skin compensation to soap and other chemicals

A physician colleague and I were debating the other day and we are looking for clarification...  Will skin compensate with oil production, either more or less, depending on which products are used on it?  For example, if I wash my face with a drying soap, will my skin compensate by over-producing oil?  If I were to use a moisturizing oil on my skin frequently would the oil production lessen?  Can anyone point me to a physiological reference?  Thanks for you time!

[maatson]

Very interesting question.The sebaceous apparatus is under hormonal control. Recently it is getting clearer that the organisms on the skin might also dictate terms.The microflora in the skin has yeast like malassesia furfur which breakdown the sebaceous secretions and use the saturated fatty acids for nutrition.The unsaturated ones which are the modified sebum act back on the sebaceous glands irritating them (Dandruff)
While there seems to be no positive feedback on the sebaceous glands to induce them  to produce sebum what happens on the surface seems to have negative influence.
May be the soaps that induce mallesesia would join this mechanism!
Ref-
Journal of Investigative Dermatology Symposium Proceedings (2005) 10, 194–197; doi:10.1111/j.1087-0024.2005.10104.x

The Role of Sebaceous Gland Activity and Scalp Microfloral Metabolism in the Etiology of Seborrheic Dermatitis and Dandruff