Tag: conditioners

What About Deep Conditioning?

~ Joseph Kellner ~ Leave a comment

There is one exception, and it turns out that the best product for your hair costs $10 and is something you add to your food, and ethinic women love to use on their scalp and hair. Coconut Oil.  Your basic coconut oil, as it turns out, has just the right size and structure that it can penetrate into the cortex.  And therefore it can protect hair from the inside out. Good stuff everyone!

One of the most damaging things for hair is a simple wash and dry it because the water swells the hair and messes up the cuticle. Coconut oil prevents water from absorbing into the hair and so reduces the swelling damage. You may often get.

Common sense says that blow-drying is worse, for obvious reasons. It’s a lot of heat right next to your hair. I agree that air-drying is preferable to blow-drying, but I also say that air-drying itself can also cause harm. So either way it gets you.

There’s not a lot of data on this, but some think that air-drying damages hair because the hair remains wet for a longer period of time. That means more time for the water to swell inside the hair and mess up the cuticle. The longer the hair is wet, the more damage happens. But since hair needs to dry somehow, it’s still better to go for the one that doesn’t involve thousands of watts of energy right next to the cuticle.

Protein treatments are a mixed bag. They’re partly a marketing story, because you can’t actually repair damaged hair just by pouring on more protein. The protein doesn’t also get integrated into the hair structure itself to make it thicker, I find out when I use them in the salon it will dry out the hair. And if used to often it will break the hair. Damaged hair needs to be cut off!

To be clear, “purple shampoo” and “color-protecting shampoo” are different things. “Purple shampoo” is for bleached-blonde hair and it works because the purple tones even out the blonde color and keep it from turning orange.  But can also give the hair a grey cast to it and really dull it out. I like to use just shampoo and baking soda to keep out the discoloration you get in very light blond hair. It cleans it well.

But “color-protecting” doesn’t do much. The reason the color continues to shift is because the chemical reaction isn’t perfect for every molecule.  There will be some bigger color molecules, some little pieces, some will wash out, some will not — and that’s why your color will change and fade over time. Most color-protecting products don’t actually keep the color chemicals in the hair any longer. They don’t do much other than provide good conditioning. Which is very important with color treated hair.

Things You Should Know About Cleansers For The Hair

~ Joseph Kellner ~ Leave a comment

As a consumer here are some topics choices from me you should know about shampoo’s and conditioners. Very important. Since beauty products are such an everyday part of our lives, it’s easy to forget that they are a form of technology backed by studies. Our first instinct when trying to understand a medical breakthrough might be to read the research, but our first instinct when switching shampoos is to ask a friend with really nice hair what works for her. And the beauty industry spends millions to market products with clever wording that imply big promises. Most beauty research is done by cosmetic chemists — the scientists that formulate and develop products — and a lot of it is published in academic journals like the Journal of Cosmetic Science. These journals are usually pay walled and access to the articles (which are dense and full of jargon) is expensive.

Break Down Of Hair. The outside, or the part that everyone sees, is called the cuticle and made of five to 10 overlapping layers of protein like shingles on a roof. These protect what’s underneath, which is the middle section called the cortex. The cortex holds long bundles of proteins that give hair its strength and keep it from breaking. And at the center is an empty zone called the medulla that helps insulate the hair. Not all hair has the medulla. It’s usually found in coarse, dark hair. When it comes to hair products, the most important part is the cuticle. When the layers of protein lie smoothly against each other, hair looks shiny and smooth. Everyday things like brushing and washing hair makes the cuticle stand up straight. That makes it frizzy and more prone to breaking and split ends.

 Shampoo. When it comes to hair products, the most important part is the cuticle. When the layers of protein lie smoothly against each other, hair looks shiny and smooth. Everyday things like brushing and washing hair makes the cuticle stand up straight. That makes it frizzy and more prone to breaking and split ends. This is a selling point from manufacturers.

The rise of conditioner is probably the biggest trend right now as natural-looking hair becomes more popular. And people are shelling out. We bought 5 percent more conditioner in 2017, according to market-research firm Euromonitor International. And not just any conditioner, mind you, but a lot more “cleansing conditioners” that we use to “co-wash.” Co-washing sounds fancy, but just means skipping shampoo. It began around 2012 as a niche trend among the kind of people who are quick to try new beauty tricks. It’s not niche anymore. Mainstream brands like Herbal Essences, Head and Shoulders, L’Oreal, and Wen have all introduced cleansing conditioners, and it’ll probably keep getting bigger.

Shampoos contain a type of molecule called surfactants. One end is attracted to water, and the other end is repelled by water and attracted to oil. The oil-loving end attaches to the grease and dirt in your hair, while the other end attaches itself to the water from the shower. That way, when the water washes out the shampoo, it also washes out the grease attached to it. Conditioners work by smoothing the outer layer so that the cuticle layers lie flat. Remember those “sulfate-free” claims that we see on shampoo now? Sulfate is a very common type of surfactant, and people who are concerned about too much shampoo think it works too well. Supporters of the (badly named) “no ‘poo” movement say sulfate is too harsh and strips away a lot of the hair’s natural oil, called sebum, which makes us produce even more than we normally would to make up for it constantly being taken away.

The good news is that there’s little evidence that shampoos are all that bad. They remove oil and dirt from cuticles, but they don’t go inside the hair. They can’t completely strip hair like the bleach. If you shampoo often and your scalp gets red or irritated, you should switch to a different kind.