Dandruff is one of those irritants that most of us encounter at some point in our lives. Finding little bits of dry, flaky skin that fall from the scalp onto your clothes or comb is a big turn off and still worse and embarrassing when someone else points it out to you. A common scalp conditionthat makes your scalp itch, dandruff is often harmless and more of an irritant that makes you uncomfortable, than a clinical problem to worry about.Dandruff isn't caused by how you treat your hair but isrelated to the skin cells on your scalp that grow and die away too fast.

Dr. Chandan of Aanya Skin Clinic, Chennai; discusses skin health for the season and explains a little about the changes in the attitudes of men and women towards skin and hair care today, when compared to a decade ago. With several new products arriving on the scene, Dr. Chandan tells us how to approach new-age therapies in the right manner.

Our skin tells a lot about our health. From its colour, to the amount we sweat and of course how it looks and what’s on it – our skin doesn’t just tell us but anyone who looks at us knows how we are feeling just from our skin.

Hair loss is a very common trouble that affects both men and women; our new and ‘not’ necessarily improved lifestyles are largely to blame for this. While genes definitely play an integral role in the growth, development, texture, color and fall of hair; there are also several other reasons including irregular eating habits, odd sleep patterns, lack of nutritious food that add to this pressing problem.

Rough, smooth, hard, soft; light or dark, warts are present on almost all most people and even some animals. Small and usually painless round growths on our skin, most warts are quite harmless and disappear on their own in about 2 years or so. Sometimes they can itch or hurt; more so if they are on our feet. The ones that appear on the feet are called plantar warts.

Reports say that about 80% of teenagers get some form of acne at some point in time, includingspots and painful reddish bumps on the skin. Acne is mostobvious on the face, but it also appears on the back, shoulders and even buttocks sometimes, making it hard to sit.

Hair fall, hair loss and balding are embarrassing problems that take a severe toll on one’s mental being.Physical appearances like skin and hair, make up a significant part of one’s self-esteem and confidence and when something lacks in those departments, these two attributes are affected.

Skin, for being the largest organ; the waterproof, protective wrap of our body’s surface, is often not given the TLC it truly deserves.It is almost always the body’s first point of external contact and it is constantly interfacing with our surroundings.