When hair follicles stop producing hair you may consider a trusted surgeon for New Jersey hair transplants.
Cubelixa’s question…Ok, thanks to you I have already learned that silicones are not as bad as some people say; that the first 5 key ingredients of shampoo and conditioner of different brands are often the same or at least similar; and that the herbal stuff they throw into their products don’t do much for my hair but are mostly there for selling/marketing reasons. Now my question is: what (ingredients) does my hair really need to stay healthy and grow as long as I want it to?
The Left Brain’s answer:
The truth is your hair doesn’t “need” any topical ingredient to keep it “healthy” and growing long.
No such thing as healthy hair
It’s a common misconception that hair can be healthy. Hair can be no more healthy than a shoe lace, a cotton blouse, or any other non-living fiber. The hair on your head is not living tissue. It is dead, keratinized protein. Hair cannot be healthy. Of course, it can look healthy or not-healthy but that’s not the same thing.
What does hair need?
So, hair doesn’t need any topical treatment. However, hair follicles (the living tissue below your scalp that makes hair) do need vitamins, nutrients, and other critical elements that it gets from the foods you eat. This is why it is important to eat a healthy diet to have healthy looking hair.
One other factor
Although there is no ingredient you can put on your hair to make it healthier or improve growth, the particular hair style you wear can have an effect on growth. If you wear pony tails, do a lot of heat styling, or otherwise physically damage your hair, it will negatively affect hair growth.
Read more in the Beauty Brains Forum thread on healthy hair.
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You might actually try to go further and answer the spirit of the question instead of dismissively dissecting the word “healthy.” The spirit of the question is “what substances will actually make or help keep my hair looking what is commonly, if erroneously, described as healthy? That is, what will help keep my hair from snarling, breaking or looking dull and limp or frizzy? I want shiny, bouncy, swingy, long-ish hair. What should I be looking for?”
I learned from you all that dimethicone is great, as are coconut oil and olive oil, so long as they do not weigh down your hair. Cetrimonium chloride will reduce static, right? There are other great and effective conditioning agents that will assist in maintaining healthy-LOOKING hair.
@Kathryn,
You make a fair point. However, I’m not certain that people do know that hair cannot be healthy. They are inundated with marketing that tells them they need vitamins and proteins and other nutritional type words to get “healthy hair”. It’s understandable that people become confused.
I just get particularly annoyed when people make this mistake.
To answer your version of the question.
Substances that will make hair look healthy include…
Quats – Quaternized ammonium compounds like Cetrimonium Chloride, Stearyalkonium Chloride, Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine will reduce static and make hair feel soft.
Silicones – Dimethicone will make hair feel smoother and improve shine.
Protein – Like hydrolyzed keratin protein Has been shown to increase hair strength.
Vitamins – They don’t do much at all with the exception of ProVitamin B5. This ingredient has been shown to increase hair strength. I’m a bit skeptical of the results knowing the variability in testing to prove this but I wouldn’t disagree with people who claim it.
That’s about it as far as ingredients go. The other thing you can do to make hair look healthier is to avoid coloring / bleaching, minimize the use of curling irons & blow dryers, and avoid excessive combing. All of these things damage hair.
Thanks for reminding us to keep a more positive spin on things. Sometimes I get a bit ornery.
Follow-up question – are there specific nutrients/vitamins that can be taken internally that promote healthy hair/follicles (i.e. Folicure)?
Left brain & Kathryn, you really balance both sides of the spectrum. Being a Hair Stylist, healthy hair is a term we use. Educating clients on not abusing chemicals, shampoo & condition regularly(depending on hair type), trimming ends on a regular basis are other key factors of having the appearance of healthy hair. Not to mention using products that seem to work for you. Just because it’s being sold doesn’t mean you should buy it.
A better word than “healthy” would be “undamaged.” Hair can’t be healthy, but it can be relatively undamaged, or handled in a way that keeps the damage to the bare minimum. And there’s two general rules for that regarding products:
Use products that enable you to handle and care for your natural hair. The minimum of friction is what you’re after.
ANYTHING THAT ALTERS THE NATURAL COLOR OR TEXTURE OF YOUR HAIR WILL DAMAGE IT. Period. No exceptions. Even henna, which is a relatively undamaging way of coloring hair since it doesn’t penetrate the hair shaft, will damage hairj ust frmo the effort to mash it into your hair and then wash it out.
Handle your hair as little as possible, wear it up, use products that allow you to care for it AS IS, and do not alter its color or texture. Or if you do these things, accept that they will damage your hair and just deal with it.
@Brains: How about the emulsifiers like cetearyl/cetyl alcohol do they provide conditioning or are they just simply emulsifiers?
I’ve read through most of the comments on this page and i noticed you all misunderstand the question. You all seem to be thinking about the hair shaft and not the root of the hair, the question is asking what vitamins etc should be taken and what should be done to create healthy hair from the root not improve what is already out of the skin. if you don’t eat enough protein or keratin your hair and nails will grow slowly, especially the hair will be thinner. to get healthy looking hair you must massage the scalp daily to increase blood flow and that will increase the follicle size in order to create thicker healthier looking hair. the vitamins and food are all needed to nourish the root of the hair which will then grow healthy hair faster. improving the way the hair looks once it has already grown is another issue. when the word healthy is stated in the question it is obviously referring to to the healthiness of the hair root.
@Tom: My question actually did refer to the hair that has already grown out of my head and NOT the roots and was therefore correctly answered by the Left Brain. I wanted a list of ingredients I can look out for in hair care products. I already knew that I have to live on a healthy and well-balanced diet to have shiny and healthy-looking hair.
I am an african american female with permed colored hair naturally coarse. I get my hair washed every 2 weeks and get hair treatments (reconstructors) once a month. I use Keracare dry and itchy shampoo and conditioner and I dont use hair mousse when I rollerset my hair (I feel it drys it out). I dont oil my scalp as it causes a lot of flakes in my hair and it weighs it down a lot (even the lightest hair creme).
After my washing I would say about 4-5 days, it starts itching a lot and flaking. I get this sort of creamy, tanish colored dirt under my nails when I scratch. I assume its oils from my scalp and dryness mixed together. I would like to know what types of products I can use/buy to help maintain it.
Shampoos and conditioners that contain nourishing botanicals are even better. Read labels carefully – sometimes, products that say “herbal” or “natural” can include no-no chemicals. Remeber that shampoos are detergents designed to remove sebum, sweat, fungal elements, desquamated corneocytes, styling products, and dirt. Conditioners are used to moisturize hair after removal of sebum to leave the hair soft, smooth, hydrated, and low in static.