Kitten Devine’s question…Yesterday at a hair shop they asked me what shampoo I used. So I told them I use Zwitsal baby shampoo, because I like how it makes my hair feel and because sodium laureth sulphate is only the 5th ingredient on the list, so I figured it’s more gentle and doesn’t strip the color out of my hair. Now they told me that baby shampoo was bad for your hair because the pH of it is different then regular shampoos. Because of the different pH it would open your cuticles whereas ‘good’ (more acidic) shampoos would close them. Is this true or myth?

The Left Brain’s reply:

As Purple Rules pointed out in our Forum, the pH of baby shampoos has nothing to do with it’s performance. Shampoos are formulated over a pH range from about 5.0 to 7.0. Most people’s water has a pH around 6.5 to 7.0. No matter what shampoo you use, once it’s on your head mixed with water, the pH will be about the same as the water. The people at your hair shop are mistaken.

What do YOU think? Has your stylist ever told you to change shampoos because of the pH? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about this myth with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Rainbow is curious…I don’t understand, when you apply your shampoo, your hair gets really rough and when you put on conditioner your hair gets really soft. What happened? and also i want to know, is conditioner ACTUALLY being absorbed by your hair?

The Left Brain explains:

The difference is simple. Shampoos contain cleansing surfactants like SLS, SLES or other detergents. These materials surround oil, lift it off and get rinsed away with the water. Shampoos do not necessarily dry your hair. What they do is remove all the oil (unless you’re using a 2-in-1). This makes the hair feel more dry.

Conditioners also contain surfactants, but these are conditioning surfactants. These surfactants have a positive charge on them which makes them “stick” to the damaged, negatively charged proteins on hair. So, when they are rinsed away, things like cetyl alcohol and other ingredients in the conditioner are rinsed away. Conditioners also contain silicones that will stick on hair and are not rinsed away. Conditioners mostly remain on the surface of hair but they do penetrate (absorb) to a small degree.

Steph says…Hey Beauty Brains; my boyfriend regularly uses Axe Intense Hair Scrub Shampoo. When you put some on your hands you can feel little grainy bits that I guess are supposed to help remove styling residue? What are those grainy bits and does it really make hair cleaner?

The Left Brain investigates:
Ah the Axe brand.  The men’s brand that made their mark pandering to the most basic of all truths about males…guys groom themselves to get chicks. With some of the racy advertising they use, I half expect them to try and sign Tiger Woods to a sponsorship deal.

Axe products are made by Unilever who also is responsible for such brands as Suave, Sunsilk, and Dove. Considering the way the company advertises Dove, it’s ironic that they also make Axe. But I digress.

Unilever has a big budget R&D staff so you would expect them to create novel and innovative formulas. This Axe shampoo certainly qualifies as there is no other shampoo like it on the market.

Exfoliating shampoo

The thing that makes Axe Hair Scrub shampoo different is the inclusion of Polyethylene and Acrylates Copolymer. These are the ingredients you referred to as the “grainy bits” and they’re specifically added to make the shampoo feel like an exfoliating facial scrub (e.g. St. Ives Facial Scrub). No doubt some marketing guru thought guys wouldn’t mind the feeling of sand in their hair.

I tried the product (I’ll try anything) that was kindly sent to us from the Axe PR firm and was most interested in the fact that the “scrubbers” seemed to disappear after a little while. They must be soluble in water. This is different than the insoluble scrubbers found in other scrub products.

Does it clean better?

There are two things going against the claim that this shampoo will clean better. First, the scrubbers disappear after a short while so there really isn’t enough exposure time for them to do any extra cleaning. Second, it’s a gimmick. Regular shampoos do such a good job of cleaning hair that extra scrubbers won’t help at all. The Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Cocamidopropyl Betaine in the formula is all you need to get hair clean.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

Axe Intense Shampoo + Hair Scrub is a good shampoo however the scrubbers are a gimmick that do not actually make hair cleaner. It might be fun to use on occasion to spice up your shampoo experience but don’t expect any extraordinary results.

Have you tried this Axe Shampoo or other Axe products? What do you think of their advertising campaign? Leave a comment and let the rest of the Beauty Brains community know.

Tammy’s request…It seems I have to change my shampoo all the time because my hair gets used to it. Why is this?

The Right Brain Responds:
A lot of people complain that their shampoo “stops working” or that their hair “gets immune” to it and they have to change. Hair care researchers have looked into this question but have never been able to find any solid scientific reason that this should happen. But, as usual, we have a theory:

Shampoo burnout?

Many shampoos contain some level of condtioning agents. Back in the day, unless your shampoo was a “2-in-1″, it was not generally capable of depositing any conditioning ingredients on your hair. But today, that the 2 in 1 (shampoo plus conditioner) technology has found its way into moisturizing shampoos, color care shampoos, and even some volumizing shampoos. You might find ingredients like silicones, cationic guar gum, and conditioning polymers in almost any shampoo today.

So, although you may not realize it, you may be using a shampoo that provides as much, or almost as much, conditioning as a 2 in 1. Let’s say that you use this kind of shampoo for a while. You might feel that your hair gets over conditioned after a while. So, you decide to change shampoos.

Maybe you start to use a clarifying or deep cleansing shampoo. For a while everything is fine – your hair feels nice and clean again. All the ingredients that built up on your hair from the 2 in 1 shampoos get removed. But then, after using that stripping shampoo for a while, your hair starts to feel dry like straw.

So, you feel the need to switch shampoos again. You pick up a “balancing” shampoo that contains some conditioning ingredients. And after using this one for a while you start to feel buildup and the whole cycle starts all over again.

This kind of process could be the cause of “shampoo burnout.” Of course, this is only a theory, but it is a theory that makes sense when you consider how modern shampoo formulations work.

Kerastase concern

The good people at Kerastase have a different theory, however. We quote:

No, it isn’t true that shampoos don’t work after some time, Karen Ong, brand manager for Kerastase and Redken, says. Like skin, hair and scalp conditions change due to internal and external aggressions such as hormonal levels, diet, sleep and pollution, and need different solutions. That`s why it feels like the shampoo doesn’t work anymore because your needs have changed.

We seriously doubt that diet, sleep or pollution significantly impact shampoo performance. But hey, they’re entitled to their theories too. Of course another possibility is that the perception of needing to change shampoo is just psychological.

What do YOU think? Do you have to change shampoos because they burn out? Leave a comment and share your thoughts with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.

Vananners is vexed… Why does shampoo lather better the second time? Especially with those ’sulfate-free’ ones. The first time you shampoo it may not lather that well but when you follow up (right away) with a second shampooing the lather is crazy! Also, do you think it’s beneficial to shampoo twice in the shower? I have been doing that lately because I only shampoo about 2-3 times a week and want to get a good, deep clean while I’m doing it.

The Left Brain responds:

Lather is a function of three key variables: the type of surfactant(s) used in the formula, the concentration at which they are used, and the presence of “anti-foam” agents. Anti-foamers are typically oily materials that “use up” some of the surfactants ability to produce lather.

Lather, rinse, repent

The first time you wash your hair you’re removing all (or at least most of) the anti-foamers (dirt and oils) that have built up in your hair since the last time you shampooed. These oily materials reduce how much lather the shampoo can create. (This lather reduction is particularly acute for sulfate-free shampoos because their lathering capacity is lower.) The second time you suds up, you get a lot more lather because the anti-foam agents have been washed away.

Washing your hair twice is not a bad idea but it depends on how dirty your hair is and how much residue from styling products is present. Washing twice may also increase your need to use a conditioner.

How many times do YOU typically wash your hair? Leave a comment and share your shampoo secrets with the rest of the Beauty Brains community.