Can You Get Hooked On Lip Balm?. Perry Romanowski

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СКАЧАТЬ 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 СКАЧАТЬ