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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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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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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Celeste says…I have found out from this site that all I hear about silicone is not true. So what else is not true? Do I have to cleanse the silicone from my hair, or will it wear off? Can I use an Aubrey Organics or some such shampoo or cowash?

The Left Brain responds:

Celeste, I’ve blogged about using silicones on hair before but I hope I haven’t give you the impression that everything you’ve heard about them elsewhere is not true. Silicones have advantages and disadvantages and you have to decide if they are right for your hair. Now, on to your questions:

“Do I have to cleanse the silicone from my hair, or will it wear off?”

That depends on what type of silicone you’re talking about. Dimethicone needs to be washed off. Cyclomethicone will evaporate off your hair just like water evaporates. Generally, any shampoo will wash away the silicone left on your hair from styling treatments and conditioners.

“Can I use an Aubrey or some such shampoo or cowash?”

Any shampoo will wash away the silicone. (Although in general a non-conditoning shampoo will do a better job.) Cowashing (cleaning your hair with conditioner) will not be enough and the silicone may start to build up and weigh down your hair.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Silicones, like many other ingredients, perform differently depending on the formula they’re in and the type of hair they’re used on. The Beauty Brains provide you with some guidelines to help predict how they will work for you but when it comes to personal preference there’s no substitute for experimenting on your own hair.

What do YOU think? Are you Anti-’cones? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the silicone subject with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

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Stephanie Seeks Clarification: Is there a scientific reason why shampoos are usually clear or close to clear and conditioners usually are not?

The Right Brain Clears Things Up:

Great question!  Shampoos are composed mainly of water and surfactants. (If surfactants sounds to technical, you can call them detergents. If detergents reminds you too much of laundry, you can call them foaming thingies. Whatever.)

Anyway the foaming thingies, uh I mean the surfactants, are soluble in water so the shampoo is clear. It’s like putting salt into water – all the salt dissolves and you can still see through the water.

Clarifying conditioner

Conditioners on the other hand are composed mainly of water and conditioning agents. Most conditioning agents are not compatible with water (they won’t dissolve in it). So, to make a conditioner you have to create a special type of mixture called an emulsion. Emulsions are just small particles of oils suspended in water. (Think about the kind of 2-layer oil and vinegar salad dressing that you have to shake before using. That’s a simple emulsion.) In an emulsion, the light passing through the product is scattered when it hits all those tiny suspended oil particles. That light scattering makes the conditioner look opaque.

By the way, you can make a clear conditioner by using water soluble conditioners or a special type of emulsion known as a microemulsion. But there’s never been a successful one on the market because people don’t believe they work! (Does anyone remember the original Clean and Clear from the late 80s? They had a clear hair conditioner. Ahh, sweet memories.)

The Beauty Brains bottom line

The bottom line is, shampoos are as clear like shoes. Ok, I know that doesn’t make sense, but I found this cool picture of a clear shoe and I needed an excuse to use it. (Mid Brain isn’t the only one who gets to have fun with the pics we use in our posts!) Still want to know more? Go read about the 4 different kinds of shampoos.

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Dagga91 wants to know…I am interested in becoming an independent consultant with a new skin care line called Votre Vu. I got samples and loved the product. I was hoping someone could shed some light on their products.

The Left Brain is vehement about Votre Vu:

Votre Vu is a French direct marketing company that offers a variety of skin and hair care products.  Here’s a quick summary from NPROS.com:

Vu brings spa quality french skin care products to the home party business. The Votre Vu motto is “stay pure, stay simple, work hard”. Launching in August, 2008, Votre Vu consultants will have the ability to run an inventory free business, direct customer orders via their personal web site, no monthly ordering requirements, and have all credit card transactions handled directly by Votre Vu. Consultants may also receive all weekly commission payments directly onto a personal debit card.

As you know from previous posts on Arbonne and Mary Kay, I’m very cautious about working with direct marketing companies. But I’ll set that issue aside for the moment and focus on Votre Vu’s products. I looked at their website to learn more and didn’t find much to be impressed about in terms of their formulations. 

Votre Vu Sweep Eye Makeup Remover

For example, look at their Sweep Gentle Eye Makeup Remover. The website gives a list of  ”Power ingredients, the hard-working ingredients that make this product so powerful and beneficial for you.” For this product these Power Ingredients are identified as Isotonic Solute, Rose Water, Boric Acid, and Bluet Water. But a another click reveals that the rest of the ingredients in the formula include five or six different surfactants including our old friend sodium laureth sulfate. Now, I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with using sodium laureth sulfate in an eye makeup remover, but there are number of cleansing chemicals that are milder and less likely to dry out your skin. If I’m paying $25 for 4 ounces of product, I’d expect to see a more premium formula.  

Votre Vu Cheveux Heureux Conditioner Riche

I also looked at one of Votre Vu’s hair care products:  the “Conditioner Riche.” It uses a pretty standard combination of fatty alcohols, stearamidopropyl dimethylamine, quats, and silicones. These are the same conditioning agents you’d find in a Pantene or Tresemme type of formula. Once again, there’s nothing wrong with these ingredients but $29 for a bottle of conditioner that doesn’t provide any additional functional difference seems a bit steep to me.  Another note: the website proudly proclaims that this conditioner formula is SLS-free. This is amusing since SLS (aka sodium lauryl sulfate) is a foaming/cleansing agent and is rarely, if ever, used in conditioners! I’d feel much better about this line if they were attempting to honestly educate consumers instead of claiming confusing half-truths like this.  

The Beauty Brains bottom line

I certainly can’t advise you on your business venture, Dagga91, but I’d have a hard time recommending Votre Vu formulas based on the information available on their website. I don’t hesitate to recommend trying expensive products if I see a potential technical benefit (like in the case of Living Proof No Frizz) but I hate to see people pay too much for over-priced products that aren’t really that different. Having said that,  I’m always open to new data that could change my mind. So if anyone has further information that explains the value of Votre Vu products, I’m glad to look at it and discuss it in a future blog post.

Has anyone else tried Votre Vu? Leave a comment and share your experience with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

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Right Brain retorts:

On several occasions we’ve blogged about how many people believe Pantene is bad for your hair. It looks like the marketers at P&G (the makers of Pantene) are paying attention to blogs like the Beauty Brains because their Public Relations agency has just sent out this press release on that very question. Here’s what they had to say:

MYTH:

PANTENE PRO-V LEAVES BEHIND A LAYER OF WAX ON YOUR HAIR AND CREATES A WAXY BUILD-UP OVER TIME.

FACTS:

1. Pantene Shampoos and Conditioners do not contain wax. Although Pantene has unique and proprietary ingredients based on recent technological advances, the classes of ingredients (silicones, fatty alcohols, cationic polymers and cationic surfactants) are used consistently across the hair care industry.
2. Pantene Shampoo and Conditioners do leave behind conditioning ingredients (such as coacervate conditioning complexes, liquid crystals, and terminal amino silicones) for healthy hair benefits such as moisturization, damage protection and shine. Pantene shampoos and conditioners are designed to work together, depositing conditioning ingredients that will wash out of the hair with the next shampoo.
3. When women feel they have build-up from their shampoos and conditioners, it is often a sign that the products they are using are too heavy for their hair, and they may be more satisfied with a lower conditioning version.

PS – Want to get technical? Let us know and we’ll provide additional information and/or set-up a conversation with one of our science experts.

While we don’t normally blog about all the self-serving press releases we get, this one caught our attention for a couple of reasons.

First, as we said above, it makes us wonder if P&G are reading our blog. (If you are, say hi to your new spokeperson Stacy London for us. We just adore her!)

Second, it’s interesting that the official statement from the company uses the same basic scientific rationale that we used in our previous answers to the Pantene plastic myth.

And third, and perhaps most important, we like that Pantene is asking you to “get technical” and ask them questions for their scientific experts. Now, that doesn’t mean we believe everything that the big beauty companies say, but we do think that any company that is trying to open a dialog between its customers and their science experts is doing the right thing. You don’t see that from most of the smaller companies that are making outrageous claims that aren’t backed by solid science.

So, we say take them up on their challenge. Send Pantene your questions about how their products work and then share what you find out with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

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Vananners asks… Hi! A while back I read an article about an “innovative” new hair product called “No Frizz” by Living Proof. The article stated that this product was an amazing new anti-frizz product for hair, silicone-free, that works better than anything else before. They use something called “PolyfluoroEster.” I was wondering, from an ingredients standpoint, what the brains think of this product? It’s so expensive and I want to be sure nothing else exists like this on the market (for cheaper) before I spend the big bucks. Thanks!

The Right Brain responds: 

Living Proof has generated quite a buzz since it’s launch late in 2008. For example, here’s an article from Xconomy.com that describes the secrecy around the brand’s initial roll out.  The basic idea is that an MIT professor and a capital venture company teamed up to create the first new anti-frizz technology in 30 years. It was all very hush-hush until the last few months. Since this article was written, we’ve learned a lot more about Living Proof’s frizz fighters. 

How Living Proof Works

The quick story is this: instead of conventional conditioning agents like silicones, Living Proof uses a type of chemical known as a PolyfluoroEster (or PFE for short) to smooth the hair shaft and prevent moisture from being absorbed.  Is this a breakthrough? Well, there have been dozens of new silicone compounds created over the last few decades that serve a similar function so we think the claim of this being the “first new anti-frizz technology in 30 years” is a bit of an exaggeration. But PFEs (which are Teflon-like compounds) are VERY good at lowering surface tension, and so in theory they could provide the three main benefits that Living Proof claims on their website:

Frizz prevention

Living Proof products are formated to leave “a smooth, perfect layer” on your hair that “adheres tightly to the hair, which allows for long-lasting moisture resistance and rebalancing of the hair fiber’s interaction with the atmosphere, even after extreme humidity.” This layer reduces swelling of the hair shaft due to moisture absorption which in turn prevents the cuticles from lifting up and causing frizz.  

Dirt repellancy

PFE’s repel materials like water and oils, “translating into a non-greasy coating that doesn’t attract dirt and other particulates.” They claim that Living Proof makes hair “more repellent to dirt and particles than natural hair.” 

Shine and color enhancement

The PFE coating has a very low refractive index that produces a “unique, long-lasting shine and “pop” in the color of the hair.”

The Beauty Brains bottom line

We haven’t tested these products but we have worked with similar chemistry in the past so we know that PFEs are highly functional. Based on looking at the ingredient list of the products,  the formulas contain a relatively high percentage of PFEs instead of more typical frizz fighters. Therefore we’d expect these products would leave a very different feel on the hair. We’re not aware of any other products on the market that are formulated quite like this. Are they worth the price ($24)? We don’t know, but they do appear to have a scientific basis for their claims and we’re anxious to give them a try. 

Has anyone used Living Proof? Leave a comment and share your experience with the rest of the Beauty Brains community. 

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Jacy’s fruity request: What is Biosilk Fruit Cocktail?

The Right Brain’s silky response:
According to Farouk Systems, the company that makes Biosilk, it’s an “advanced reconstructing treatment that builds volume and strength, restores softness and smoothness.” It supposedly “restores moisture and softness, improves elasticity and strengthens the hair.”

Boring

Wow. Those are some of the most boring claims I’ve ever heard of for a hair care product. But we give them a lot of credit for being truthful. Any decent conditioner will do all those things to your hair – at least to some extent. What about the fruit cocktail? Their website doesn’t mention it specifically, so let’s try to find it on the ingredient list.

Biosilk ingredients

The first ingredient listed is Rosewater, which is a little disturbing. Not because rosewater is a bad thing – in fact in terms of hair conditioning, it’s no different than regular water – but what’s disturbing is that Farouk isn’t following the proper regulations for cosmetic labeling. If you’re adding water to the product you have to list WATER on the ingredients. We hate it when companies do that!

The next several ingredients are Dicetyldimonium Chloride, Trimethylsilyamodimethicone, with some Dimethicone thrown in. These are all pretty effective conditioners. We’d expect this product would do a pretty good job of smoothing hair.

Show me the fruit

Toward the end of the ingredient list we see things like Chamomile, Rosemary, Nettle, Passion Flower, Lemon, Grape and Pineapple Extract listed. We suppose lemon, grape and pineapple extract qualify as a “fruit cocktail” but it’s not really much of a story. And they certainly don’t do anything for your hair! If you want to see a more interesting way to execute fruit based ingredients, take a look at what Fructis did with fruit acids. At least they’re a little more snazzy about it!

The Beauty Brains bottom line

What is Biosilk Fruit Cocktail? It’s a pretty good, albeit pretty normal, hair conditioner. Unfortunately, at $15.00 per bottle it’s also pretty over-priced in our opinion. You can buy Biosilk if you’re brave but, as we always say, let the buyer beware.

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Stacey Swears AphOGEE Solves Splits…Dear Beauty Brains, Your site has now become my favorite out of the dozens of beauty sites I visit. My question concerns AphOGEE hair treatment. I use this every couple of months when my hair starts to get fried and split from straightening and it returns my hair to the most normal healthy state and the dead ends disappear. What is in this stuff that it repairs hair? I`m assuming it’s protein but I use protein conditioners that don’t have the same affect. Please help unravel the mystery for me?

The Right Brain Is Simply Skeptical:
Hmmm. This is a mystery to us too, Stacy. We took a look at the ingredients in AphOGEE’s Treatment and didn’t see much that would cause split ends to disappear. Our guess is the same as yours – the protein. If they used the right kind of protein (with a molecular weight of 2000 or so) then it’s theoretically possible that the product forms a film on the ends of your hair that holds the splits together.

Of course, this is only possible if you’re using the product as a leave in treatment. Rinse out products can’t deposit enough protein to have the same effect. That’s why your regular protein conditioners don’t work.

Still, The Beauty Brains are surprised AphOGEE would have that much of an impact. And we’d only expect it to last until your next shampoo, which would wash it out. Maybe you could write back with additional information (how often you use it, how long it lasts, is it better tha Ojon, etc.)

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