I have tried soooooo many anti-dandruff shampoos (many of them I have reviewed on BR!). In general it is the active ingredient of pyrithone zinc that seems to work at fixing what is a medical scalp condition.
T/Gel always clears up my scalp, but is very potent and strips the hair of any natural oils. For this reason I would only use it every second or third wash, and use a more gentle anti-d shampoo the rest of the time. It really makes your hair feel (literally) squeaky clean, but also very stringy and tight. For this reason, you definitely need a deep conditioner afterwards, and maybe even a leave-in conditioner for the ends of your hair.
Many people would be put off by the smell of T/Gel. I do hate the smell as it is strongly chemical. But the results are worth it, and the smell doesn't linger on your hair if you use a yummy conditioner afterwards.
I have suffered from dandruff my entire life. Over the years I have tried a ton of anti dandruff shampoo's with many failing to give me the relief I was so desperately searching for.
Constant scratching caused many sore scratches on my scalp which was hazardous for a teen and woman who constantly coloured her hair.
Anyway we are getting off topic! I had found a few anti dandruff shampoos over the years that did work, but quite often companies like to make their formulas "new and imporived" and change them so they became useless for my poor, itchy scalp(it's a conspiracy I tell ya!)
Sunsilk had an anti dandruff shampoo, it smelled great and it worked, which is the most important factor.
So I'm in my favourite aisle of the supermarket(the hair and beauty aisle in case you were wondering!) looking at all the pretties, I got to the hair section and went to get my holy grail shampoo...I couldnt see it. Every other formulation from that brand was there, except mine. Ok minor panic mode, I'll try another supermarket. I start to go into panic mode when it isnt there. Oh no, what am I going to do? In desperation I grabbed a bottle of anti dandruff shampoo from another brand and hope for the best.
Nah uh, nope! My scalp was angry, really angry, it did not like the shampoo and it certainly didnt want to be my friend anymore! Oh the itch, the itch!! I scratched like a child infested with headlice. I tried another shampoo, and another and another with no joy. God help me when would this itching stop?
I came across Neutorgena T-Gel shampoo and conditioner. RELIEF! after one wash my scalp finally started to forgive me.
Now I will say, I only use it for the relief it brings to my scalp. It does eradicate flaking BUT it does not provide the conditioning benefits it claims and I do have to use a different conditioner, if I dont my hair ends up pretty gross and dry.
The smell isn't great, not rancid or anything but not great but its not the kind of scent that lingers in your hair either, which is good(I do miss my hair smelling freshly washed though, my hair, without conditipner now just smells like...well, hair!)
So in conclusion, it doesn't leave your hair feeling great unless you use it in conjunction with a conditioner but it does leave your scalp feeling amazing so for that reason alone, I have continued to use it