Carly’s Question:
There has been a lot of controversy lately about silicones in hair products. I am a member of a naturally curly hair website and many of the members are anti-silicone because of the claims that silicones bond to the hair and do not allow moisture into the hair shaft. Supposedly once the silicone is on the hair it acts as a barrier between your hair shaft and any moisture. Is all of this true, or is it just a myth? I will sometimes use a silicone product, but then later feel guilty that I am suffocating my hair, and wash it all off. I think it would be great if you can let everyone know the truth behind silicones.
The Right Brain’s Response:
Questions about silicones being bad for your hair come up a lot. But you can just call us the cosmetic mythbusters, Carly, because silicones do not really cause the problem you described. Shampoos and conditioners that contain a high level of high molecular weight, water insoluble silicones can build up on hair, that much is true. And if you over-use products like this everyday, it is possible to end up with hair that feels weighed down and limp. But even this does happen, you’re not really suffocating your hair.
3 Reasons Why Silicone Can’t Suffocate Hair:
1) Even if you didn’t wash all the silicone out, we’ve never seen any data that indicates that a small amount of silicone residue acts as a “barrier” between hair shaft and moisture. On average, your hair contains about 8 to 14% water by weight but it will equilibrate to the ambient humidity. In other words, it will pick up moisture when it’s very humid and it will lose moisture when it’s very dry. Slight silicone residue won’t substantially change that. Now, if you slather on a heavy layer of a silicone hair treatment product, that’s a different story!
2) Even though your hair absorbs moisture from the environment, its state of dryness isn’t completely controlled by this external water. Dryness is more a function of how damaged your hair is and how much natural lipids it contains.
3) Even if you did block your hair from absorbing moisture, the silicone would act like a moisturizing agent because it would plasticize and lubricate your hair. It would essentially fight the effects of dryness.
The Beauty Brains Bottom Line:
If you use a silicone containing product and you like the way it makes your hair look and feel, DONT WORRY ABOUT IT! Don’t feel guilty because some people tell you that it’s bad for your hair. Oil products like Ojon can work too if you don’t want to use silicone.
Loading ...
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Beautybrains! Your site is a one of a kind site and absolutely amazing ‘coz you help us consumers to be more wise about cosmetic products. May I know what do you mean by plasticize as you describe above and also the meaning of plasticize you used to describe the effects of coconut oil in another post? KUTGW!!!
I’ve never had the problem of “silicone build up” and i use a silicone based leave-in conditioner every other day. I find that it has actually prevented my hair from getting more damaged!
Silicone molecules are practically indistructable hence the reason they are used for cooking and other high temperature applications. That being said the particles themselves are fairly harmless to your hair, BUT removing these molecules from your hair is very hard even with clarifying shapoo.
I used to use a silicone based leave in conditioner, it did my hair so much bad! it took me ages to get my hair back to normal. I am totally against using silicone based products.
As a hair stylist I can promise you silicones can cause great trouble for the hair. I have applied tint based high lights/lowlights onto a clients hair, developed them and washed off only to see the colour I applied flush down the sink and not stick to the hair.
This tends to happen with products such as L’Oreal Preference and Clairol ‘Nice & Easy’ who use silicones in both their colours and after treatment conditioners. Continual use of these conditioners does create a barrier (that’s why these brand’s colours do not fade), but they also stop other colours (with the exception of strong bleaches) getting into the cortex and working effectively. In particular red based colours have high levels of silicone to enable them to stay inside the hair.
I am still trying to find some kind of solvent which can dissolve these silicone molecules.
I should also add to my last post, the use of silicone isn’t just as a simple as applying a silicone based conditioner or styling aid (such as serum etc).
If you then use a very hot straightening iron you melt the silicone and compress it onto the hair shaft. This is what causes the problem of build up!