The present invention relates to the use of special peptides in composition which can be used in particular in hair and skin cosmetics, and to such peptide-containing compositions. In particular, the present invention relates to the use of such peptides as active ingredient for inhibition or treatment of dandruff which does not accumulate in the body or in the environment. Furthermore, the invention relates to the production of such compositions, to the peptides used themselves, to their production and to coding nucleotide sequences for such peptides, to dispensing systems for such peptides and to screening methods for identifying suitable further peptides.