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Male - Dandruff and hair fall, state by state
Nearly two in three men reporting hair fall also report dandruff or a diagnosed scalp condition. The share varies far more across India than hair stage does — and the pattern follows humidity and water more than anything else.
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Read these as patterns in who is seeking help and what they report — not as clinical prevalence for all Indian men.
of men reporting hair fall also report dandruff or a diagnosed scalp condition. It is the most commonly co-reported factor in this entire dataset.
leads at 70.9%, with Meghalaya close behind at 70.5%. Gujarat reports the lowest, at 56.8%.
across the North-East zone against 58.6% in the Central zone — a 11.3 point regional gap that tracks humidity closely.
report heavy dandruff that sticks to the scalp — the form most associated with inflammation, itching and the scratching that damages hair.
separate the highest and lowest states, more than three times the spread seen for hair stage.
report a diagnosed condition — psoriasis or seborrheic dermatitis — rather than ordinary dandruff. These need dermatological treatment, not a shampoo.
How it splits across India
Every man who completed an assessment, as one bar. This is the baseline the state ranking below is measured against.
- No dandruff
- Mild, comes and goes
- Heavy, sticks to the scalp
- Diagnosed scalp condition
All states and union territories combined · figures are % of respondents
Report dandruff or a scalp condition, ranked
Every state and union territory with a large enough sample to rank, highest to lowest.
Dashed line marks the national figure (62.7%). Ranked on “Report dandruff or a scalp condition”. States and union territories with too few responses to rank reliably are excluded from this chart and marked † in the table below.
The same data, six zones
Individual states move around; zones show whether the pattern is real.
- No dandruff
- Mild, comes and goes
- Heavy, sticks to the scalp
- Diagnosed scalp condition
Zones follow the standard Indian regional grouping · figures are % within each zone
All 36 states & union territories
Published in full so it can be checked, quoted and cited. Every figure is a percentage of respondents in that state — no response counts are published.
| State / UT | No dandruff | Mild, comes and goes | Heavy, sticks to the scalp | Diagnosed scalp condition | Report dandruff or a scalp condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman & Nicobar Islands† | 48.6% | 29.9% | 19.8% | 1.7% | 51.4% |
| Andhra Pradesh | 38.4% | 36.4% | 23.1% | 2.1% | 61.6% |
| Arunachal Pradesh† | 28.2% | 46.2% | 25.6% | 0.0% | 71.8% |
| Assam | 30.6% | 43.2% | 24.5% | 1.8% | 69.5% |
| Bihar | 33.8% | 38.4% | 25.9% | 1.9% | 66.2% |
| Chandigarh | 38.3% | 37.3% | 22.2% | 2.1% | 61.6% |
| Chhattisgarh | 40.9% | 36.0% | 21.5% | 1.7% | 59.2% |
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu† | 33.8% | 47.1% | 17.6% | 1.5% | 66.2% |
| Delhi | 34.7% | 38.5% | 24.7% | 2.0% | 65.2% |
| Goa | 40.1% | 36.4% | 21.5% | 1.9% | 59.8% |
| Gujarat | 43.3% | 34.6% | 20.2% | 2.0% | 56.8% |
| Haryana | 37.5% | 37.7% | 22.7% | 2.1% | 62.5% |
| Himachal Pradesh | 42.0% | 38.3% | 18.2% | 1.6% | 58.1% |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 38.5% | 37.8% | 22.1% | 1.6% | 61.5% |
| Jharkhand | 34.5% | 37.6% | 25.9% | 2.0% | 65.5% |
| Karnataka | 36.1% | 39.0% | 22.8% | 2.2% | 64.0% |
| Kerala | 34.2% | 40.9% | 22.5% | 2.5% | 65.9% |
| Ladakh† | 27.0% | 43.8% | 27.0% | 2.2% | 73.0% |
| Lakshadweep† | 33.3% | 66.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 66.7% |
| Madhya Pradesh | 41.4% | 35.4% | 21.2% | 2.0% | 58.6% |
| Maharashtra | 39.6% | 35.7% | 22.7% | 1.9% | 60.3% |
| Manipur | 29.8% | 44.0% | 24.3% | 1.9% | 70.2% |
| Meghalaya | 29.4% | 44.1% | 25.0% | 1.4% | 70.5% |
| Mizoram† | 30.4% | 45.5% | 23.7% | 0.4% | 69.6% |
| Nagaland | 29.1% | 45.9% | 22.3% | 2.7% | 70.9% |
| Odisha | 32.6% | 38.7% | 26.6% | 2.1% | 67.4% |
| Puducherry† | 40.6% | 39.6% | 19.8% | 0.0% | 59.4% |
| Punjab | 39.1% | 37.8% | 21.0% | 2.1% | 60.9% |
| Rajasthan | 41.6% | 35.5% | 21.0% | 1.8% | 58.3% |
| Sikkim† | 27.0% | 50.7% | 21.7% | 0.7% | 73.1% |
| Tamil Nadu | 38.1% | 37.6% | 22.1% | 2.2% | 61.9% |
| Telangana | 39.3% | 36.6% | 22.1% | 2.1% | 60.8% |
| Tripura† | 26.8% | 43.1% | 28.1% | 1.9% | 73.1% |
| Uttar Pradesh | 35.5% | 36.6% | 25.7% | 2.2% | 64.5% |
| Uttarakhand | 35.2% | 38.0% | 24.7% | 2.1% | 64.8% |
| West Bengal | 30.9% | 41.1% | 25.8% | 2.2% | 69.1% |
| All India | 37.3% | 37.3% | 23.4% | 2.0% | 62.7% |
† Sample too small to rank reliably — shown for completeness only.
What this actually tells you
Dandruff is the factor where geography genuinely matters. The spread across states is 14.1 percentage points — wide enough that where a man lives is a real input, unlike hair stage where it barely registers.
Humidity, water and the map
The North-East zone leads at 69.9%, and the states clustered at the top share a climate profile: high humidity for much of the year, which favours the Malassezia yeast that drives seborrheic dermatitis and most common dandruff. The drier zones at the bottom of the ranking report noticeably less. Hard water, which is widespread across much of the north and west, contributes separately by leaving mineral deposits that irritate the scalp and make flaking worse.
Dandruff does not cause baldness — but it does not help
This distinction matters and gets lost constantly. Dandruff does not cause male pattern hair loss; genetics and hormones do. What dandruff causes is inflammation, itching and scratching. Chronic scalp inflammation weakens the follicles sitting under it, and mechanical scratching loosens hairs that were already fragile. Sustained over years, that turns a hair loss problem into a worse hair loss problem.
When it is not dandruff at all
Around 2.0% of men report a diagnosed condition — psoriasis or seborrheic dermatitis — rather than ordinary flaking. Both produce visible scale and both are frequently self-treated with anti-dandruff shampoo for years without improvement. Thick silvery plaques, scale that extends past the hairline onto the face or ears, or flaking that never fully clears are all reasons to have it looked at properly.
The practical read
If you live in one of the higher-reporting states and you have both dandruff and hair fall, treating the scalp is not optional groundwork — it is the thing that lets everything else work. A scalp that is inflamed and flaking is a poor environment for regrowth regardless of what else you do.
Figures come from free online hair assessments completed by men in India, covering every state and union territory of India. Respondents selected one option describing their dandruff; near-identical response options were merged before analysis. Regions outside India were excluded, and variant spellings of the same state were merged. States and union territories with too few responses to be reliable are marked † in the table and left out of the ranking chart.
Everything on this page is published as a percentage of respondents. Response counts are deliberately not published, so the figures show proportions and trends rather than volumes.
This is self-reported, self-selected data from men already concerned about hair fall. It describes that group, not the general population, and it shows association rather than cause. Nothing here is a diagnosis or a substitute for a professional assessment.
Frequently asked
Does dandruff cause hair loss?
Not directly. Dandruff does not cause male pattern baldness, which is driven by genetics and hormones. What it does is inflame the scalp and cause itching, and the scratching that follows loosens hair and damages an already stressed follicle. Left untreated for long periods, that inflammation makes existing hair loss measurably worse.
Which Indian state has the most dandruff?
Among states with a large enough sample to rank, Nagaland reports the highest share of men with dandruff or a scalp condition at 70.9%, followed by Meghalaya at 70.5% and Manipur at 70.2%. Gujarat reports the lowest at 56.8%.
Why is dandruff worse in humid states?
Common dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis are driven largely by Malassezia, a yeast that lives on everyone's scalp and thrives in warm, humid conditions with plenty of scalp oil. High humidity also means more sweat and more frequent washing, both of which disturb the scalp barrier. The North-East zone reports 69.9% against 58.6% in the Central zone.
Does hard water cause dandruff and hair fall?
Hard water does not cause dandruff or pattern hair loss, but it makes both harder to manage. Calcium and magnesium deposits build up on the scalp and hair shaft, leaving residue that irritates the skin, dulls the hair and increases breakage. In hard-water areas a clarifying wash routine and a shower filter address the aggravating factor, though neither treats the underlying hair loss.
What is the difference between dandruff and seborrheic dermatitis?
They sit on the same spectrum. Dandruff is mild flaking without much visible inflammation. Seborrheic dermatitis is the more severe form: greasy yellowish scale, redness, and involvement beyond the scalp — eyebrows, the sides of the nose, behind the ears. Psoriasis is different again, producing thick silvery plaques with a sharply defined edge. About 2.0% of men in this dataset report one of the diagnosed conditions.
Should I treat dandruff before treating hair loss?
Treat both, but do not skip the scalp. An inflamed, flaking scalp is a poor environment for any regrowth effort, and topical treatments applied to irritated skin are less tolerable and less effective. Getting the scalp calm first — or at least alongside — generally makes the rest of a hair plan work better.
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