Ingredient questions

Gretchen

Hey gals,

I know you all miss having those great articles from our curly chemist. Well, drumroll....., she's coming back! This time she'll write a column, answering your questions.

To get her started, please forward me questions you might have relating to ingredients in hair care products. Not so much botanical ingredients, though. We've got other freelancers for that.

Anyway, email me at [email protected] and we'll get them to her.

Kurlee

Yay, that is great news!

I have a question.. I have been looking for a good shampoo lately and find it very hard to figure out from the ingredients list if a shampoo is harsh or not. A lot of the times the ingredients lists more or less look the same on a whole line of shampoos and the brand claim they are different. So is there really a way to know what a shampoo is like from the list or do I just have to try it out?
(I know that sulfates are harsher than coca. betain and so on, but two pretty similar looking shampoos can be different anyways it seems.)
Hope you understand my question.

ETA: misspelled "claim"

Efrizzabeth

Hot about listing in order easiest to hardest to remove silicones, polyquats, etc., with what cleanser?

I'm thinking the repeat questions about such can be answered by an article. Especially if the person finds it on their own & thus doesn't have to post. Or if they don't look & do post, a link can be provided to something that would hopefully be archived. This may eliminate confusion brought on by one/more posters who think or hear one thing compared to the next poster.

:?

Texas Mama

Yeah....what Kurlee said.

Gretchen

Good ideas, gals. Keep 'em coming!

laurabeth33

What about what's needing in a clarifying poo to know hard water/chlorine is removed--like an end of summer article? There's been a lot of debate on the board about this and whether ACV removes hard minerals from hair, and I'd love to know for sure (since I'm not 100%).

artbabe

I would LOVE to see an article about curl-enhancing ingredients--what to look for, how they work, how they differ!

Snarls

YAY! This news just makes my day! I love those ingredients articles!

I know there hasn't been a lot of research done on sunscreens in hair products, but I'm curious about how effective sunscreen ingredients in hair products are, whether or not they buildup (need shampoo to remove) and whether or not they are drying.

To echo laurabeth33....any help on dealing with hard water (what ingredients to look for, how to cope) would be extremely welcome.

And just because I'm greedy...I'd love to see a "no-poo primer" that focuses on specific, common ingredients that can build up and what's needed to remove them.

A huge THANK YOU FOR COMING BACK to the Ingredients Guru!!!

liv2dance4

Where will these articles be posted?

Iwantcurlyhair

Yay! I love reading chemistry articles about hair. This is great news! I'm not sure if there has already been an article on this but I would love to learn more about PH levels in hair care products. What ingredients in products raise/lower the PH and how do you know if your hair is at a healthy PH level.

ljely

I'm new, and I keep seeing stuff about how some hair loves protein and some hair doesn't. It might be very basic knowledge for those who have been around longer, but how about something about proteins? And how do you tell whether or not your hair likes them?

Also, maybe an article about the different categories of ingredients in products. Like what are the cleansers, the moisturizers, the proteins, etc.?

Thanks,
Laura

Kurlee

Iwantcurlyhair wrote:

Yay! I love reading chemistry articles about hair. This is great news! I'm not sure if there has already been an article on this but I would love to learn more about PH levels in hair care products. What ingredients in products raise/lower the PH and how do you know if your hair is at a healthy PH level.

There is one from April 2005:
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlcolumns/articles.php?id=427

Kurlee

ljely wrote:

I'm new, and I keep seeing stuff about how some hair loves protein and some hair doesn't. It might be very basic knowledge for those who have been around longer, but how about something about proteins? And how do you tell whether or not your hair likes them?

Also, maybe an article about the different categories of ingredients in products. Like what are the cleansers, the moisturizers, the proteins, etc.?

Thanks,
Laura

Proteins from August 2005: http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlcolumns/articles.php?id=469

Common ingredients: http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlcolumns/articles.php?id=326

(and there are more.. They might not answer all of your question though.)
:P (Not trying to com across like a know-it-all here. I just looked through the artikles really well a couple of weeks ago. )

Gretchen, what about having a link to these articles in the general forum? There are many newbies that doesn't know they are there kinda. It took me a while to find out they are there when I was new too.

ljely

Thanks for the links--I had not even noticed the articles section in Curl411. Duh--it's at the top of the list. Having them listed by topic might be nice, though, so each one would be easier to find.


Laura

Kurlee

ljely wrote:

Thanks for the links--I had not even noticed the articles section in Curl411. Duh--it's at the top of the list. Having them listed by topic might be nice, though, so each one would be easier to find.


Laura

I agree. The ingredients ones are mixed in with a bunch of others kinda. You have to know they are there and go through them all to find what you are looking for.
Sorry for guano-ing the thread here. :P

Suburbanbushbabe

Echo on the hard water fighting ingredients

I find starches in many of my favorite curl products. Would love to know what role they play.

Good natural ingredients to look for instead of cones, that can make your hair look good like cones (smooth, shiny, no frizz--like that) but don't dry it out or build up.

Iwantcurlyhair

Kurlee wrote:

Iwantcurlyhair wrote:

Yay! I love reading chemistry articles about hair. This is great news! I'm not sure if there has already been an article on this but I would love to learn more about PH levels in hair care products. What ingredients in products raise/lower the PH and how do you know if your hair is at a healthy PH level.

There is one from April 2005:
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlcolumns/articles.php?id=427

Thanks so much for the link.

CelticCurls

I 2nd the requests for info on the nature of different 'cones & what kind of cleanser is required to remove each, and on the different types of proteins and the differences between wheat, silk, etc: which build up & cause stiffness, which are easily absorbed. And some examples of products containing the different types.

Kurlee

Not sure if this fits here but I am wondering if a shampoo really can be moisturizing for the hair? Some claim they are.

And I would like to know about Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate. Is it harsh? If I am not misstaken it is one of the cleansers in Curl Junkies shampoos and I have found another shampoo that has it that I like. Haven't been able to find much info about it online though.

one way street

Karenmc3 wrote:

Good natural ingredients to look for instead of cones, that can make your hair look good like cones (smooth, shiny, no frizz--like that) but don't dry it out or build up.

I second that one. Oh and if you could... can you make the articles easy to understand for dummies like me who don't really understand all that sciency lanuage. (Although I do LOVE science!)

laurabeth33

How do oils (citrus and otherwise) and proteins (w/o heat) fade/remove hair color? ETA: And when can they remove color (just in the 1st ten days after coloring, at any time, etc).

Suburbanbushbabe

laurabeth33 wrote:

How do oils and proteins (w/o heat) fade/remove hair color?

Ooh ---good one. Not just oils and proteins, but any color-fading ingredients (I've heard glycerin is a guilty one).

Curlycaroline

I'd love some sort of chart--what thick haired curlyheads need in a shampoo or conditioner, what fine haired curlyheads need, what wavy girls need, etc. etc. I'm totally confused about cones, proteins, etc. etc. I'd love some sort of mix and match system so I could say, Hey! Here's exactly what a color-treated, fine-haired, conditioning wash person needs!

Caroline

jennyfurrens

I'm also really keen to see an article on the different types of cones, ranking in hardest to easier remove and which cleansers are needed to remove which ones. Also the severity of each cone in general. I have a conditioner that has tri...cone in it (really far down the list) and I'm scared to use it!

Suburbanbushbabe

What are these and how CG or friendly/non-friendly or coating or hard to rinse out are they?

Microwaxes
Methylparaben (all parabens)
Polystyrene


The last one sounds like a foam coffee cup! I found it in GF Brilliantine Shine Cream-Gel

kurlz

how about somehting about oils?
im just so confused about them?
i know theyr good in dt's and scalp massages
but what about actually leaving them in the hair ?
i always hear oil are coating and leaving them in can keep the good stuff from getting in (kinda like silicones)
so is it tru? oh, and if so do they build up?
whata bout when u mix them with gel or cream wud that "emulsify" them?

csb

Sodium Chloride is getting higher and higher on the ingredient lists of shampoos I've been seeing lately (i.e. Sunsilk, L'oreal Vive shampoos). I know it is usually a preservative, but when it's in the top half of an ingredient list, I wonder if it roughs up the cuticle or strips hair color. I'd love to know.

redcelticcurls

Karenmc3 wrote:

laurabeth33 wrote:

How do oils and proteins (w/o heat) fade/remove hair color?

Ooh ---good one. Not just oils and proteins, but any color-fading ingredients (I've heard glycerin is a guilty one).

I'd like to see something on this too. I had to give up my much loved CJ Hibiscus Banana Honey Leave In since the glycerin (and perhaps honey) so high up on the list turned my red hair blonde.

laurabeth33

How can we know if a product is "color-safe" or is this just a marketing thing? I know silicones coat the hair and seal in the color, but would a clarifying shampoo remove both the silicones and color when used, if a silicone "bonds" with the color? What is the relationship between color and products left on the hair (leave-ins, creams, gels, etc) as far as what fades color (glycerin, I've most recently heard, oils, proteins only in a DT or at all, citrus extracts, etc)?

csb

Good question, laurabeth!

mrfhnl

Ok, so I just read the article on proteins (thanks for the link) but I still don't understand why, if proteins are so good for hair, my hair feels like straw afterward. And why if one needs to DT after a protien treatment, in what way are they possibly good for hair?
Only good for damaged hair and not for healthy hair? :?