The winter air is chilly and dry and there is indoor heating. These are the two main factors which lead to the drying of the skin, including the scalp.
Answers
This drying is not limited to the skin, it is also a common problem with the scalp.
In cities, the air, surface and soil temperatures are almost always warmer than in rural areas. This effect is known as the Urban Heat Island – a term which first came into use in the mid-20th century. Until the 1980s, this effect was considered to have relatively little practical significance. In fact, given that most studies were done in cities with cold winter climates, a warmer temperature was seen as a potential benefit, because it reduced the need for heating. But since then, we’ve found a number of reasons to be concerned.
For one thing, it became clear that the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect of cities was influencing air temperature records, which are used to assess climate change. In other words, it became important to remove urban “contamination” from weather station records to ensure their accuracy.
What’s more, as populations in warm and hot cities have increased, so too has the demand for indoor cooling – typically met by air conditioning. This even applies in colder climates, where changing building uses has increased the demand for cooling; for example, in office buildings, to offset the heat generated by computers.