What is the Best Hair Conditioner for Healthy Hair?
And how do hair conditioners affect our environment?
What is the best hair conditioner to use? What do they actually do?
Are any of them harmful to us or the environment?
And do we even really need conditioners?
This article gives you a brief round up of the facts so that you can judge for yourself how green many of these products are. You can also learn what to look out in products for the best results for your hair, your health, and the environment.
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Best hair conditioner:
What is conditioner?
Hair conditioners came into vogue as commercial preparations in the 1950s after Jheri Redding introduced the Crème Rinse Conditioner.
He realised that hair was largely made of protein and therefore would be benefited by nourishment with proteins and vitamins.
Before that people would use a variety of oils and creams after drying to keep their hair under control.
Many modern conditioners contain proteins, as well as a huge range of other chemicals.
Best hair conditioner:
Modern hair conditioners
Conditioners are now made from a great variety of chemicals but they commonly include:
Acidifiers - which make the hair more acid and remove grease. These help leave your hair looking shiny and clean. The surface of hair is actually quite scaly when viewed under a microscope. Acidifiers help the surface to be smoother and less scaly so that light reflects better. Citric acid is an acidifier which is often used.
Antistatic agents help to reduce static electricity in the hair, making it more manageable.
Essential fatty acids (EFAs) found in natural oils can help dry and damaged hair to become more soft and pliable. The scalp's natural oil is called sebum. EFAs are quite like natural sebum (which itself contains EFAs). When you wash your hair you remove a lot of the natural sebum, so it makes sense to replace it.
Fragrances are often synthetic. Some are suspected of causing health problems in some individuals.
Glossers and light-reflecting chemicals are used to bind to the hair surface. These are usually polymers or silicones such as dimethicone or cyclomethicone.
Hydrolised proteins give the hair shaft additional strength.
Lubricants such as fatty alcohols, panthenol and dimethicone, help the hair to remain tangle free.
Moisturisers As the name suggests, these help keep moisture in just as moisturisers do in skin cream. Humectants perform the same role.
Polymers may also be included which bond with hair cells for additional strength. They can have several functions - see below.
Preservatives are needed for some of the ingredients, particularly organic ones, which otherwise may degrade on exposure to air.
Sequestrants help the conditioner to work well in hard water.
Surfactants Hair conditioners usually contain cationic surfactants, which don't wash out completely. They strongly bind t...
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