The Beauty Brains

Ivy inquires… You know, I’ve been wondering about Pantene Restoratives and its effectiveness. I even went so far as to write to the Pantene P&G company and ask them on what grounds do they issue a guarantee promising 90 % less breakage in one month? I didn’t get an answer.

The Right Brain responds:
Don’t worry, WE’LL give you an answer! Here’s the exact claim that Pantene makes for this product:

90% less breakage in one month.*

* Shampoo and conditioner vs. non-conditioning shampoo.

It’s easy to skip over reading the asterisk and the fine print, but actually they’re quite important. That’s how the advertiser defines how the claim is supported. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves….

Hair Breakage Claims

First, let’s make it clear that U.S. law only states that companies can not falsely advertise and that they must have substantiation for any clams that they make. However, the law does NOT specify HOW the claims must be supported. Therefore, every company is free to make up its own proprietary methods of testing.

For a hair breakage claim, like in the case of Pantene Restoratives, the support is usually based on measuring hair breakage caused by physical abrasion testing. The test could look something like this:

Take two bundles of hair fibers. Treat one bundle with the products you want to test, in this case the Pantene Restoratives shampoo and the conditioner. The other bundle is the “control” tress. It doesn’t get treated with anything – it’s just washed with a regular shampoo. Then, both tresses are exposed to some sort of physical abrasion, for example, the hair is combed repeatedly.

After this physical assault, the researches count the number of broken hairs on each tress. By comparing the numbers of hairs broken from each tress, the scientists can calculate the difference in breakage. The claim’s reference to “one month” simply means that they conducted the test over a period of 4 weeks (or an equivalent number of treatments in a shorter period of time) and added up how much breakage occurred after that many treatments.

So, is it possible to get a reduction in breakage as high as 90%? Yep, we’ve seen that happen.

How is that possible? Because what this test really measures is how well the conditioner lubricates the hair and reduces the friction of combing. Any hair tress treated with conditioner (any good conditioner) will have MUCH less breakage than a tress just washed with a non-conditioning shampoo.

So is this claim supportable? Yes, it is.

But does the test REALLY reflect the difference in breakage you’ll see in your normal hair routine? Probably not.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad test. The kind of test we just described will support this claim even if you don’t necessarily see that much difference in your own personal usage of the product.

The Beauty Brain’s bottom line

Any time you see a numerical cosmetic claim, you should take it with the proverbial grain of salt. If it’s a reputable company, you can bet that they have SOME kind of test that will support the number you see. But that doesn’t mean that’s a measure of how much benefit you will experience from the product.

So IF seeing those numbers gets you to buy the product and IF you like the product, then everybody wins.

But IF you try the product because it offers “90% less breakage” and you don’t notice less breakage yourself and so you don’t like the product – then you probably won’t buy the product again. And if you don’t buy the product again, no matter what their test data says, then the company hasn’t done a very good job of supporting their claims. Have they?

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Jumping Angel asks…With summer vacation in full swing (yay!) I’m spending a LOT of time in the pool. What can I do to keep the chlorine from hurting my hair?

The Right Brain responds:

Before we answer your question let’s talk about why chlorine is bad for your hair.

Chlorine catastrophe

Chlorine is used to disinfect pool water because it’s a very reactive molecule and it combines with organic compounds. So when your little brother pees in the pool the chlorine helps break it down so bacteria can’t grow. Unfortunately this reactivity means it can also affect your hair. In fact there are two different ways that chlorine hurts hair.

1. Protein damage
Chlorine has been shown to interact with the thin membrane that covers the cuticles of your hair causing tiny bubbles to form. These bubbles are called “all worden sacs” for those science geeks reading this. Once this protective coating is damaged the natural glue that hold your cuticles in place is more quickly worn away and so they become loose and lift up. This is why soaking in the pool gives your hair that raspy dry feel.

2. Color complexation
Chlorine reacts with the pigments and dyes in your hair, both natural and synthetic. This reaction shifts the hue of the color which is why your hair picks up that nasty greenish tint.

How to protect hair from chlorine

Of course the best thing is to keep your hair away from the chlorine in the first place. So you could always wear a bathing cap like the Left Brain does. (which is a VERY sexy look, I must say.) But if that doesn’t fit your style, then we recommend conditioning your hair before swimming. A good conditioner with high levels of silicone can act like a shield to prevent the absorption of chlorine. Tresemme and Pantene are two good brands to use in this regard.  If you want to feel like you’re doing even more to protect your hair, after your swim you can also use one of the swimmers shampoos, like Ultraswim, that supposedly reduce the chlorine with thiosulfite.  Thiosulfite is supposed to prevent the chlorine from oxidizing your hair.  (Theoretically this could be helpful but we’ve never seen any evidence that it really works.)

What do YOU do at the beach or pool to protect your hair? Leave a comment and share your brainy beach tips with the rest of the Beauty Brines, uh, I mean, Beauty Brains community.

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Mid Brain muses…

Scientists think they’ve figured out the cause of gray hair. In the June 12 issue of Cell, researchers describe ‘genotoxic stress’ that damages DNA and reduces the amount of melanin-producing cells (melanocytes) in hair follicles.

What kind of stress?

While emotional stress may be one factor, the kind of stress that these researchers are talking about are more molecular in nature. These include exposure to UV light, ionizing radiation and mutagenic chemicals. It’s estimated that cells get exposed to over 100,000 stressors each day.

Can you stop gray hair?

According to researchers, the cell damage is unavoidable which suggests there is little that can be done to stop the gradual onset of gray hair. Sun protection and anti-oxidants may help slow things down but eventually exposure to environmental stress will catch up to everyone. Fortunately, cosmetic chemists have come up with hair color.  So everyone can look like they’ve got the hair of a 20-year-old.

When did you start to go gray?  And do you cover it up with hair color?  Leave a comment below because inquiring Beauty Brains need to know.

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1) The step-by-step picture diagram showing you how to comb your hair (in case you don’t have a mirror, I guess).

2) The fact that the product is in a GLASS bottle. (Wet shower + slippery foam + breakable glass bottle = trip to emergency room.)

3) The way they make such a big deal about the shampoo NOW! being available in a liquid, lotion form. What were they using before? Powdered shampoo?? Bar soap?? (Yeah, maybe they were, this ad is pretty old!)

On second thought, it’s funny how times change. Now we have Lush Cosmetics Solid shampoo bars!

What do YOU think? Do you experiment with different forms of shampoo? Do you like other weird ways to wash your hair? Leave a comment and come clean with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

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DeAnn’s disinterested…I saw Ted Gibson Styling Hairsheets and figured it’s kind of worthless product. What do the Beauty Brains say: gimmick or goody?

The Right Brain responds:
Normally I wouldn’t give a “sheet” about a product like this, but after doing a little research I’m going to say that while hair sheets might be a gimmick, it’s not necessarily a bad one.

Ted Gibson Hair Sheets

For those of you who aren’t familiar with this product, it’s towelette designed to be used as “on the go” touch up conditioner. It consists of a non-woven fabric towelette saturated with a water based solution of the several conditioning ingredients including: Hydrolyzed Collagen, Cetrimonium Chloride, Amodimethicone/Cetrimoniumcholride, and Steartrimonium Chloride. It’s essentially like a dilute leave in conditioner.

Are they worth it?

At $25 for 10. it seems very steep. If you have the need for a travel product or like to touch up your fly aways during the day, then this product will certainly deliver this kind of functionality. Whether or not it’s worth the money is up to you to decide. We don’t mind paying more for products that really work and these Ted Gibson Styling Hairsheets certainly stand out in the market as a unique way to deliver conditioning.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

This product doesn’t claim to do anything that it can’t technically deliver. Maybe sometimes it’s worth paying more for a specialty product that offers an added benefit in the form of portability or convenience. We’d put Ted Gibson Hair sheets in that category. (But it’s still kind of pricey!)

What do YOU think? Do you need on the go conditioning and would you pay more to get it? Or do you have any DIY tricks to more your conditioner more portable? Leave a comment for the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

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Rae Requests…Could you please explain more about sunscreen not protecting hair? I’ve always heard that people with color-treated hair should use a product with sunscreen. Can hair products with sunscreen at least help protect the scalp?

The Right Brain Retorts:
Sunscreens in hair care products don’t really do very much. Read on and we’ll explain, question and answer style:

Does sunlight really damage your hair?

Yes, but not as much as everything else you do. Even if you protected your hair from 100% of the UV damage it sustains, you’d still have more serious damage from combing, brushing, coloring, and, heck, even washing!

Ok, but doesn’t sunscreen help a little?

Maybe, if it was applied perfectly. Sunscreens work best when they’re applied in a uniform film. When you put on sun tan lotion you smear a thick layer on and rub it in, right? If you didn’t put on a thick enough layer, or, if you missed some spots, you’d burn. So, unless you have even coverage, sunscreen doesn’t work. And hair is much harder to cover than your skin because you’ve got 100,000 fibers, or more, that need to be completely covered. Unless you totally soak your head in the product it won’t cover adequately.

But if I rub it in my hair really well will it work?

No, it won’t. Certainly not from a shampoo or conditioner! It’s almost impossible to deposit very much UV absorber from rinse out products. And while there are some sunscreens that are chemically modified so they’ll stick to the hair even after rinsing, not very MUCH sticks, so you’re still left with poor coverage. In theory, leave in products with UV absorbers have a little bit better chance of working.

Ok, but let’s say I AM willing to use a leave in product AND I promise to smooth it through my hair so it’s all covered. Then a hair care sunscreen would work, right?

Not really because no one makes a product that has enough sunscreen active in it to do the job. If you used sun block for skin and rubbed it into your hair, that might work. At least then you could protect your scalp.

Ok, I get the picture. But a sunscreen should give me color protection, right? Doesn’t UV cause fading?

Yes it does, but UV light doesn’t cause as much fading as washing does. If you protected your hair from ALL UV light, your hair would still fade about the same amount just from washing. We could talk about how to protect your hair color from washing, but that’s another post…

The Beauty Brain’s Bottom Line

UV radiation isn’t the worst problem your hair faces. Use a good conditioner before and after spending a lot of time in the sun. But don’t expect a hair sun screen to save you. If you’re really worried about sun damage on your hair, wear a hat.

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The Right Brain rants:

Here’s an interesting  product that gets props for creative packaging- Charles Worthington’s H2O Styling Strips, water activated gel strips for styling hair.

According to the company, you simply take one between the palms of your hands, add a splash of warm water, and rub to activate. Then spread through your hair to give it body and lasting hold. The strips are even packaged in a convenient ‘pocket pack’ like breath strips.

Cashing in on the strip craze

Here’s the problem: The solids content of a gel formula is typically around 10% or more.  Part of that solid content is made up by a thickener, typically Carbomer, along with a holding resin which is usually PVP/VA. This is the active ingredient that really styles hair. So if you need a dollop the size of a quarter to hold your style in place, you’re delivering approximately 1 gram of solid active ingredients. These strips each only weigh a fraction of a gram. That means you’d need to use 5 or maybe even 10 of them to do the same job as your regular gel.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

While we applaud the innovative use of delivery technology, this seems like a gimmick designed to cash in on the success of Listerine Breath Strips. We see little advantage to this quick and easy gel substitute.

What do YOU think? Would you sacrifice performance to gain portability? Or would you  just carry a tiny tube of gel in your purse?  Are you impressed when companies experiment with new products like this or are you just annoyed that they’re trying to sell you another bad idea?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

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Gauhar goes gray…I am 34. My hair is about 80% gray. I am in a very conservative profession. I know that going all gray will negatively affect my career. I am having troubles with hair dye sticking to my hair. Is there any affordable, easy, simple do-it-yourself hair color, which is much better for gray hair coverage?

The Right Brain replies:

Hair color technology has been around a long time and there have been very few earth-shaking breakthroughs in the category. But now Clairol says they have a new Advanced Gray Solution technology that is gentler and provides better gray coverage. They claim that it covers gray by combining the best of demi and semi permanent hair coloring technology. While this technology is being marketed primarily to African Americans, you might find that it applies to your hair type as well.

Does Clairol Advanced Gray Solution really work?

The information on Clairol’s website was intriguing but it didn’t provide enough information for us to make a balanced assessment. So we asked for Clairol for more information. We submitted the following five key questions which they were nice enough to answer. Here are our questions along with their answers.

Q1. How does it combine the benefits from both semi and demi-permanent color?

A1. Beautiful Collection Advanced Gray Solution combines the gentleness of a semi-permanent color with the coverage capabilities of a near demi-permanent color. Typical semi-permanent colors often wash out quickly and provide only limited gray coverage. This is because semi-permanent color is a one-step process that delivers dye molecules that sit just under the hair cuticle, causing the color to wash out quickly. Alternatively, demi-permanent hair colors are used with a developer that contains peroxide. The developer, in conjunction with an oxidative dye, forms a molecule that is able to penetrate the hair shaft to provide longer-lasting results. Unfortunately, peroxide is not beneficial to African-American hair because it weakens it, making it even more susceptible to chemical damage. Advanced Gray Solution’s SynAIRgy technology creates a whole new kind of dye system – one with direct acting dyes that wrap the outside of the hair, and oxidative dyes that react with oxygen in the AIR (instead of a developer) to form a larger molecule able to penetrate more deeply into the hair shaft. With no ammonia and no peroxide, it’s gentle enough to use immediately after a relaxer service.

Q2. What are the ingredients in the product?
A2. Advanced Gray Solution’s enriched formula contains oleic acid and fatty alcohols to leave hair feeling moisturized and full of shine. The entire ingredient list includes:

* Water * Oleic Acid * Toluene-2 * Ascorbic Acid * Undeceth-3 * Cetearyl Alcohol * 5-Diamine Sulfate * 2-Methylresorcinol * Alcohol Denat. * Glycol Distearate * Fragrance * 2-Amino-6-Chloro-4-Nitrophenol * Ethanolamine * Cocamidopropyl Betaine * Resorcinol * Disodium Edta * Hydroxyethyl-2-Nitro-P-Touidine * Basic Blue 99 * HC Red No. 3 * M-Aminophenol

Q3. How does Advanced Gray Solutions react with oxygen in the air instead of a developer?

A3. Advanced Gray Solution’s breakthrough SynAIRgy technology contains an oxidative dye that uses oxygen in the air as a color developer to form a large dye molecule, eliminating the need to use a product with hydrogen peroxide for longer-lasting coverage.

Q4. How does it form a “larger molecule able to penetrate more deeply into the hair shaft” when generally speaking, smaller molecules penetrate better?

A4. The word ‘larger’ is a relative term. A molecule that is larger than the direct dye molecules will stay under the hair cuticle and begin to wedge itself into the cortex.  Smaller dye molecules like the ones in direct dyes will simply sit under cuticle and rinse out within 4-6 weeks.

Q5. Are there any details on the testing that was done to establish that Advanced Gray Solution provides up to 50% gray coverage vs. up to 25% for most other semi-permanent colors?

A5. The secret to Advanced Gray Solution’s greater gray coverage is the formula’s new-to-the-world SynAIRgy technology. With this breakthrough technology we are able to have two dye systems: direct acting dyes that sit just under the hair cuticle, and oxidative dyes that penetrate more deeply into the hair shaft. Since gray hair lacks melanin, we found that this two dye systems works significantly better than other semi-permanent colors to provide longer-lasting gray coverage.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Without first hand information of their formulations or access to their test results, it’s difficult for us to determine if this technology provide differentiated benefits that are consumer perceptible or not. But Clairol was kind enough to provide relatively specific answers to our questions, even if they may be lacking in some detail. Nonetheless, we thank them for that information. In our experience, very few brands are willing to submit their products to this kind of scrutiny; so we give them high marks for their openness. Having said that, its up to you to decide if you think the information they provided was helpful in making your decision to try their product. I’m sure they’d appreciate hearing your feedback.

What do YOU think? Did Clairol’s answers to our questions convince you that their product lives up to their claims? Here’s your chance to have your voice heard by a major beauty products manufacture. Leave a comment!

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Rachael ruminates…I recently broke out with a whole bunch of pimples on my face. I’ve never had a problem with zits at all.  I have fair skin and its never really been a problem. I did however start using a new foundation called Boots No7 All Day Flawless Wear, prior to the breakout.  I have since then stopped using it and nothing seems to help. Does anyone know what could cause me to breakout so bad, and what can I do for it?

The Right Brain responds:

It’s really hard to say what causes any specific person to suddenly breakout. Of course heredity is important. Hormonal swings and medication changes are potential factors. Diet may also play a factor, but the jury is still out on that one. And now, according to one dermatologist, we may  have another potential pimple precursor: the global recession.

Stress acne

Stress can contribute to skin problems, so it’s not such a leap of faith to consider that the current stressful economic environment could be causing an increase in acne eruptions. That’s the theory put forth by Dr. Jeanine Downie, director of image Dermatology and author of “Beautiful Skin of Color.” Dr. Downie claims to have seen a recent increase in patients which may be due to stress, longer work days, and the economic malaise we’re all experiencing.  We’re not sure if this is recognized as a cause of acne among dermatologists in general, but it does give us an excuse to post a picture of the Mona Lisa with zits.

How To Treat Acne

As we’ve previously discussed, the Beauty Brains have seen enough data to convince us that Thermaclear is an effective anti-acne device. It’s an FDA-reviewed device that is proven to  accelerate acne healing, cutting in half the time it takes to say “bye-bye” to blemishes. ThermaClear works using patented Thermal Pulse Technology^TM which sends heat deep under the skin and neutralizes acne-causing bacteria.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

We’re not sure if your zits are caused by economic woes, but from all the data we’ve seen Thermaclear is an effective way to treat pimples.

Click here to learn more about Thermaclear

What do YOU think? Do you see more zits when your stress level rises? Leave a comment and share your stressful stories with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

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Cianyde says…I have started wondering if my current fav conditioner ( ‘Jungle’ hair conditioner from Lush ) is as good as I thought it was… The main ingredient is ‘Cocoa butter’ with ‘propylene glycol’ and ‘avocado’ listed later. Is cocoa butter actually a good HAIR conditioner ( I was under the impression that only certain substances like coconut oil and olive oil actually penetrate hair, won’t cocoa butter just slide down the drain?) or , is it the propylene glycol and the avocado that are the only worthwhile ingredients?

The Right Brain responds:

We applaud your skeptical approach to reading your conditioner label, Cianyde! But remember that conditioning isn’t just about penetrating hair because most conditioning occurs on the surface. That’s where ingredients like hydrocarbon oils and silicones actually do a great job of smoothing the cuticle to enhance softness, comb ability and shine. Let’s take a look at the ingredients in Jungle Hair.

Jungle hair ingredients:

Cocoa Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Avocado Extract, Glyceryl Stearate, PEG-100 Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearic Acid, Perfume, Soya Lecithin, Figs, Bananas, Passion Fruit, Kumquats, Kiwi Fruit, Cetrimonium Bromide, Ylang Ylang Oil, Vetivert Oil, Cypress Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Chlorophyll, Limonene, Linalool

Inside out

Some oils, like coconut, do penetrate into the cortex where they are able to help strengthen the hair.  We can’t find any published data showing penetration of cocoa butter and even if it does penetrate, it’s unlikely to have an effect in a rinse out formula. In a rinse off conditioner the oils are emulsified (in this case by the cetearyl alcohol, sodium lauryl sulfate and glyceryl stearate) and so are more likely to be rinsed away.

Conditioner culprit

It’s more likely that the cetrimonium bromide is the conditioning culprit. This is a classic old school conditioning agent: a fatty alcohol reacted with nitrogen so it’s substantive on the hair. That means it stays on hair even after rinsing to give the slippery conditioning effect that your hair needs.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

There’s nothing wrong with Lush Cosmetics Jungle Hair conditioner but don’t get fooled into thinking that it works better just because it contains some natural ingredients. In fact, we’d expect that it wouldn’t work as well as Pantene or Tresemme. Does anyone want to do an experiment? Try Jungle Hair on one side and Pantene on the other. Let us know which you like best.

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