Everybody knows what oily scalp is, right? It's a scalp that produces lots of oil. Hair gets greasy quickly. This short series will cover what oily scalp is, why it happens, and how to manage it. Stick around for parts 2 and 3, there will be some familiar ideas and some unconventional ones.
There are a few things that contribute to the perception of an oily scalp and oily hair.
Let's cover what "oily" means, when it can be a cosmetic or a skin-health problem, and some ways to manage cosmetically and for skin-health. This not-so-hair-focused part is going to explain a lot about the cosmetic and health aspects of this issue.
Part 1
"Oily" is actually a chemical analysis you do with your eyes and hands. If you look at your nose and it's shiny - that's actually a chemical assessment!
Oily skin feels slick-greasy, it looks shiny. On your scalp, your hair gets that greasy-wet-clingy look and sticks together at the roots. But did you know that happens because there are enough liquid-at-skin-temperature oils in the mix so you feel the slickness? So that it's a fluid - it flows. The more fluid (and slippery) an oil is, the more greasy it seems in hair and skin.
Sebum (skin oil) - the extremely variable "recipe." Our sebum is made of many different components. Some are liquid at room temperature or skin-temperature. Some are solid at those temperatures. And for different people, people of different ages, under different weather conditions or climates, depending on your genetics and skin condition, the proportions of those components can change.
This little pie chart shows a "typical" breakdown of the components of sebum. What I really want you to notice is that there is a lot of some components, and just a little of others. Most of the lipid (oil-components) shown are liquid/fluid on your skin. But the ceramides and cholesterol and some of the wax esters are not. (The gray and the reds).
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