Scalp folliculitis treatment involves good hygiene, warm compresses to soothe and drain, and medicated shampoos (antifungal/antibacterial); severe cases need prescription antibiotics (topical/oral) or antifungals, while avoiding irritants like hot water or shaving helps prevent recurrence. Mild cases often resolve with self-care, but persistent or worsening symptoms warrant a doctor visit for targeted treatment, like oral antibiotics or steroids.
Folliculitis is a common skin condition that happens when hair follicles become inflamed. It's often caused by an infection with bacteria. At first it may look like small pimples around the tiny pockets from where each hair grows (hair follicles).
Clean the affected skin.
Gently wash the infected skin at least twice a day with an antibacterial soap or cleanser, such as benzoyl peroxide. Use a clean washcloth and towel each time and don't share your towels or washcloths. Use hot, soapy water to wash these items.
To treat folliculitis during pregnancy, focus on gentle hygiene, warm compresses, and pregnancy-safe topical treatments like benzoyl peroxide or low-potency corticosteroids, while avoiding harsh scrubbing, as it often resolves after delivery, but always consult your doctor for diagnosis and personalized safe options, especially for severe itching or persistent cases.
Treatment will depend on your child's symptoms, age, and general health. It will also depend on how bad the condition is. Folliculitis and mild furuncles may go away with no treatment. Warm cloths (compresses) may help ease symptoms and speed healing.
Your hair follicles are surprisingly fragile and are prone to becoming infected and causing severe itchiness and discomfort. While folliculitis can be caused by outside elements not in your control, it can also result from not maintaining proper hygiene.
Folliculitis in children is inflammation of hair follicles, commonly caused by bacterial infections (like Staph aureus), fungi, or viruses, often triggered by sweaty or occluded skin, friction from tight clothes, or irritation from hot tubs/pools. Other causes include ingrown hairs (from shaving/tweezing), blocked follicles (thick creams/ointments), certain medications, or skin injuries, leading to red bumps, itching, or pus-filled pimples.
Shaving and waxing can change the direction your hair grows — wearing tight clothes can make this worse. This can cause irritation and folliculitis. If you shave your face you may get a chronic (ongoing) inflammation in your beard area. As the hair grows, the cut end digs into the skin causing inflammation.
People may sometimes mistake psoriasis and folliculitis for other skin conditions, including:
Home Remedies
In fact, most mild cases of folliculitis improve with home care. There are two home remedies that are best for folliculitis: a soap wash and a warm compress. A soap wash is exactly what it sounds like–a good scrub with soap and water. You should clean affected areas twice a day with warm water and soap.
In less severe types of folliculitis, like Pseudomonas folliculitis (hot tub rash), your symptoms will typically fade within a few days without treatment. If they don't, reach out to your healthcare provider. When you have a more severe case of folliculitis, oral antibiotics may be needed to treat the condition.
7 Tips To Unclog Hair Follicles
Signs of the skin inflammation. The condition can lead to flakiness, redness, dandruff and other scalp buildup — and sometimes it's sign of other conditions. Flaky scalp, itchiness and painful patches can all be signs of scalp dermatitis, an inflammation of the scalp that can have as many causes as it does symptoms.
What is the treatment for scalp folliculitis? The scalp affected by folliculitis should be washed with a mild normal shampoo as often as desired. Antidandruff shampoos containing antifungal agents such as ketoconazole or ciclopirox are sometimes helpful. Conditioner can be used if desired.
A sudden change in diet that includes high carbs or sugar can increase oil production in the skin, which may lead to folliculitis if the hair follicles become inflamed as a result.
Parasitic infection
Folliculitis on the face or scalp of older or immunosuppressed adults may be due to colonisation by hair follicle mites (demodex). This is known as demodicosis. The human infestation, scabies, often provokes folliculitis, as well as non-follicular papules, vesicles and pustules.
Bacterial folliculitis (often Staph aureus) looks like itchy, pus-filled pimples (whiteheads/pustules) and can be worsened by shaving or hot tubs, while fungal folliculitis (Malassezia yeast) presents as uniform, small, red, itchy bumps (papules/pustules) on the chest/back, often unresponsive to acne antibiotics. Key differences are appearance (varied vs. uniform bumps) and cause (bacteria vs. yeast), with bacterial types needing antibiotics and fungal types requiring antifungals.
What are the symptoms of a scalp yeast infection?
Deep Folliculitis is a more serious type of folliculitis that starts deeper in the skin surrounding the hair follicle and thus can infect the whole hair follicle. Deep folliculitis can manifest as a large swollen bump and pus-filled blisters and can cause pain and possible scarring once the infection has disappeared.
People who live in crowded conditions, have poor hygiene or chronic skin diseases, or whose nasal passages contain Staphylococcus are more likely to have repeat episodes of folliculitis or skin abscesses. A weakened immune system, obesity, old age, and possibly diabetes are also common risk factors.
Treatment will depend on the type, depth, and severity of the folliculitis. Mild forms are often treated with topical ointments or creams. More severe cases are usually treated with oral pills. For deeper infections, in-office drainage of the lesion may be necessary.
Folliculitis is inflammation of hair follicles, most commonly caused by bacterial infections (Staph) or irritation from shaving/friction, but also by fungi (yeasts), viruses, parasites, or certain medications, often triggered by blocked follicles, sweating, tight clothes, or contaminated water (hot tubs). It's essentially an infection or irritation of a hair follicle, leading to red bumps or pus-filled pimples.
Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Debra Jaliman recommends Neutrogena's T/Sal Therapeutic Shampoo because it has salicylic acid, a common hair and skin care ingredient that helps to unclogs hair follicles and remove excess sebum.
What causes damage to hair follicles?