If you find yourself occasionally smelling your hair, taking big sniffs…there is nothing wrong with you.
This is actually no different than occasionally looking in the mirror and admiring the appearance of your hair.
And how often have you looked at your manicured nails with admiration? Or your painted lips or perfectly shaped eyebrows?
The sense of smell can be very powerful, just as the sense of sight and sound can be.
If something smells good, we will sniff it, whether it is a cinnamon stick, pages of a new magazine, the interior of a new car, a fresh bouquet of flowers, the body lotion from a tube that you rub into your skin after a shower, the shampoo you wash your hair with — and of course — your hair.
Sometimes, a woman can’t help but be aware of her hair’s natural scent, especially when she is lying in bed and her hair is positioned closer to her nose due to the way it lies on the pillow.
Let’s face it, hair often just smells really good. This is why a man will often sniff his wife’s or girlfriend’s hair.
And it goes both ways: A man’s hair can have a naturally glorious scent.
What gives hair its natural smell?
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It’s not shampoos or other agents that you put into it, though these external agents will mix in with your hair’s natural scent.
But as days go on following your last shampoo, the scent of these agents disintegrates, and what your nose is detecting is the scent of the natural oils in your hair.
These oils come from the sebaceous glands in your scalp, says Dr. Robert Dorin, DO, NYC-based hair care expert and restoration specialist.
Sebaceous glands are connected to hair follicles.
“Natural surface bacteria and perspiration” also contribute to the scent of your hair, adds Dr. Dorin.
The oil from sebaceous glands is called sebum.
Sebum
This oily substance lubricates and protects the skin and hair.
By coating the skin’s surface, sebum helps maintain moisture, prevent dehydration and create a barrier against external pollutants and microorganisms.
In the scalp, sebum keeps the hair and scalp hydrated, reducing dryness and brittleness.
The oil of sebum makes its way onto hair shafts, coating them, and also onto your scalp, creating the sweet smell of your hair that you love — or that the man in your life really likes.
The sebum-coating on your hair shafts gets further distributed every time you comb or brush your hair.
So go ahead, don’t be shy about taking a good whiff! The scent of your hair is as unique as your fingerprints.
Dr. Dorin of True & Dorin provides creative hair loss solutions, including advanced hair transplant techniques and the latest in regrowth technology, to ensure that his clients achieve their desired results.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cyber security topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She is also a former ACE certified personal trainer.
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