Printed from smellbook.com/smells/hair. This printout keeps the entry for Hair itself: its description, reference card, Connections, questions, evidence, related smells, record details, states, names and citation. It leaves out your own notes, the map, the lists of paths, routes, stories and fragrance directions, and the lists headed “Also linked to” (other entries that share its place or material) and “Linked from”; they are on the page online. The entries this one links to are still printed under Connections and Related smells.
Categories and types group entries for browsing; they are editorial, not evidence. How smells are grouped.
A subtle personal smell shaped by hair, scalp, shampoo, environment and absorbed surrounding odors.
Setting: personal. An editorial word for the kind of place or occasion the smell belongs to, not a smell word.
Hair smells soft, warm and clean, a subtle personal smell that often carries traces of shampoo, sunlight and the air around it. EDITORIAL
Named in the VERIFIED claims about this smell: not a list of what it is made of, and not its cause.
This entry links to
Other entries that link to this one
Links SmellBook records for this entry: molecules and related smells. EDITORIAL links are chosen by SmellBook editors and VERIFIED links come from VERIFIED claims. Nothing here is a ranking, and a molecule is not presented as the cause of the smell.
QUESTIONS ABOUT HAIR
Hair smells soft, warm and clean, a subtle personal smell that often carries traces of shampoo, sunlight and the air around it. Freshly washed hair smells lighter and more cosmetic; by the end of the day it turns warmer and more personal. It also holds smells from kitchens, smoke or the outdoors. The scent is noticed mainly up close.
It is met after shampoo, in close proximity during a hug, and on pillows and hats. Hair that has spent an evening near a fire or a busy kitchen holds those smells for some time.
Typical settings: clean hair, after shampoo, close proximity.
One VERIFIED scientific claim from one published source is recorded for this entry: Main volatiles collected from the human scalp. This claim says only what its source supports, in the scope shown with it.
The scientific study behind this evidence is chemistry or emission work, not a study of how the smell is perceived.
4 molecules are named in this claim; see the evidence for the role the claim gives them. Each molecule this claim names has only the role the claim states.
Hair smell is highly variable and this profile does not make health or hygiene judgments.
Words that are easy to mix up: Is fresh the same as clean? and Is every warm smell spicy?
No historical source or heritage record is linked to this entry yet.
Answers marked EDITORIAL are written by SmellBook editors to describe the experience and add no scientific fact. Answers marked VERIFIED point to claims on published sources, checked against each source's own summary where one was available (each claim's page says how); what each claim supports is in its own text and scope.
Scientific evidence · 1 claim
Main volatiles collected from the human scalp
Volatiles collected from the human scalp, which the authors call human scalp odour, included 24 identified compounds, the main ones being nonanal, sulcatone, geranylacetone and palmitic acid.
Volatiles from the human scalp, which the Hair entry includes, collected in a study of what attracts head lice; the abstract does not say whether they were taken from the hair or the skin, or how many people were sampled; composition only, with no assessment of how it smells.
How this was found: Chemical composition. Compounds were identified or measured, without any assessment of their odour. Source: primary study; chemistry work. Studied: volatiles collected from the human scalp, by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry.
F. G. Galassi et al.
DOI 10.1093/jme/tjx243Each molecule is named by the claim shown after it. Each molecule named here has only the role the claim states. About molecules in SmellBook
Links chosen by SmellBook editors, not a ranking.
Associations can vary strongly by person, place and culture.
PATHS FROM HERE
Each step is a relationship SmellBook editors recorded in the knowledge graph, named as it is published there. Paths are not ranked or personalised, and they do not mean the smells smell alike.
Each step is a molecule that a VERIFIED claim names for both smells, in whatever role the claims state. Sharing a molecule does not mean two smells smell alike.
MY SMELLBOOK · LOCAL ONLY
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Personal tags stay in this browser and do not change the entry's own smell words.
MAP THIS SMELL
Follow the related smells our editors recorded, or use Smell Between to compare this smell with any other, field by field.
WHERE THIS SMELL APPEARS
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FOR RESEARCHERS AND EDITORS
Identity, revision history, corrections and how to cite Hair.
CULTURAL: This entry's associations depend on context, language, memory or culture; its description and smell words are editorial. It says nothing about research or historical evidence; evidence for this entry is shown separately: VERIFIED.
How this entry is identified and named, for citing it or matching it with other records.
SmellBook SB-0087 — Hairsmellbook:smell:hairhttps://smellbook.com/smells/hairSmellBook. (2026). Hair (revision 4, 2026-10-14). SmellBook Public Atlas. smellbook:smell:hair. https://smellbook.com/smells/hair@misc{smellbook_hair_r4,
author = {{SmellBook}},
title = {Hair},
year = {2026},
note = {SmellBook Public Atlas, revision 4, 2026-10-14, smellbook:smell:hair},
url = {https://smellbook.com/smells/hair}
}TY - ENCYC ID - smellbook-hair-r4 TI - Hair AU - SmellBook T2 - SmellBook Public Atlas PY - 2026 DA - 2026/10/14 ET - revision 4 UR - https://smellbook.com/smells/hair N1 - SB-0087; smellbook:smell:hair; resolver https://smellbook.com/id/smell/hair ER -
The citation names revision 4 of 2026-10-14, so a reader can tell exactly which version was cited. Citing records what was read; it does not grant a licence.
Hair smell is highly variable and this profile does not make health or hygiene judgments.
Other entries whose editors linked to Hair:
Added VERIFIED evidence through source intake.
Created 2026-09-22 · Updated 2026-10-14Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since the first of three dataset releases of 2026-09-30; changed in the first of two dataset releases of 2026-10-05 (descriptors).
No correction notices published for this entry. Corrections policyEVIDENCE MATTERS
SmellBook separates cultural association, community perception, verified evidence, prediction and experimental relationships rather than presenting them as the same thing. Read the evidence guide ↗ See the evidence coverage report ↗