Customer Reviews

Nizoral Anti-Dandruff Shampoo - 7.0 oz.

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I called Johnson and Johnson's at 1 (800) 962-5357 to inquire about the shortage of Nizoral A-D shampoo. Johnson and Johnson's informed me that the shortage is only temporary due to some manufacturing issue. The supply should return to normal later this year.

Online sellers everywhere are taking advantage of the temporary shortage to price-gouge unwary customers. Some sellers are falsely claiming that this product has been discontinued to create uncertainty and increase prices.

We just have to be patient. If you must have this shampoo immediately, you should call Johnson and Johnson's at 1 (800) 962-5357 to find out where you can buy it at a local store near you. While all the online sellers are price-gouging people, the local stores (if they have the product in stock) are selling it at regular retail prices.

Update: September 26, 2001: Just called the customer service again to inquire about Nizoral. The rep reassured me that Nizoral has not been discontinued, but they are still having some manufacturing problem.

[...]

I decided to make my own ketoconazole shampoo because I refuse to pay the price gougers on Amazon. ($109, really?!) My son has severe scalp seborrheic dermatitis due to the rampant hormones of puberty, and our pediatrician recommended Nizoral. I did a literature search to learn the chemistry. See Useful Articles below if you need some juicy bedtime reading ;-)

First, if helpful, here's my layman's understanding of how various anti-dandruff shampoos work (since I had to do all that legwork anyway):

Dandruff in general is accelerated skin cell maturation/shedding cycles (keratinization) and the "disorganized" attachment of lipid droplets to skin cells as they migrate to the outer layer of the scalp, thereby forming itchy flakes. Seborrheic dermatitis is the population explosion of opportunistic Malassezia fungus feasting on increased scalp sebum in addition to the above conditions. There are 7 species of Malassezia, and one in particular loves scalp sebum because it's rich in the saturated hard fats: triglycerides and cholesterol.

Ketoconazole is a broad spectrum antifungal that directly attacks Malassezia by causing their cell membranes to break down. It's also anti-inflammatory and reduces sebum. The mechanisms of action of selenium sulfide and zinc pyrithione are less well understood. Both reduce Malassezia count and scalp sebum, but basically tackle dandruff by other routes. Zinc pyrithione normalizes the abnormal keratin structure of the stratum corneum resulting in fewer lipid inclusions between skin cells, and therefore fewer flakes. Selenium sulfide reduces the cell turnover rate, which is normally 28-30 days but has been observed to be a week or less in cases of dandruff. Salicylic acid breaks down skin cell-sebum plaques or flakes; in other words, it's symptom management and can be useful in combination with other active ingredients. I passed over tar and sulfur shampoos as my son won't use them. Tea tree oil is out for us; it's a phytoestrogen that's documented to be feminizing if used regularly by boys.

Making ketoconazole shampoo:

In summary, antifungal medications are lipophilic, so you need a fat solvent -- or so I thought until I tried fish pills--- followed by an emulsifier to keep ketoconazole dispersed evenly in your shampoo.

The important issue is formulating ketoconazole at one percent. That begs the question: one percent of what? At one point in the shortage, we had been able to get the 2% Nizoral from the UK thru Amazon, and I saved the leaflet which stated: "The active ingredient in 1 g of Nizoral Dandruff Shampoo is ketoconazole 20mg." Therefore the 1% represents a percentage of VOLUME. This saves us from the impossible task of titration.

This shampoo has worked beautifully. Materials needed:
(1) Aqua Fungus 200mg ketoconazole tablets. 30 tablets, for fish, from Amazon $19.99 + $5 shipping. I figured fish pills just might be water soluable. Indeed they are.

(2) Polysorbate-80, 2 ounces, $2. It's a safe, low toxicity solvent/emulsifier commonly found in food and shampoo. It's inexpensive and readily available from DIY cosmetics websites such as Making Cosmetics, Lotion Crafter, Garden of Wisdom, etc.

(3) A bottle of shampoo with a refillable opening. I used Organix Morocco Argan Oil Shampoo, 385 ml or 13 fluid ounces. I chose argan oil because it's a lipid and a known hair softener that eliminates the need for a conditioner.

(4) A food scale. If you don't have one, you can just use as much shampoo as I did.

(5) A long clean stick for stirring. I used a stainless steel escargot fork because it's easy to sterilize.

(6) A sterile pyrex measuring cup large enough to hold most of your shampoo.

Procedure:
(1) I bought a 385 ml bottle of shampoo, therefore 1% volume-wise would be 3.8 or 3.9 ml. The pills are dosaged in milligrams, so you need a ml to mg coverter. Google that, and count out the required number of pills on your food scale. I used 11 pills.

(2) Fold a thick piece of paper in half. You don't want it to tear. The crease in the paper will help you transfer the crushed pills very neatly. I used a new Papyrus notecard. Put the pills along the fold and crush them as fine as possible with a small hammer or similar.

(3) Put the powder in a small, sterile cup, such as a shotglass. Add just enough distilled or boiled/cooled water to mix it thoroughly. Add a couple of teaspoons of polysorbate 80 and stir.

(4) Pour your shampoo into the pyrex cup first and then add the crushed pill mixture. Stir well and pour back into bottle.

If your shampoo separates from using too much water, shake the bottle before use. It's easier than a do-over.

It might also be helpful to...
-- leave the shampoo on 5 minutes before rinsing.
-- shampoo your hairbrush also
-- change pillowcases frequently

Useful Articles:
Drug delivery strategies for improved azole antifungal action, W.Yang, et al, November, 2008. informahealthcare.com

Design and Development of Topical Microemulsion for Poorly Water-Soluble Antifungal Agents, P. Paranajoti, et al, Journal of Applied Research,2002

An Overview of Medicated Shampoos used in Dandruff Treatment, A. Sanfilippo & J. English. ptcommunity.com

Dandruff has an Altered Stratum Corneum Ultrastructure that is Improved with Zinc Pyrithione Shampoo, R.R. Warner, et al., Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Vol 45, Number 6.

For everyone trying to find these it honestly makes a lot more sense to look at either alternative products with ketoconazole, or to simply import from places where this apparently isn't in dire shortage like the UK. In the UK the 1% shampoo is branded Nizorelle instead of Nizoral, whereas the 2% strength is called Nizoral there. The price of Nizorelle is still very reasonable so if you have to get ahold of this I'd look on ebay and the like to buy a small bottle or two to tide you over until U.S. supply is restored.
Regenepure DR would be an alternate product that's sold by some sellers right here on Amazon, unfortunately it's also rather expensive but not a $40+ ripoff. The very cheapest alternative I could find containing Ketoconazole was oddly, pet shampoo, but the problem is that those also contain somewhat harsh anti-bacterial agents like chlorhexidine, and may also make for plain lousy human shampoos. If you can find a formulation that's human-safe that doesn't contain harsh chemicals and you're willing to risk using an animal shampoo this is probably the cheapest (and admittedly the worst and vaguely dangerous) alternative.

I used this product for the off-label purpose of treating tinea-versicolor. I had tried a dozen other products, including prescription products, but this is the only thing that ever worked. I went from last summer looking like I had spots (or vitilgo), to this summer having no scales/discolored areas and a completely even tan. This was after two treatments of just rubbing the shampoo across the affected skin and letting it sit for an hour before showering. Can't speak to its anti-dandruff qualities, but highly recommend it for treatment of versicolor and related skin fungi.

I, too, am really wary of the Amazon Marketplace Sellers after my experience with this product, and feel I was intensionally ripped-off.
I've been using Nizoral for a couple of years with good results. Suddenly my local stores were out of it and I was not yet aware of the factory-move caused shortage. Anything I can't find locally I can usually get from Amazon; checked the site and Amazon usually has 5 bottles of the 7oz. size Nizoral for $59.99 (12 bucks a bottle is a little better than my local price) but it was not available. The Amazon site said that the same product was available from "these Sellers" on the Marketplace, so when I saw that AZ Summer For Ever had it for the same price of $59.99 I thought Great!

Not until it arrived did I realize that it was ONE bottle for $59.99, not five. Then I did the research, found these comments and realized that I'd been scammed. Maybe my fault for not paying better attention, but these Marketplace Sellers were counting on that, and should be ashamed of themselves. Will never do business with them again, and will be twice a wary of all Marketplace Sellers because of this experience.

Amazon is great, and took the return, and processed my refund, in a timely way. I also noticed that they removed their page showing 5 bottles for $59.99 before others were fooled the same way, again to their credit. Amazon is great, Marketplace Sellers not so much...

Rejoice, folks! Stock is beginning to return to stores. As has been my custom lately, I was checking online availability and checked at Walgreens. Their site claimed to have stock online and in stores. I checked my local stores (Edmond, OK) and three of five claimed to have stock available. I was skeptical almost immediately, so I headed out to the first store, expecting to be disappointed. Instead, I was ecstatic. There were nine 7 oz. bottles on the shelf at the retail price of 15.99! I bought eight of them - not to price gouge anyone else, but just to make sure I don't run out for a long time.

Judging from the bottles (old vs. new), the manufacturer moved production from Italy to Belgium. Personally, I couldn't care less where it's made. I'm just glad it's getting back into stores.

I have had dandruff for as long as I can remember. I tried everything from T-Gel to Selsun Blue and it seemed like nothing worked until I tried Nizoral. A doctor told me to buy this over the counter and use it at least a couple times a week. Well, I did and the dandruff is completely gone! No more itch and no more flakes. I think it's been maybe 3 months since I first tried it.

Also, I saw the posts about the shortage and I called the manufacturer to see what's up. They say that they are going through some issues with the FDA as well as the movement of some of their locations. This seems to be causing a shortage of the items in the stores because the manufacturer is not resupplying. They said "We don't know if we'll ever be making the product again at this point." This seems very discouraging as this stuff really works and it would be a shame for it to cease in production completely. I think I need to find more of this before it's gone for good! D:

I ordered three 100ml bottles of the 2% shampoo from amazon.co.uk, for £6.98 each plus £10.99 for shipping to the US, for a total of £31.93. At today's exchange rates, that's $52. The best way to respond to the opportunistic sellers looking for a giant premium here is to go around them. Stick with Amazon but get yours at Amazon UK.

I have moderate to severe dandruff and this is the only non-prescription strength shampoo that will work for me. After trying many anti-dandruff shampoo's (such as T-Gel, Selsun blue, Head and shoulder's, natural shampoos etc), I've always come back to Nizoral. It doesn't smell terrible unlike most other dandruff shampoos and it's too harsh for everyday use. The consistency of the shampoo is quite thick so I thin it down with a little water to make it easy to massage it into my scalp. Massage it in and leave it for 5 minutes, then rinse it out. I would recommend that you use it everyday until you get the dandruff under control and then use every day. It reduces itchiness and flakes greatly in the first week of use and eliminates the problem with continued use. This 7 oz bottle lasts for a month for me personally (I have long hair though). Do not use a conditioner afterwards as you will add to the oiliness of your scalp and exacerbate the dandruff problem.

This product worked for us when nothing else (over the counter) did. Coal-tar smells bad and does not do much. Selenium Sulfide (Head and Shoulders/Selsun Blue) did not do much, either.

This one worked very quickly and completely eliminated all problems. When I say completely, I mean total and complete elimination of ALL symptoms.