Microbiome and Hair Care Products: Opportunities and Challenges

Hair care is an important part of an individual’s personal grooming regime. Hair grooming products have experienced a boom in the past few years, featuring a wide range of natural and chemical options. These products can be a major influence on the natural microbial inhabitants, they can cause imbalance in the scalp microbiome and in turn affect the scalp health. This chapter provides an overview of the role of natural microflora in maintaining a healthy human scalp, importance of their composition, and the consequences of dysbiosis. It also highlights the lack of extensive research in this field making it a potential area for further investigation. This chapter can serve as a preliminary source of information for pharmaceutical companies and cosmetic industries interested in developing hair care products taking natural microflora and its importance into consideration.