Oily roots and dry ends are a problem that mainly affects women from the age of 30. What are oily roots and dry ends, what are the causes, and how can you adapt your hair routine to this problem? We tell you everything in this article!

Before getting started, it's important to understand that oily roots and dry ends are two very different phenomena. So, let's first look at what forms these two issues take.

What are oily roots and dry ends?

As mentioned above, oily roots and dry ends are two very different phenomena. Oily roots, as you probably already know, look shiny because of excess sebum and lack volume, whereas dry ends suffer from a lack of sebum or an altered hydrolipidic film, which makes the hair brittle and dry.

At first glance, oily roots with dry ends seem rather paradoxical, since you might think that an excess of sebum at the roots can't go hand in hand with a lack of sebum at the ends!

But don't worry, this problem is quite common and comes from a poor distribution of sebum across the whole head of hair: the surplus sebum builds up on the scalp, which smothers your roots; the hair grows less well and becomes more fragile. In some cases, patches or dandruff may even appear.

Oily roots and dry ends therefore don't have the same origin at all. It's important to grasp the difference between the two: the roots are directly linked to the scalp and it's fairly easy to regulate the excess sebum, whereas dry ends are more complicated!

Indeed, the ends are at the tip of your hair shaft and it's rather difficult to change the quality of your ends since, let's not forget, hair is a dead material. So once the hair is damaged, or even nearing the end of its life, we can't fully work on it in depth: it is not repairable.

In the rest of this article, we'll see that several factors explain where the “oily roots, dry ends syndrome” comes from, and also which solutions to adopt to deal with it.

Where do oily roots and dry ends come from?

Oily roots can be caused by several factors. First, an excess of sebum at the roots can be linked to excess perspiration on the scalp. Indeed, heat and perspiration are two things that stimulate the sebaceous glands.

The scalp will also feel under attack when the hair is either washed too often or, even worse, washed too often with sulfate shampoos, which strip the scalp and are, of course, unsuited to it. Healthy hair that retains water well is hair covered by a healthy hydrolipidic film with an acidic pH.

As for dry ends, they result either from hair that lacks water or from hair that lacks nutrients. Hair that lacks water needs water, whereas hair that lacks nutrients needs a supply of nutrients.

To tell whether your hair is dry and short of water, you'll need to determine your hair's porosity. Porosity is your hair's ability to let water pass into its hair fiber. The more porous a hair is, the more damaged it is.

Several questions will help you work out the porosity of your hair:

• Does your hair manage to absorb the oil in your various products?
• Does your hair hold on to water, and does it take a long time to dry in the open air?
• Do you have the unfortunate habit of using chemical products and treatments?
• Does your hair tangle very quickly?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, your hair is very likely porous and therefore dry. But the question now is: where does this porosity come from?

It's notably the repeated use of heated tools such as the flat iron, the hair dryer or the curling iron that damages the hair by drying it out and making it dry. Hair porosity can also come from using chemicals to color or bleach the hair.

Hair that lacks nutrients is most recognizable by its split ends. Here, there's nothing better than cutting off the visible split ends to start a new routine on a good base.

For more information on this topic, we invite you to read our article on the difference between water-based and oil-based care for hair.

To tackle oily roots and dry ends, you'll need to rethink your entire hair routine. Further down in this article, you'll find our tips for adapting your hair routine to this problem.

What routine should you adopt to deal with oily roots and dry ends?

To deal with oily roots and dry ends, you need to set up a whole new hair routine adapted to your hair!

To build this routine step by step, take our hair diagnostic and receive the products suited to your needs.

First of all, to deal with oily roots, we mainly recommend adopting a sulfate-free cleanser with a pH as close as possible to 5: one that won't be harsh on your scalp. We also recommend spacing out your washes to rebalance your scalp: 2 washes a week at most, with, of course, a suitable gentle shampoo! Results can appear after a few washes or a few weeks, it depends on the person!

Next, to deal with dry lengths, we first recommend cutting off the dry ends! Indeed, as mentioned earlier, you can't rescue hair that is too damaged. It's better to cut a little and start again on a good base!

Then, we strongly recommend adopting a hair routine built around water-rich products for dry hair. These could be, for example, products based on aloe vera, a plant rich in water that can help care for your hair. For hair that lacks nutrients, you can do oil baths. Also go for professional-quality hair masks that offer a good balance between oils and water-based ingredients.

Finally, when it comes to cleansers, we recommend using two kinds. A Nourishing Shampoo and a Purifying Shampoo can be very beneficial for hair that suffers both from excess sebum on the scalp and from a lack of sebum on the ends. A gentle, natural cleanser will soothe your scalp and, above all, care for your lengths. So don't hesitate to alternate your two cleansers for an ideal result!