Stories: Barbara and Winter Dandruff on Her Uniform

Barbara is 46 and has worked for eleven years as a conductor on the line from Chur to Arosa. She loves the moment when the little red train leaves the streets of the town, crosses the bridges over the gorges and climbs, bend after bend, towards the snow. She knows the regular passengers by name, the skiers by their bags and the tourists by the way they press their phones against the window.

The flakes on the dark blue jacket

Every year, at the start of winter, the same small problem came back. Her uniform jacket is dark blue, and between November and March white flakes appeared on the shoulders. Outside, minus ten degrees and a wool beanie pulled over her ears; inside, the warm, dry air of the carriages. By the end of the shift her scalp felt tight, and every time she bent over to check a ticket she wondered whether the passenger was looking at her collar.

She had got into the habit of checking her shoulders in the mirror of the staff room in Arosa and brushing them with a quick hand. She had stopped wearing her black scarf. She had changed shampoo twice, picking whatever was on offer at the supermarket, without really reading the label. In spring the problem faded, and she forgot about it until the next winter.

A search during the break in Arosa

One morning in late November, an older passenger who rides up every Thursday gave her a kind smile as he got off: "You have a bit of snow on your shoulder." There was no snow on the platform. Barbara laughed, but during the twenty-minute break at the terminus she took out her phone and typed: "Schuppen im Winter".

Among the results she landed on cliCHair, on the INEJ Anti-Dandruff line by Code Zero: a shampoo and a leave-on scalp serum, made for a scalp prone to dandruff and visible flakes. She read the page the way she reads a new timetable: slowly, down to the last line.

Why she chose INEJ Anti-Dandruff

• A clear active ingredient. Both products contain Piroctone Olamine, the anti-dandruff active of the formula, which helps reduce visible flakes. For the first time she knew what she was buying and why.
• A routine in two steps. The shampoo works during the wash, the serum stays on the scalp between washes. Its light texture keeps the hair airy at the roots, which matters when you spend the day under a beanie.
• A fresh feel. Lemon and orange peel oils give the shampoo a lively citrus note, rosehip oil and burdock root extract care for the scalp, and hydrolyzed rice protein leaves the hair soft.

One sentence on the product page stayed with her: for a persistent scalp problem, the right step is a dermatologist. She made a note of it. If nothing changed, she would book an appointment.

She ordered both products, delivered in Switzerland, and a few days later the parcel was in her letterbox.

Her routine, step by step

Barbara washes her hair in the evening, after her shift, and follows the product page exactly:

1. She applies a small amount of shampoo to wet hair and massages the scalp gently with circular movements.
2. She leaves it on for 2-3 minutes, then rinses thoroughly with lukewarm water. When her hair needs it, she repeats.
3. She towel-dries her hair, so that it is damp but not dripping.
4. She applies a small amount of serum directly to the scalp, section by section, massages it in with gentle circular movements and leaves it on without rinsing.

The rhythm is written in pencil in the small notebook where she keeps her shift plan: the shampoo regularly at first, then once a week to maintain the result; the serum every other day for 2-3 weeks, then once a week.

Three weeks later

The first change Barbara noticed was not on her shoulders but under her beanie. In the evening her scalp felt fresh and clean, and her hair dried light, with a citrus scent she liked. After a few weeks the flakes on the dark blue jacket had become rarer. They had not vanished overnight, but she no longer felt the need to look in the mirror at every terminus.

In mid-December she put the black scarf back on. Reto, her colleague on the early shift, noticed it before she said a word. "So the scarf is back," he said, handing her a coffee in the staff room. "It never left," Barbara replied. "It was just waiting for the right moment."

Now shampoo and serum are part of her weekly routine, and she has switched both to a subscription so she does not have to think about reordering in the middle of the season. The following Thursday, when the older passenger got on, she checked his ticket with a smile and her shoulders straight.

Why choose INEJ Anti-Dandruff by Code Zero

• Shampoo and serum with Piroctone Olamine, which helps reduce visible flakes.
• A complete routine: the shampoo for the wash, the serum as a leave-on step between washes.
• A fresh citrus scent, light hair and soft lengths after the wash.
• Both can be bought once or as a subscription, with delivery every 4, 6 or 8 weeks.

The whole line is in the INEJ Anti-Dandruff collection.

Quick questions

How often is INEJ Anti-Dandruff Shampoo used?
Regularly at first, then once a week to maintain the result, always with a 2-3 minute scalp massage. It also suits daily washes.

Does INEJ Anti-Dandruff Serum need rinsing?
No. It is applied to the towel-dried scalp after the wash, massaged in gently and left on.

When is a dermatologist the right step?
For significant hair loss or a persistent scalp problem, consult a dermatologist.

Discover INEJ Anti-Dandruff Shampoo and INEJ Anti-Dandruff Serum on cliCHair.

The characters and situations in this story are fictional. The results described are an example and may vary from person to person.