Indi-Curl wonders…I have just started a No-Poo hair care routine for my ultra-curly hair and I have a question about leave-in products that are compatible with the system. I know to avoid silicone, and I do, but I was wondering about products with Mineral oil in them. My favorite leave-in treatment contains Mineral oil.  Is a conditioner like VO5 strong enough to cleanse hair when this type product is used? I couldn’t find any real information online about it. Everyone just says not to use Mineral oil at all, but it works great on my hair! My hair has never looked better, but I want to make sure I don’t have any buildup problems down the road. Thanks!

Left Brain explains
For the people who don’t know it, the No-Poo hair care routine is basically washing your hair with conditioner instead of shampoo. People also call it Co-washing as in Conditioner Washing. Some say it originated with a stylist in Australia but it’s tough to know where these things actually start. The reason people do it is because they want to avoid the harsh effects of shampoo surfactants on their hair. Another strategy is to use Dry Shampoo but we’ll save that for another post.

How can conditioner wash hair?

There is some science and logic behind this hair care regime. Shampoos are typically composed of about 10-15% detergent. They use anionic surfactants like Sodium Laureth Sulfate of Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate which do an excellent job of cleaning and removing oil from hair.

Conditioners also have detergents in them but a different kind. They use cationic surfactants (or quats) which have the tendency to stick to the hair where they provide conditioning. Common ingredients are Cetrimonium Chloride or Distearyldimonium Chloride and are used at 1-5%. Although they do stick to the hair, these ingredients also have the ability to cleanse the hair. This is why the No-Poo washing system can work.

Avoid Mineral Oil?

The reason people say to avoid silicones and mineral oil is because the amount of detergent used in conditioners may not be enough. This may or may not be true. It really depends on your hair and the way it is left feeling to you. The VO5 conditioner should be enough to remove mineral oil, but you have to try it to know for sure. It may even be good enough to remove silicone!

If you are unsatisfied with the way your hair feels after trying the No-Poo method, you should consider occasionally washing your hair or trying a VO5 Hot Oil treatment. I know this might sound odd, but the Hot Oil treatment does not actually have oil in it! It is composed of a quat (like the VO5 conditioner) called Cocotrimonium Chloride. You can use this product and it will give your hair a good cleaning without using the harsh surfactants of shampoo. It even foams.

Beauty Brains bottom line

There is no scientific reason to avoid using Mineral Oil or Silicone if you are using the No-poo method of cleansing. It just depends on whether you like the way your hair feels or not.

No-poo or Co-washing is not for everyone, but some people like the way it makes their hair feel. It will be less damaging, less exposure to chemicals, and may even do a better job of protecting your hair color & shape. However, I doubt the shampoo companies are too worried about everyone switching. While it may be less damaging, it also leaves your hair feeling a bit “dirty”…and it is.

Have you tried the No-poo washing method or even the dry shampoo option? Leave a comment below and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know what you thought.

Gina just wants to know…I’ve been reading rave reviews of this Mixed Chicks product. Can you tell me how it’s different from Cantu Shea Butter, the leave in I use now?

The Right Brain replies:

For those of you not familiar with Mixed Chicks, it’s a line of hair care products designed for hair of biracial origin. Their website explains that the line is a “curl-defining system designed for “us” whether you’re black, white, asian, latin, mediterranean, or any glorious combination of the above.”

The Leave-in you asked about is described as a “patented formula penetrates the hair shaft, conditioning as it smoothes the follicle.” I hate to be nit-picky on this point, but the follicle is the tiny tube beneath your scalp that the hair grows from. You can’t “smooth” the follicle but you can smooth the cuticle which is the shingle-like outer most layer of hair. We don’t expect Mixed Chicks to be scientific experts but they should understand basic hair biology so they can explain how their products really work.

Mixed Chicks Leave in Conditioner Ingredients

How does Mixed Chicks compare to Cantu? Let’s take a look at the ingredients for these two products. First the Mixed Chicks leave in and then Cantu. To make it easier to read, we’re leaving out preservatives, colors and fragrance:

Water, Glycerin, Amodimethicone, Emulsifying Wax, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein/pvp Crosspolymer, Stearalkonium Chloride, Methylguceth-20, Hydroxypopul Timonium Chloride, Hydroxyethyl Cellulose, Jojoba Oil, Safflower Oil, Primrose Oil, Wheat Amino Acid, Crosilk, Hydrolyzed Collagen (Marine)

(Note: this ingredient list came from Amazon.com and has several typos.)

Water, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Glycine Soja Oil (Soybean), Propylene Glycol, Polyquaternium 37, Propylene Glycol Dicaprylate/Dicaprate, PPG 1 Trideceth 6, Cetyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Stearalkonium Chloride, Trimethylsilylamodimethicone, Panthenol, PPG 1 PEG 9 Lauryl Glycol Ether, Lanolin Oil, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Acrylamidopropyltrimonium Chloride/Acrylamide Copolymer, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein

Both are mixtures of water with oils and conditioning polymers. The big difference is that Cantu is based on shea butter and soybean oil while Mixed Chicks is high in glycerin and amodimethicone. Amodimethicone is an excellent conditioner and is one of the primary ingredients in Infusium 23, one of the classic leave in conditioners.   Both products should provide a high level of conditioning. We’d expect that Mixed Chicks would provide less greasy curl definition based on the lower concentration of  oily materials.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Both Mixed Chicks and Cantu appear to be highly moisturizing leave in conditioners but it’s impossible for us to say which one is better for you without knowing your hair type.  If you decide to try both, write back and let us know which one you liked best!

Does anyone in the Beauty Brains community have any curly conditioning tips for Gina? Leave a comment!

Janis’ joust: I can’t believe I’m asking this, but the topic came up in a long hair forums I’m on — once AGAIN, someone pipes up with the “authoritative” announcement that there is wax in Mane n Tail conditioner. They seem to be hated only slightly less than Pantene. *Sigh* Could you make some sort of statement about the actual ingredients of this stuff and what they are?  This is such a damned urban myth, and I can’t believe people are so anxious to cling to it. It’s like the alligators in the sewers, it just does not go away.

The Right Brain’s boast:

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE the members in the Beauty Brains Forum?  Well, I’m telling you now! The comments there are always so clever and spirited. For example, Janis raised the above question about Mane n Tail conditioner containing wax. Normally, we’d do some research to figure out the true scoop on the ingredients. But in this case, we didn’t have to because fellow Forum member Jami jumped in with her OWN research. (You gals are AWE-some!) To get the full effect you should read the entire thread yourself but here’s a quick recap.

A mainly tale

Jami contacted company that makes Mane n Tail and received a very (in our opinion) reasonable response: their conditioner does contain an ingredient that is technically called “emulsifying wax.” However, as the spokesman for the company correctly points out the following:

For instance, we [Mane n Tail] list emulsifying wax as an ingredient in our Mane ‘n Tail Moisturizer-Texturizer Conditioner. Emulsifying wax is not a wax as most consumers would assume from the name. Emulsifying wax is the ingredient that allows our other ingredients to blend properly; improving texture and consistency. So it is correct to say our product contains an ingredient with the word wax in the name but without researching the ingredient’s use, the consumer may be mislead by a writer’s omission of the complete explanation. We understand that researching each ingredient would be tedious for a consumer. That is why we follow the FDA’s regulations and recommendations list of approved ingredients for use in cosmetic products.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Well done, Mane n Tail! You have defended yourselves with honor. And a super-special thanks to Janis and Jamie for doing the heavy lifting on answering this one. We might just have to make you honorary Beauty Brains. (Except you’d hate the painful hazing process.)

Cynical Girl sez…I have over-highlighted my hair and it’s fried. The salon recommended a Redken All Softconditioning treatment and another Redken protein treatment. Will any of these products really make a difference, or do I just need to cut off the damaged ends of my hair? Is it possible to add too much moisture or protein to my hair? Any risks?

The Right Brain replies:

Cynical Girl – it looks like you’ve committed the cardinal sin of chemically caring for your hair: you over-processed. But, rather than publicly berating you here on the Beauty Brains blog, we’ll give you some information that will help save your hair.

Is protein powerful?

Your stylist recommended a couple of Redkin products. There’s certainly nothing wrong with using those – the All Soft conditioner is a fine product that could mitigate some of the damage you’ve done to your hair. I’m not really sure you would necessarily need to use the protein treatment since protein aren’t typically a significant active ingredient in conditioner formulas. Although your hair is made of protein (keratin protein to be precise), protein delivered from a conditioner doesn’t really help that much. There are other conditioning and moisturizing agents that are more beneficial to your hair than proteins. Still, if you don’t mind spending the money on those Redkin products they’re certainly worth a shot.

You just need to be careful that you don’t over condition your hair or else you might end up with limp lifeless locks. Which leads us to the second part of your question. Can you add too much moisture or protein to your hair? The answer is: “Not exactly.” Let us explain.

Moisture is magic

One of the components of your hair is moisture – in fact your hair naturally contains between 8 and 14 percent water. But, and here is the tricky part, your hair naturally equilibrates to the humidity in your environment. In other words if it’s very dry outside you will have less moisture than 8 to 14 percent in your hair and if it’s very humid you’ll have more. Think about your hair after you wash it or after you’ve gone swimming. It doesn’t stay wet – it eventually does dry out.

On the other hand, you do need to watch out for adding too much moisturizer. A moisturizer is an ingredient that helps your hair hold onto moisture. Strictly speaking, moisture is water but moisturizers can be oils or silicones. And if you put too much of these materials on your hair you can get on build up or weigh down effect, which is not good, especially if you want your hair to look thick and full.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

We don’t discourage you from trying the Redken products, but you may find you don’t like them. If this happens, you’ll have to experiment with a few other conditioners to find one that gives you the right balance of moisture without weighdown. But at least now, hopefully we’ve given you have a better understanding of HOW your conditioner works. And by the way, don’t you dare wash your hair without conditioning – at least for the next few weeks. You’ve got to protect your fragile, over-processed strands.

What do YOU think? What are you favorite products for dealing with over-stressed tresses? Leave a comment and share your secrets with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Mid Brain reports:

Here’s an interesting new product from Laboratorios Fisa in Venezuela: a combing cream that contains corn and wheat based active cereals to provide nutrition and protection to your hair. Grain extracts certainly aren’t bad for your hair (unless you have a gluten allergy!) but they also don’t do anything good for your hair either.

Combing cream formulas, on the other hand, can be good for your hair. They’re a special type of leave-in conditioner that makes the hair smooth and easy to style. They’re very popular in Latin America and this Beauty Brain is interested to see if this styling trend catches on in the US and UK as well. It’ll also be interesting to see if Active Cereals catch on!