A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial of Four Anti-Dandruff Shampoos
A total of 199 patients were selected for a comparison of the anti-dandruff efficacy of four shampoos. After a 2-week lead-in (all patients used only Johnson's Baby Shampoo twice weekly) the patients were randomly assigned to Selsun Blue®, Head & Shoulders®, Flex®, or Tegrin®. The test preparation, which was unknown to the observer, was used twice weekly for 4 weeks. Loose and adherent dandruff were each rated on a scale of 0 to 20 (absent to severe) at the end of the lead-in (when a total score of 15 was required), and each week of study. The mean total pre-study score for all subjects was 19.5. At the end of the study the mean improvement scores were: 162 (Selsun Blue), 14.6 (Head & Shoulders), 13.5 (Flex), and 13.1 (Tegrin). The improvement was significantly greater (p < 0.05) on Selsun Blue than on any of the other shampoos. At the end of the study significantly (p < 0.05) more patients had total scores of zero on Selsun Blue (15) than on Tegrin or Head & Shoulders. In addition, the rate of improvement was significantly (p < 0.05) faster with Selsun Blue than with any of the other test preparations.