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Children can indeed use shampoos and you can use mostly all kinds of shampoos on your child without the risk of serious repercussions. As a matter of fact, considering that the subject in question is a child, it is imperative that you keep the child's scalp clean and free of dirt and fungal overgrowth. Besides this benefit, it is important that you get your child to understand that scalp hygiene and hair care are important parts of modern living and would go a long way into benefitting him or her in adult life. Children are in a very unique position in life - the phase of growth. Taking care of the body at this time is the most crucial part of having and maintaining a good adult life and delaying the onset of debilitating illnesses later. Having stated the generalization, the important question to address is the types of shampoo to use and what kind of hair care is required for your child.
There are specialized shampoos for children in the market despite the fundamental use of shampoos being the same - to act as a detergent medium for removing oil, dirt and debris. You would probably notice that some children's shampoos are medicated as well, consisting of antifungal products. This is because children don't have an immune system as strong as adults and this makes them susceptible to a slew of infections. In the scalp, the biggest worries are fungal infections, especially the fungi that cause the ringworm of the scalp and dandruff. Dandruff is something that children don't usually end up suffering except if they are approaching the age of puberty. This is because the fungus that is responsible for dandruff relies on a healthy amount of sebum production. After puberty, sebum production rises dramatically and this causes an over growth of fungus that feeds off the sebum. Incidentally, sebum is the natural skin oil secreted by the sebaceous glands near hair follicles. However, it is generally a good practice to use a medicated shampoo that contains antifungal agents like zinc pyrithione and selenium sulfide for the child.
Another tricky factor in choosing shampoos lies in the idiosyncrasies of children itself. Children tend to indulge in activities that get them dirty and sometimes tend to be hygiene illiterate. This means that you might need to shampoo your child's hair often. This makes it a good reason to use baby shampoo to wash out the hair. Baby shampoos tend to have a lesser concentration of detergent agents and are milder on the scalp; therefore, can be used repeatedly, even daily if necessary.
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