Choosing and Using the Right Products

The right shampoo and conditioner can work wonders on your
hair, helping it stay not only shiny and attractive but also healthy.
With shelves and shelves of products available in stores, how do
you know which ones to choose? Should you go for the one with
the most four-syllable ingredients on the label, or maybe the one
with the label that coordinates with your bathroom colors? Or are
they all the same, and the cheapest will do?
In this section, we help you pick out products that will benefit your
hair, as well as describe the improvements that science has
brought to the world of hair care products and how they affect you
and your locks.
Looking at today’s hair
care products
Things have definitely changed for the better in the industrialized
world. Today, it’s not unusual to wash your hair frequently, some-
times more than once a day. Although this is a good move from
both a visual and an odor perspective, it means that modern
shampoos must be designed to prevent damage incurred by
frequent use.
Shampooing your hair removes environmental particles that may
build up during your daily activities. People who work in dirty
environments (such as shoveling coal in a coal mine) or even just
outside all day will clearly build up more particulate matter than
those people who work indoors. Cleaning your hair removes any
particulate matter as well as the sebum that builds up throughout
the day.
Attracting positive products to your hair
You probably never knew this, but hair has a small negative electric
charge. Thinking back to high school chemistry, you may remember
that opposite charges attract. That means that you can use chemi-
cals and products that have a positive charge to them in an effort to
treat mild damage to your hair. These products are attracted to the
negatively charged hair and coat the hair cuticle, restoring the
shine to dull, dry hair and making it more manageable.
One product that can help your hair through electricity is condi-
tioner, which carries a weak positive charge. The positive mole-
cules in the conditioner, which contains silicone, stick to the
negatively charged hair shafts, and the conditioner molecules pen-
etrate the scales of the cuticle, allowing moisture to reach the
matrix of the hair shaft. This moisture increases the hair’s shine
and luster and the depth of the hair color.
Add this to the conditioning properties that help detangle the hair
when combing it, and you get conditioners that make hair softer
and easier to manage — wet or dry.
Getting the tangles out
Most modern shampoos also contain some conditioning agents
mixed in with the cleansers for easy combing of wet hair. You also
have the option of using a separate conditioner for even better
detangling.
If you’re having difficulty detangling your hair, applying more and
more conditioner won’t help. Rather, dry your hair and then use a
detangling agent.
Dreadlocks or long kinky hair can be a detangling nightmare. It
may help to separate your hair into sections and go through each
section using a long knitting needle. Detangle it from the scalp out-
ward if possible; you may run into a knot that you need to detangle
against the direction of the scales on the cuticle.
Damage to the hair structure during the detangling process is a
real risk, so this process should never be rushed. In other words,
attempting to yank your comb through a tangle is a hair care no-no.
Adding chemicals
Shampoos and conditioners are more than cleaning agents:
They’re also an alphabet soup of chemicals. Various chemicals are
added to
 Control the viscosity (thickness of the solution).
 Control the pH (the degree of acidity present).
 Act as preservation agents to ensure that bacteria doesn’t
grow in the shampoos and conditioners.
 Make the products attractive. Coloring agents are used in con-
junction with perfumes to make the product please both your
eyes and your nose.
Hair care products often include chemicals such as dimethicone
and panthenol (a vitamin B derivative), which are absorbed into
he hair shaft and provide moisture to dry areas when the new hair
grows. These compounds are more easily absorbed by the hair
when surfactants are also added to the mix (see the section
Keeping things slippery with surfactants” in this chapter for
more); surfactants help overcome the body’s sebum, which can
prevent full absorption of moisture in the hair.
Certain shampoos contain compounds like zinc pyrithione to treat
laky scalps (otherwise known as dandruff). These shampoos gen-
erally state on the packaging whether they’re recommended for
people with dandruff. All shampoos that claim to treat dandruff
must meet FDA over-the-counter drug requirements.
Volumizing shampoos and conditioners that add moisture to the
hair shaft, thereby increasing the bulk of the hair, contain such
unpronounceable products as polyquarternium and stearami-
daproply dimethylamine, which alter the electric charge on the
hair shaft. These tongue twisters are particularly important in
winter months when the air is dry, especially in heated buildings.
Keeping things slippery with surfactants
Today’s commercial shampoos contain compounds called surfac-
ants, compounds that accomplish a number of things when added
o shampoo. Surfactants
 Help shampoo lather up in hard or soft water.
 Help hair rinse easily and thoroughly.
 Eliminate the need for hard scrubbing, which can damage
your hair.
 Facilitate removal of grease and any dirt from the scalp and
hair, because the surfactant can penetrate physical barriers,
such as flakes of skin and dirt, embedded in the skin or hair.
 Facilitate the foaming properties of a shampoo, which helps
lift the particulate materials (dirt) into the foam. A thicker
shampoo with surfactants in it will easily spread through
the hair.
 Maintain a balance between the penetrating power of the
shampoo and the sensitivity of the scalp skin, which benefits
people with sensitive skin.