Associated structures

Found near the neck of the root sheath, sebaceous glands always accompany hairs. They empty their secretions via a short duct into the follicular canal. Arrector pill muscles are small bundles of smooth muscle fibers that originate in the papillary dermis and extend obliquely toward the hair follicle to insert into the follicle's connective tissue sheath below the sebaceous glands. When they contract, these muscles cause the hairs to stand upright, giving the appearance of gooseflesh. Their contraction also compresses the sebaceous glands, pushing their secretions into the neck of the follicular canal and out onto the surface of the skin.

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