Aren't you scratching your scalp unconsciously while reading this column? Have you ever suffered from sebum and bad smell on your scalp that take place just few hours after shampooing? Have you ever felt your scalp burning or stinging after you started to use a new shampoo? If you have any skin trouble, you can easily find it on a mirror. But any trouble on scalp is likely to be perceived only after symptoms such as stinging or hair loss become severe. This is because in most cases, it is difficult to see your scalp and thus you are likely to miss early symptoms such as redness or thin dandruff.

The eighth episode from Asian Beauty Lab will explore the importance of scalp care and Amorepacific's R&D on Korean traditional medicine hair loss care using Ryo. For this episode, we received lots of assistance from Ms. Kim Suna, a scalp and hair expert from the Scalp & Hair Research TF.

Recently there are growing attention to scalp care especially among young consumers. According to the result of a survey with four scalp care centers in 2015, office workers in their 20s and 30s and college students in their 20s including those who are seeking for a job formed the largest customer group. The concern most frequently received to the consultation corner of the Ryo brand website also changed from hair loss to seborrheic/sensitive scalp in the recent one or two years.

Why do you think these young customers in their 20s and 30s take care of their scalp that much?

Hair is one of the most important elements that express the appearance of a person, and this is why many people take care of their hair to improve their hair style. Unless the hair itself is healthy, however, your hair style won't reach your expectation. To get healthy hair, first you should have a healthy scalp, which is like a land for hair to grow. A study reports that inflammatory factors from an unhealthy scalp affect hair follicles, which are responsible for making hair, resulting in hair loss or making hair grow damaged from the beginning.

Sensitive scalp caused by growing irritants and stress also makes it more necessary to take care of scalp. If the scalp repeatedly makes contact with irritants, such as urban pollution, fine dust and chemical treatments, it becomes more and more sensitive. If you get too much stress, an excessive amount of stress messengers are secreted from the scalp, causing inflammatory reactions and consequently making the scalp very sensitive.
If you have not started scalp care yet, we recommend you to start to think about your scalp health while reading this column.

Before we explore the types, causes and solutions of scalp problems, we need to look into the structure of scalp.

Scalp has a structure similar to that of common skin but it has more and bigger pores because hair grows on it and produces a larger amount of sebum as it has more and larger sebaceous glands. Scalp also produces a large amount of sweat as it has the third most sweat glands following hands and feet. Covered with hair, scalp has bad ventilation unlike other skin areas and thus microorganisms are easy to grow and sebum and sweat are easily acidified. Propagation of dandruff bacillus or lipid oxide may cause bad smell, dandruff and troubles on the scalp.

Have you ever seen your scalp? A healthy scalp looks translucent thanks to the balance between oil and water. On a health scalp, dead skin cells are not piled near pores or don't block them and you will feel clean and comfortable without any itchy or stinging sensation.

Scalp troubles resulting from microorganisms or oil-water imbalance include excessive sebum (greasy hair), dandruff, dry scalp, sensitive scalp and hair loss. Just like facial skin is divided into oily, dry, sensitive and troublesome (acne) skin, scalp is classified in the same way, and hair loss resulting from aging or chronic scalp problem is also a scalp problem.

There are many important elements of scalp care, including balanced diet, sufficient rest and cleanliness but the most important is consistent care using products dedicated to scalp. You can find many kinds of hair products and they can be largely divided into hair and scalp products. How can we tell scalp products from others? First, the products should be applicable to scalp, second, the products have efficacy/effect on scalp, and third the products should be made of ingredients safe to scalp. For example, a shampoo made of natural ingredients that can remove dandruff, adjust the amount of sebum or strengthen hair roots is suitable as a scalp care product.

As shown in the pictures, if your scalp has excessive amounts of dandruff, sebum, dryness, itchiness and hair loss, you had better start scalp care immediately. If you keep your scalp problem uncared for a long time, you will suffer from severer symptoms and your hair will not be able to grow healthy any longer. This is why early care is so important.

Amorepacific's hair loss research dates back to the release of Morim, Korea's first hair loss quasi drug in 1982. Then, we released Dr. Mo, which contains ginseng saponin, in 1996, and applied patent for hair growth promotion technology. From 2000, we started research on the anti-hair loss efficacy of over 380 herbs in collaboration with Seoul National University and published a paper on the anti-hair loss efficacy of biota seed and acquired related international patent in 2003. Research on anti-hair loss using natural herbs was known to the public when Ja Yang Yun Mo line was released in 2009.

For a healthier scalp, you also need to check the impacts of haircare products you use on scalp. As pores and hair on scalp are bigger than those on other skin areas, waste or residues could get stuck in pores and between hair strands. Unless you rinse off shampoo or treatment content carefully, it would remain in pores of the scalp. In this case, you could feel pressed or itchy on the scalp and have scalp troubles due to an increase in the amount of sebum, and thus you should rinse them off with sufficient lukewarm water. Amorepacific has continuously studied methods to minimize build-up on the scalp in order to reduce the possibility of troubles caused by the build-up. In 2006, we succeeded in developing a unique branch-type cation polymer and could dramatically reduce the build-up on the scalp, and from 2015, we have also engaged in development of technologies that prevent the content from staying in pores of scalp.

In addition, to improve the scalp safety of hair care products, we have conducted low-irritating formula technologies and also continuously conducted research on new formulas for healthier scalp. Ryo's Ja Yang Yun Mo Scalp Treatment launched in 2010 features direct application on the scalp unlike the existing hair treatments, delivering not only anti-hair loss ingredients but also new solutions such as moisturizing scalp. With the recent release of various scalp essence products, we are striving to provide doubled benefits for scalp care to our customers.

The R&D center will strive to develop scalp care products with higher specificity that can meet customer expectations by finding more effective ingredients for healthy scalp and studying formula for upgraded efficacies. Thank you for reading this column through. We look forward to your interest and support for our R&D efforts to realize true Asian Beauty in the hair and scalp care market. Thank you.