Under the hair

A year ago, on Saturday morning, I observed the following scene: the best correspondent of the best popular science program sat huddled in a chair, in a state of deep hangover, was silent, gloomy, and did not respond to external stimuli. But, suddenly picking out from the background noise a reproachful remark that different types of alcoholic drinks should not be mixed, he stuck his nose out from under the hood and, putting maximum sarcasm into his voice, said: “What scientific research has confirmed this?”

I was reminded of this cautionary tale last week when another correspondent for the same popular science program suddenly stopped washing his hair. About a week later, closer to submitting the script, it turned out that he was going to recommend the same thing to all viewers, because the trichologist said in an interview that giving up shampoo prevents baldness. It turns out that the constant removal of sebum leads to hypertrophy of the sebaceous glands, and they literally squeeze the blood vessels and prevent blood supply to the scalp.

The picture is so impressive that, of course, you need to draw a cartoon, and I delved into the search for scientific articles. Histological sections of sebaceous glands larger than a hair follicle should have been a source of inspiration for me. Besides, of course, I needed a primary source, because I had no idea what molecular mechanisms might allow the sebaceous gland to understand that its secretion had been washed away from the hair.

Two hours later I was completely bewildered. The meme about the dangers of frequent washing was found exclusively on women’s websites about cosmetics; not a single library of scientific articles offered anything other than the endocrine regulation of the sebaceous glands. The correspondent said that you need to trust professionals, especially from decent universities. The only thing I could do was to really trust a professional; more precisely, call him and ask him to help me find the article, since this is such rare information.

A professional - a trichologist from a decent university - was very kind to me. He said that histological studies had never been carried out. Science knows nothing about the mechanisms of signal perception by the sebaceous glands. Genetic variability of the sebaceous glands has never been studied; identical twins were also not asked to wash their hair with different frequencies. But the sebaceous gland absolutely enlarges, because God intended that it enlarge if it produces a lot of secretion. And there was some research about the fact that it produces more secretions when you wash your hair frequently. No, the research methodology is unknown to my interlocutor. Authors too. He read about this in some newspaper, he doesn’t remember the name, in which some doctor talked about it. But the main thing that is absolutely known is that washing your hair is harmful. Tell us about it in your show. Don't forget to let me know when the story with my participation comes out.

We said goodbye nicely, and I went to tell the correspondent that the plot needed some other ending. But I’m still surprised myself. My first instinct was to write to the rector of a decent university and tell him that he had warmed up a terrible person under the wing. But I thought that, of course, they wouldn’t believe me. And then I thought that a terrible person might actually be a good doctor. He just knows that journalists love all sorts of amazing facts.

And in general, they don’t always ask what scientific studies have confirmed this.

Anastasia Kazantseva