Can You Get Hooked On Lip Balm?

CAN A CONDITIONER BE TOO EXPENSIVE?

What about the conditioners that are $30 per bottle? They use the same basic types of ingredients as products that cost $10 or less. They may cost three times more, but they certainly don’t strengthen your hair three times more! But, as we always say, you should buy what you like and what you can afford. If you really like the way Frederic Fekkai’s Overnight Hair Repair makes your hair feel, and you can afford the $195 per bottle, then go for it. (Yes, that’s right—it’s nearly $200!) But don’t buy it just because you think that it will make your hair stronger than a less expensive brand. It won’t.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Picking the right conditioner is a personal thing. There are literally thousands of combinations of ingredients out there and it’s tough to know which one is best for you. So talk to your friends who have similar hair types. Or just experiment until you find something that feels good. But don’t be tricked into spending more money than you want to.

ARE SILICONES BAD FOR YOUR HAIR?

Bonnie is confused: There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about silicone-heavy hair products, and whether or not they help make hair soft and silky. I’m concerned about buildup and having my hair dry out. Also, how do more natural alternatives, like coconut and sweet almond oil, compare?

In general, silicones work by covering hair with a thin, hydrophobic (waterproof) coating. This coating serves several purposes: It helps reduce the porosity of the hair, which makes it less likely to absorb humidity; it helps reduce moisture loss from the inside of the hair; and it lubricates the surface of the hair so it feels smoother and can be combed more easily.

PROPERTIES OF SILICONES

The properties vary depending on which silicone is in the formula. Some silicones leave a heavy coating on the hair that can be hard to wash off. Others are very water-soluble and don’t build up at all. Dimethicone (sometimes called simethicone), for example, is the heaviest of all silicones used for hair care. It provides the most smoothing effect, but it is also the hardest to wash out. Cyclomethicone, on the other hand, gives a great slippery feeling while you’re rinsing your hair, but it evaporates quickly, leaving nothing behind.

Some natural oils are effective conditioners. Coconut oil, for example, doesn’t provide the same surface smoothing as silicones, but it has been shown to penetrate hair and plasticize the cortex, making hair stronger. (This isn’t true of all natural oils, however.) So oils are useful ingredients, but they’re not direct replacements for silicones.

THE BOTTOM LINE

It’s tough to tell which silicones are the best simply from reading the label because there are so many types of silicones and they can be used in combination with each other. You can’t simply say that all silicones are bad. Some women will find silicones too heavy for their hair; others will love the soft, conditioned feel they provide. You have to experiment to find what’s right for you.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A SILICONE AND A POLYQUAT?

Jackie just needs to know: What’s the difference between a silicone and a polyquat? Do both coat and stay on the hair? Do they both need to be removed by sulfates? Do they both tend to build up on the hair?

Silicones and polyquats are ingredients found in both shampoos and conditioners. They are put in formulas to offset the drying effects of detergents, improving hair by making it easier to comb, making it feel softer, increasing shine and reducing static flyaway. They really are amazing materials. The primary difference between them is their chemical composition and the way they stay on the hair.

**Caution: Science talk coming up …

SILICONES ARE MADE OF SILICON

Silicones (or “cones”) are molecules that have silicon in them. The silicone, which is typically derived from sand, reacts with oxygen, carbon and hydrogen to make useful materials. Ingredients like dimethicone and cyclomethicone are naturally slippery and shiny, which is why they are excellent for hair.

POLYQUATS ARE MADE OF HYDROCARBONS

Polyquats are molecules that are composed primarily of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen. The quat part refers to the fact that they contain a positively charged nitrogen atom and the poly part refers to the fact that they are polymers. They also have a slippery effect and can smooth hair while reducing static charge.

BOTH STAY ON HAIR, BUT IN DIFFERENT WAYS

Because of the different chemistry of polyquats and silicones, each of these compounds uses a different method to stay on the hair. On hair, the damaged portions are typically negatively charged. The positive charges on the polyquat allow it to stick to these negative sites on the hair. It is a bit like two magnets being attracted to each other.

Silicones are not usually charged, but stay on the hair because of their incompatibility with water. If you put a drop of silicone in water, it will not dissolve, no matter how much you stir it. When a silicone product is put on your hair, it deposits and resists being washed off.

DETERGENTS ARE NEEDED TO REMOVE THEM

Since silicones and polyquats stick to hair, they need more than just water to remove them. In fact, silicones can stick to hair so well that they may require multiple shampooings before they are removed. Similarly, some polyquats may be difficult to remove from hair. While a sulfate shampoo isn’t required to remove them, sulfates are your best bet.

BOTH MAY BUILD UP ON HAIR

Depending on the type of molecule, both silicones and polyquats may build up on your hair. Dimethicone is one of the most difficult silicones to remove and multiple use of products with it can make your hair look dull and weighed down over time. Cyclomethicone, on the other hand, evaporates from hair like water and will not cause the same problems. Polyquats do not build up as much, but still require occasional washing with a polyquat-free shampoo.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Silicones and polyquats are different materials but they both stay on hair and can build up over time. It is a good idea to wash your hair once a week with a shampoo that doesn’t contain either one in order to prevent buildup and keep your hair looking fresh, shiny and manageable.

WHY DOES SILICONE BUILD UP ON HAIR?

When it comes to buildup, the type of silicone (and how much is used) is more important than if it’s used in a leave-on styler or a rinse-off conditioner. There are many types of silicone with scientific names that can be confusing, so let’s look at a few common examples.

NO BUILDUP

One of the most common types of silicone is called “cyclic” because the chain of silicone atoms that composes this kind is linked together in a ring structure. This type of silicone evaporates and won’t build up on your hair at all. It gives a silky-smooth feel and leaves the hair with incredible slip when wet. It’s used in both leave-on stylers and rinse-off conditioners and is commonly called cyclomethicone or cyclopentasiloxane.

VERY LITTLE BUILDUP

Another type of silicone is designed to be water-soluble. This kind provides very light conditioning and is unlikely to build up because it washes away easily with water. It is often used in conditioning shampoos. Look for polyol in the name, as in dimethicone copolyol.

MODERATE TO HEAVY BUILDUP

There is a different kind of silicone that is chemically modified to stick to your hair better. That means it conditions well, but it can also be more challenging to remove. This kind generally has amo, amine or amino somewhere in the name. For example, amodimethicone is commonly used in leave-in conditioners.

POTENTIALLY HEAVY BUILDUP

Finally, perhaps the most powerful type of silicone is referred to as a silicone oil. It comes in many different forms but is typically used at very high molecular weights to make it highly waterproof, so it provides good shine to the hair. Because it’s so water-insoluble, it can be very tough to wash off, depending, of course, on how much you have on your hair. Typically, this is used in rinse-off products. Look for it on the ingredients list as dimethicone.

IS BABY SHAMPOO GOOD FOR ADULT HAIR?

Sylvia asks: Are baby shampoos sufficient to clean adult hair? I know they are sulfate-free and I have been looking for this type of shampoo to minimize the drying effect from shampoos with sulfates.

There is a lot of misinformation out there about sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) and shampoo.

IS SLS BAD?

First of all, don’t believe all the urban legends about SLS causing cancer or being bad for you because it’s used in garage cleaners. We’ve debunked this myth in chapter 10. Most people can use sodium lauryl sulfate or ammonium lauryl sulfate shampoos without any problem whatsoever.

But, some people do find that SLS can dry out their scalp. Those people should consider SLS’s milder cousin SLES (short for sodium lauryl ether sulfate) or they should consider using sulfate-free shampoos.

ARE BABY SHAMPOOS GOOD CLEANSERS?

Baby shampoos are good examples of sulfate-free formulas. Instead of SLS, they contain materials known as amphoteric surfactants, which are less drying to skin and milder to the eye. (Hence the “no more tears” claim of many baby shampoos.)

The downside to these types of formulations is that they don’t clean as well as the stronger detergent systems. While SLS is a very good cleansing agent that can remove sweat, dirt, styling product residue and scalp oils, baby shampoo formulas are not so effective.

WHY NOT BABY YOURSELF?

Is this a problem? It depends. If you’re using a ton of styling products, you might have to shampoo your hair multiple times with baby shampoo to get it as clean as with an SLS-based product. That’s not such a bad trade-off if your scalp is really dried out.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Sulfate-free baby shampoos can clean hair adequately enough for most adults. They are less drying and irritating but will not foam as well, so you might not think they are working. If you’re curious, we recommend trying baby shampoo for a week or two to see if you like the effect. If not, you can always switch back.

CAN YOU REALLY REBUILD YOUR HAIR?

Amanda asks: What is the deal with “restructuring” treatments for hair? I get that the vague concept is to “restore proteins” to your hair or some gobbledygook, but isn’t hair essentially dead? Can a restructuring treatment really force-feed amino acids or whatever into our manes?

The Beauty Brains love Amanda’s skepticism, because the idea of being able to slather on a hair restructuring treatment to actually re-form hair is ridiculous. True, hair is made of amino acids and putting them on hair may provide some minor benefit. But it won’t restructure, restore or rebuild the hair. This would be a bit like trying to repair a weather-worn Kate Spade bag by pouring a basket of thread and fabric on it. Sure, the stylish sack is made of thread and fabric, but you can’t just randomly put them on the worn bag and expect to get a new purse.

RESTRUCTURE HAIR?

It’s the same with hair and amino acids. To restructure the hair, the amino acids would have to be chemically arranged in a specific way. This arrangement can only be done in the hair follicle when the hair is growing. After that, nothing can be done except coat the hair with a good conditioner that mitigates some of the signs of damage. So what are these restructuring treatments? In essence, they are just glorified rinse-out conditioners.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients in a “restructuring” conditioner: purified water, glyceryl stearate, PEG-100 stearate, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, cetyl alcohol, propylene glycol, stearyl alcohol, dimethicone, triamino copper nutritional complex, hydroxyethylcellulose, panthenol, aloe vera gel, soydimonium hydroxypropyl hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydrolyzed keratin, citric acid, methylparaben, fragrance, disodium EDTA, propylparaben, peppermint oil, tocopheryl acetate, cholecalciferol, retinyl palmitate, vegetable oil, FD&C Blue 1, D&C Red 33.

The rules of cosmetic labeling require that ingredients be listed in order of concentration above 1 percent. In general, the more of an ingredient in the formula, the greater the impact it has on the product. The ingredients near the end of the list are just put in there to make a nice marketing story or are color, fragrance or preservatives.

In this formula, some of the main working ingredients are stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol and dimethicone.

But then take a look at the ingredients list in a regular rinse-out conditioner: water, stearyl alcohol, cyclopentasiloxane, cetyl alcohol, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, glutamic acid, dimethicone, benzyl alcohol, fragrance, panthenyl ethyl ether, EDTA, panthenol, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone.

Notice any similarities? The main working ingredients here are stearyl alcohol, cyclopentasiloxane, cetyl alcohol, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine and dimethicone.

THE BOTTOM LINE

A restructuring conditioner will not rebuild your hair any better than a standard rinse-out formula. And it certainly won’t rebuild your hair better than thread and fabric would rebuild a worn-out Kate Spade bag.

DO YOU REALLY NEED TO PUT PROTEIN ON YOUR HAIR?

Debbie says: I’ve been told that hair needs protein and moisturization to stay healthy. So for protein I use Mane ‘n Tail and for moisturizing I use hair cholesterol products (like Le Kair, Queen Helene) and coconut oil. Is this good for my hair or could I be causing any kind of long-term damage?

These conditioners won’t damage hair. You might find that your hair is weighed down if you’re using them all at once, but other than that they won’t do anything bad to your hair. So if you like the way these conditioners make your hair feel, then keep using them any way you like. The real question here is does hair need both protein and moisturizer? The answer is yes and no.

YES, HAIR NEEDS MOISTURE

That just means you need to keep your hair from drying out, which is the whole idea behind conditioners. You can moisturize by adding water (which doesn’t really stay in your hair very long) or you can moisturize by fighting the effects of dryness. That’s what any good conditioner does. Conditioners, like Le Kair and Queen Helene, work by smoothing the outer layers of your hair, the part called the cuticle. If you don’t keep the cuticles “glued down,” they tend to come loose and fall off. Whenever you’re doing anything to your hair (including washing, drying, styling or coloring), you are causing some degree of damage to those cuticles. What a good conditioner does is smooth the cuticles, forming a protective layer over them so they don’t become as damaged.

NO, HAIR DOESN’T NEED PROTEIN

Although hair is made of protein, it’s dead. So putting protein on top of the protein in your hair doesn’t make it “healthy.” But the right kind of proteins used at the right levels can act as conditioning agents that form a protective film on the hair. So it’s not that your hair needs protein, it’s that it needs something to form that protective layer.

Proteins will do it to some extent, but there are other ingredients, like fatty quaternium compounds or silicones, that will work even better. So protein conditioners like Mane ‘n Tail are good for your hair, but not necessarily because they contain protein.

THE BOTTOM LINE

There are many, many great hair conditioners on the market that will moisturize your hair. Mane ‘n Tail, Le Kair and Queen Helene won’t do anything bad to your hair. The important thing is to find the products that feel right for your hair and that you can afford. But don’t worry too much about special ingredients like proteins. And by the way, coconut oil has an added benefit. It penetrates through the cuticle to strengthen the inside part of the hair called the cortex. See page 7 for more about this.

HOW MUCH HAIR LOSS IS NORMAL?

Janelle asks: Every time I shampoo, I tend to lose around 40 strands and the same again when combing. Is this normal? And does the shampoo I use have anything to do with how much hair I lose?

One of the things we forget is that we are animals and, just like all other animals, we shed. So you shouldn’t be surprised that you lose some hair every day. But is 40 to 100 strands normal?

On the average person’s head (assuming there aren’t any bald spots), there is an average of 100,000 hairs. Feel free to count them if you like … we’ll wait. This is somewhat related to your natural hair color: Brunettes average about 120,000 hairs while redheads have only 90,000. The number of hairs is strictly controlled by your genetic makeup, which means there is nothing you can do to increase the number of hairs on your head.

At any given moment, each hair follicle on your head is in one of three growth phases. The anagen phase is when the hair is growing and actually getting longer. This can last anywhere from two to seven years. The catagen phase is a transitional phase, when growth slows and eventually stops. The telogen phase is the final phase, in which growth has completely stopped and the hair is vulnerable to falling out. The hairs that you naturally shed are all in the telogen phase.

Studies have shown that you should expect to shed approximately 0.1 percent of your hair each day. That means you lose 100 hairs every day. This is almost exactly the amount you are asking about. And remember: This is a biological rate; it has nothing to do with the shampoo you use.

The only effect hair products will have on the amount of hair you lose is that they may make you notice more lost hairs. Washing and styling involve lots of movement, so hairs will be more likely to fall out if they are ready. However, this will be true of any hair care brand.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Hair falls out naturally and the brand of shampoo you use will not have any added effect.

WHY DO GRAY HAIRS LOOK AND FEEL DIFFERENT?

Tiffany wants to know: Why do my gray hairs seem more kinky and unruly compared to the rest of my hair?

Gray hair looks gray because it has lost its melanin, which gives hair its color. Melanin is naturally produced in the hair follicle and “injected” into the hair fibers as the protein is formed and pushed out of the head. It’s the same kind of melanin that gives your skin its color. Two basic types of melanin (eumelanin and pheomelanin) are responsible for every hair color from brown and black to blond and red.

No one knows why hair follicles stop producing melanin. Genetics mostly. There comes a point where the melanocytes (the melanin-producing cells) just stop producing. Thus you get gray hair.

WILL HAIR DYE GIVE YOU CANCER?

Every so often you hear about how chemicals in your cosmetics are responsible for cancer, birth defects or even autism. Unfortunately, the sources for these conclusions are rarely cited and, when they are, they are typically a biased political committee or marketing group.

An article titled “Can dyeing your hair really give you cancer?” recently caught our eye. The article discussed a major conference that was being held in Belfast in which the long-term link between bladder cancer and people with dyed hair was being discussed. It stated:

Evidence exists to indicate regular and long-term use of hair dyes can be associated with the development of the cancer, which kills more than 4,000 in the UK each year.

Now, if this article was all you read on the subject, you might conclude that hair dye causes bladder cancer. You might also get the impression that experts are in agreement. After all, they did get their information from Questor, a European environmental research center.

Being the skeptical Beauty Brains that we are, we went to see what the medical journals had to say on the subject. A search of “hair dye” resulted in 649 hits. The most current research is useful for answering questions like these; review articles are best. Review articles are designed to summarize all the work that has been published before.

An article about hair dye and cancer published in late 2006 in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health concludes:

Results for bladder cancer studies suggest that subsets of the population may be genetically susceptible to hair dye exposures, but these findings are based on small subgroups in one well-designed case-control study. Replication of these findings is needed to determine whether the reported associations are real or spurious.

This is a bit different than the definitive bladder cancer/hair dye link suggested in the newspaper article. Essentially, the researchers say certain genetically predisposed people may have issues, but even this isn’t a certainty. A more thorough study is needed. But the important implication is that for most people, this isn’t a problem. Hair dye will not cause cancer.

What you read, see or hear in the mainstream media rarely tells the whole story. When it comes to issues about health and safety you would not be wrong to immediately reject their conclusions. If you want to know the real story, do a little research for yourself using the least biased sources you can find. Research in this case would find that the majority of studies show no established link between hair dye and cancer. So feel free to color with abandon.

For a more thorough summary of the cancer/hair color research, read this article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/293/20/2516.