think I'm being ridiculous for using ACV every night and have told me to just leave my scalp alone. Without it though, my scalp feels flaky, itchy, and even a little raw.