What causes dandruff? How can it be treated? Body's general health is directly reflective on the hair and skin. Weather changes diet alterations stress levels hormonal ups and downs and a lot more factors come into play when it comes to texture of hair and suppleness of the skin. When talking about scalp care dandruff is one of the most frequent conditions faced by majority. While some deal with oily dandruff others have a hard time keeping the dry flakes off. Malassezia is a yeast-like fungus that breeds on the scalp and consumes fat (or oil). When present in a high concentration malassezia tends to consume the oil generated by hail follicles for maintaining a moisture balance in the scalp. This causes excessive dryness of the scalp. Since the skin cells die on a faster rate than of which they can be renewed the dead cells fall off. These club in together with oil on scalp moisture in the air and form flakes which eventually leads to excessive itching.