What Is A Scalp Exfoliant

After decades of haircare that’s only obsessed with the lengths of your hair, your scalp is finally getting the attention it so rightfully deserves.

Behold: Scalp exfoliants. 

A very specific kind of pre-wash treatment that looks after the roots of your hair. Designed to balance your scalp, clarify grease, and regulate oil production, a scalp exfoliant can mean less time between washes and stronger, healthier strands long term. 

Here’s everything you need to know about this new category of haircare.

What Is A Scalp Exfoliant

Inspired by skincare, a scalp exfoliant gently whisks away dead skin cells, excess oil, and impurities that can accumulate around the hair follicles. The result is a cleaner environment for healthier hair growth. 

Just like the exfoliator you use on your face, scalp exfoliants come in both physical and chemical forms. Physical exfoliants include scrubs and brushes designed to physically slough away dead skin, grease, and grime that might be lurking at your roots. A chemical scalp exfoliant does the same thing through a clever combination of ingredients. 

Why Is Scalp Exfoliation Important

The logic behind scalp exfoliation hinges on the idea that a healthier scalp leads to healthier hair overall. 

It does this in a few ways. Scalp exfoliants:

1. Remove dead skin cells, excess oil and product build-up
   Over time, your scalp naturally accumulates dead skin cells, sebum, sweat, and product buildup. Left unchecked, this build-up can leave your scalp feeling congested and your hair looking dull, flat, and greasy. Regular exfoliation helps lift away these impurities, leaving your scalp feeling fresh, clean, and revitalised.

2. Helps maintain a healthy, balanced scalp ecosystem
   Yep! Just a few centimetres north of your eyebrows, you have a whole ecosystem sitting up there. Exfoliation helps restore balance by removing impurities. And since your scalp is technically skin, it also has a barrier and by removing build up and flakes, a scalp exfoliator can keep this balanced and healthy.

3. Supports healthier-looking hair by keeping hair follicles clear
   Hair follicles are tiny openings in the scalp, from which each individual strand of hair grows. When excess oil, dead skin cells, and product build-up collect around these openings, they can trap sweat, bacteria, and other impurities against the scalp. This leads to irritation, inflammation, and an imbalanced scalp environment, which affects the quality of the hair as it grows.

How Do Scalp Exfoliants Differ From Face Exfoliants?

Your scalp exfoliant and face exfoliant actually share a lot of the same ingredients. That’s because: Scalp is skin. 

On the ingredient lineup of most scalp exfoliants you’ll spy some familiar names from skincare like mandelic acid, salicylic acid, willow bark extract, and lactic acid. But that doesn’t mean face and scalp exfoliants can (or should!) be used interchangeably. 

The Go-To’s scalp treatment’s formula is specifically designed for the unique condition of your scalp. While the skin of your face and the skin of your scalp have a lot of similarities, they also have a lot of key differences. Which means, different formulations can be key. 

So, What Makes Rapid Scalp Exfoliant Different?

• It's designed for the scalp's unique environment.
  Unlike your face, the scalp has a much higher density of hair follicles and oil glands than the skin on your face. That means it requires a more heavy duty formula to get the job done.

• It hydrates while it exfoliates.
  Unlike your face, you’re unlikely to follow on with a hydrating product directly to your scalp after your exfoliate. That’s why Rapid Scalp Exfoliant features Ingredients like glycerin, saccharide isomerate and propanediol help replenish moisture, reducing the risk of the scalp feeling dry or tight after exfoliating. 

• It supports the hair as well as the skin.
  We went ahead and added hydrolysed quinoa into our Rapid Scalp Exfoliant which is specifically designed to help condition and strengthen the hair fibre. Meaning: any product that gets on your strands as you massage the product in actually cares for your hair health as well. 

• It's formulated for hair.
  The texture and ingredient balance are designed to spread effortlessly across the scalp, courtesy of its nifty nozzle. It also rinses clean without leaving residue that might weigh your hair down

• It’s colour-safe.
  Naturally, your facial exfoliators haven’t been tested to see if they play nice with chemical hair colouring products. Facial toners run the risk of stripping, fading, or messing with hair dyes and toners. Rapid Scalp Exolfiant doesn’t. It’s been clinically proven to reduce colour fade by X percent.