Tackles stubborn flaky scalp conditions with ease but lousy for my love life! (Polytar Liquid)

Member Name: HonestBob

Product:	Polytar Liquid
Date:	07/01/09 (380 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very effective

Disadvantages: Stinks, expensive, too thin so some gets wasted.

I have suffered from psoriasis on and off for the past decade. I find it is worse in winter and generally appears about 6 weeks after a stressful event. I have an odd type of psoriasis. Initially it looks like chickenpox as I develop small red, circular patches over my torso and forearms, but unlike chickenpox, instead of blistering these lumps scale over, crack and flake. Sound disgusting? Well it is! I have about three psoriasis episodes per year, each lasting about 6 weeks after which time the patches stop scaling and fade to a pale brown before disappearing. Sunlight definitely accelerates the healing process, and I have had light treatment in the past during a particularly bad breakout after having my third child.

So far I have been very lucky and psoriasis has never developed on my face or any part of my body that cannot eaily be covered. However, I do occasionally get small patches of psoriasis on my scalp, generally at my hairline. These are never very large, but I like to catch them before they become unsightly. For this reason I like to keep a bottle of Polytar liquid in the house.

Polytar liquid is a shampoo specifically formulated to treat scalp disorders such as psoriasis, dandrufff, seborrhoea and eczema. It can also be used to soothe unexplained itching conditions, which may be caused by a dry and/or flaky scalp. I first used Polytar when it was prescribed by a consultant dermatologist during a particularly keen bout of psoriasis affecting my scalp, and have since purchased it from Boots and my local chemist.

Polytar liquid is packaged in a rather unattractive brown bottle, with a pinched in waist for easy hold and a twist off white plastic cap. It is not a product that you would choose to display in your bathroom. The shampoo is produced in 65 ml, 150 ml, 250ml or 350 ml, bottles but is generally to be found in the two middle range sizes. It is not cheap, retailing in Boots at £4.20 for 250ml, but it is effective.

On opening the bottle the first thing that hits you is the smell. The shampoo containts 1% tar as its active ingredients and this is very noticeable when the lid is removed. The shampoo itself is a deep brown colour and very thin in consistency. It is very easy to pour out too much for a single application, and I frequently waste some.

Once applied to the hair and scalp the shampoo forms a creamy yellow lather, and the smell of the tar increases. My partner actually gags if he enters the room whilst I am using this. There is no need to leave the shampoo on for longer than a 'normal' shampoo, but it is important to work it well into the scalp. Rinse thoroughly under warm water and repeat the process.

The shampoo rinses out easily, leaving hair feeling clean, but not smelling pleasant. It is not recommended that you use this shampoo on a daily basis. Once or twice per week will suffice. I only use this shampoo if I actually have some psoriasis or if I use a hair product that has irritated my scalp and made it flaky. I would not use it as a preventative measure for several reasons; it is expensive, it smells awful, and I fear that it might stop being effective if I use it too regularly. I'm too reliant on this product clearing my psoriasis quickly to risk anything that might stop it working.

If I have a particularly bad bout of psoriasis on my body I use this shampoo like a shower gel. Nothing on the packaging recommends this, but my consultant dermatologist suggested it, and desperate for a remedy I gave it a go. The lather feels soft on my body. It is not particularly moisturising, but it doesn't dry my skin either. I don't feel particularly clean after using the shampoo in this way, but I do smell..... awful! Using this on my body definitely triggers my partners gag reflex and he is particularly unamorous if I shower using this just before bed!

Is it worth the smell (and rejection!)?

Well, yes it is, or I wouldn't continue to use it. The shampoo is very effective, very quickly. If I have a flaky, irritated scalp due to using a highly perfumed hair cleaning or styling product, this shampoo will sort the problem out completely within a couple of applications. It takes a week to get rid of scalp psoriasis and 3-4 showers to make a difference to my torso psoriasis. It doesn't eradicate the psoriasis on my torso completely, but it does decrease the scaliness and reduces the redness to a less obvious degree.


Here are the ingredients to give you an idea of how bad it smells!

Antiseptic tar medicated cleanser containing: pine tar 0.3%, cade oil 0.3%, coal tar solution 0.1%, arachis oil, extract of crude coal tar 0.3% and oleyl alcohol 0.1%.

For those with allergies, arachis oil is also known as peanut oil, according to an article on wikipedia, commercial peanut oil will not cause an allergic reaction because the allergen is a protein, but keep the contents in mind if you have a nut allergy. (As an aside - I had severe eczema as a young baby and could not be bathed in water. My mum had to wash me in arachis oil for the first 6 months of my life - I must have stunk!)

Summary: Catch flaky conditions early with this and one wash will do the job.