Oily scalp or dry lengths: how do you tell?

Ask someone what their hair type is and you will get one word. « Oily », « dry », sometimes « normal ». It is convenient, but it rarely describes what is actually happening on a head — and choosing a product from a single word means getting it wrong half the time.

The scalp produces, the lengths receive

These are two territories, with two logics.

The scalp is skin. It is alive, supplied with blood, and it produces sebum. Depending on the person, the season, hormones or how often you wash, it produces more or less. It is what decides whether your roots feel heavy by the end of the day.

The lengths produce nothing. A hair emerging from the scalp is a keratin structure with no living cell: it no longer makes anything, it receives. What it receives travels down the fibre — and the longer the hair, the less that sebum reaches the ends. Add colouring, heat, brushing and hard water.

Hence a very common situation, with nothing contradictory about it: roots that turn greasy quickly and ends that lack suppleness, on the same head, on the same day.

Three questions are enough to decide

1. How long do you go between 2 shampoos?

Count in days, not impressions. If you wash again after 24 to 48 hours because your roots feel heavy, your scalp produces a lot. If you go 3 or 4 days comfortably, it produces little.

This is the most reliable indicator: it is measurable, and it does not depend on your mood in the morning.

2. How do your lengths behave when you detangle?

Run your fingers, then a comb, through dry hair. Does it glide, or does it catch? Do the ends feel rough under your fingers, dull in the light?

A fibre that catches and lacks shine is short on lipids. A supple fibre that reflects light is not.

3. Where do you feel the need?

If you were to apply something tonight, where would you want to put it? On the scalp, to find freshness again? Or on the last 20 centimetres, to find comfort again?

The spontaneous answer is almost always the right one.

The combination profile is the rule, not the exception

If your answers contradict each other — roots greasy within 48 hours and ends that catch — you have not answered badly. You are in the most common case, especially past shoulder length, on coloured hair, or when a hairdryer is part of the routine.

The question is then no longer « what is my hair type? » but « what bothers me most day to day? ». That is what decides.

Two oils, two constructions

comai. offers two hair oils certified COSMOS ORGANIC by Ecocert. Their difference is not cosmetic: they are not built the same way.

The Dry Hair Oil is a plant oil. Jojoba, sweet almond, castor and avocado make up 95.4 % of the formula, in almost equal parts. Rich texture, for the lengths as well as the scalp.

The Oily Hair Oil is not strictly an oil: it is an aqueous emulsion, built on 63.4 % organic Damask rose hydrosol. Light texture, applied to the scalp.

In other words: the first brings lipids where they are missing, the second brings freshness without adding lipids. Choosing wrong is not dangerous — it simply means missing the point.

The full figures, ingredient by ingredient, are published on the Our formulas page.

The routine, in both cases

• 2 to 3 times a week, no more: too often weighs the hair down.
• Massage for 2 to 3 min, leave on for 30 min or overnight.
• Rinse out: both are rinse-off products, followed by your usual shampoo.
• A 100 mL bottle covers roughly 2 months at this pace.

What we will not tell you

We will not tell you how long it will take before you see something, nor what you will see. Hair follows a cycle counted in months, and a rinse-off oil is a comfort step, not a treatment.

What we can say is verifiable line by line: what is in the bottle, in what proportion, where it comes from, who certified it.

If in doubt, the online diagnosis asks these questions for you and points you in the right direction in 2 minutes.

comai. oils contain essential oils: they are not recommended for pregnant or breastfeeding women, or for children under 12. External use only. A patch test on the inner elbow is recommended before first use.