Most of us treat our hair and scalp as a single entity. But the scalp is very different from the hair.

The scalp is skin that needs to be treated the way we treat our facial skin – by cleansing it gentle and keeping it moisturized.

The hair is a skin appendage made up mainly of a protein called keratin that has a fiberlike consistency. Each hair follicle that produces the hair on our heads is also home to sebaceous (oil) glands, which release sebum, an oily substance that lubricates the hair.

One reason experts say curly hair is so much drier than other types of hair is because there are only about 100.000 hairs on head of curly hair, as opposed about 120.000 hairs on a head of straight hair. And because there is less curly hair, there are fewer follicles, and therefore fewer sebaceous glands to produce oil.

If you have tightly curled hair, the sebum sometimes has trouble getting to the end, which tend to be especially dry, so you have to compensate with extra moisturizers.

It’s possible to have dry hair and an oily scalp. Having combiantion skin. Oily in the T-zone (the chin, nose, and the forehead) but dry everywhere else, is one clue that you might have an oily scalp. The sebum and sweat that your scalp produces are sterile and clean but the attract dirt and bacteria, which must be rinse off regularly to keep the scalp healthy. But it’s not necessary to remove all the oils from your scalp : in fact, it’s not good for you.