What actually matters in an anti-dandruff shampoo is the active ingredient and how long you leave it on the scalp — see our piece on zinc pyrithione and ketoconazole. Here’s five real options and which active each one is built around.
Prices checked on Nykaa, 10 September 2026. Prices on affiliate sites change often — treat these as a snapshot, not a live quote, and check the current price before buying.
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The five
- Nykaa Naturals Anti-Dandruff Sulphate-Free Shampoo With Apple — ₹279 (MRP ₹349). Most-reviewed of the five (201,000+) and sulphate-free, which matters more for scalp comfort than for whether the anti-dandruff active works.
- Bare Anatomy Anti-Dandruff Shampoo with Salicylic Acid, Piroctone — ₹469 (MRP ₹484). Piroctone olamine rather than zinc pyrithione or ketoconazole — a third, less commonly discussed anti-dandruff active.
- Be Bodywise 1% Ketoconazole Anti Dandruff Shampoo For Women — ₹347, no discount listed. Ketoconazole at a stated 1% concentration — per our piece on actives, this is generally the more targeted option at lower usage frequency.
- Head & Shoulders Silky Black Anti-Dandruff Shampoo — ₹724 (MRP ₹1,207), the steepest discount here at 40% off. The longest-established anti-dandruff brand in this list.
- The Derma Co Triple Actives Anti-Dandruff Shampoo — ₹429 (MRP ₹499). “Triple actives” implies more than one anti-dandruff ingredient combined — worth checking the full ingredient list if you’re trying to isolate what’s actually working for you.
If you want the most directly comparable-to-research option, Be Bodywise’s stated 1% ketoconazole is the clearest single-active choice. The others either use a different active (piroctone in Bare Anatomy) or combine several (The Derma Co), which makes it harder to know which ingredient is doing the work if one stops helping.