Objective assessment of seborrhea of the scalp has seldom been reported in the literature. We have used a variant of the method described by Saint-Léger and Lévêque to measure the sebum excretion rate in normal scalp, male pattern alopecia, pityriasis amiantacea, pityriasis capitis and alopecia areata. The sebum excretion rate was significantly increased in male pattern alopecia, significantly decreased in pityriasis amiantacea and showed a trend towards reduction in alopecia areata. Pityriasis capitis was not associated with changes in the excretion of sebum.