Science-y Hair Blog

Monday, July 15, 2024

Shower Filters Fact and Fiction: Part 3 - Filters!

Here we go with the fun part!

If you've decided you want a shower filter, or if you have one but you're not sure it's quite right, we'll hit some of the important things to look for.

We've covered what shower filters can and cannot do, and why you might want one in Part 1 and Part 2.

CAN: Remove chlorine. ✅

Alter pH (with various consequences). ✅

CANNOT: Soften water ❌

This page may contain some affiliate links for which I may receive a small commission when clicked at no cost to you and without revealing your personal details to me. Clicking them helps support the Science-y Hair Blog - thank you. :)

Shower Filters, Fact and Fiction: Part 2

Things to know before choosing a shower filter

This post is about things you need to know about your water, to help you decide what whether you need a shower filter and if so, what you might want it to do.

1) pH

Some shower filters raise pH, some may lower it. This is not a precision adjustment. But you need to know this before choosing a filter, and here's why:

The water coming out of your tap has its own pH, and that can vary a lot from place to place. That also affects how the filter will perform.

Different pH water can affect how hair products feel in your hair, and how your hair responds to them.

Lower pH (in products) can reduce frizz in hair.

Hard water minerals are more likely to build up on hair the higher your water's pH. (1) If you have hard water, a filter that raises the pH may not be helpful.

Conditioner might also have greater bonding to hair with a pH that is above neutral (neutral is 7). Not that we want to try to manipulate pH to change this. But if you do have a filter that raises the water's pH and it made your conditioner work better on conditioner-loving hair, that might be part of the story.

First, learn your water’s pH level. If you live in an urban area, check with the water distribution or city water treatment facility. In the US, water quality information is required to be made available to consumers. If they have a website, check the water quality report online. The pH is often (but not always) listed in the report. If it isn’t, you may be able to search for “advanced water quality” data. Or contact them and ask nicely!

If you have a well, you can test the pH yourself. There are instructions below.

How to test pH of filtered shower water? Capture some cool or slightly warm water in a cup. Set it on a level surface, and dip the test strip or meter in the still water. The follow the instructions of the manufacturer.

Compare the filtered shower water's pH to your tap water from the sink. If they're not the same - your shower filter is altering the pH.

2) Chlorine. Does your water smell like bleach? Does it smell like a swimming pool? Only once in a while, or often?

You are smelling the chlorine disinfectant in the water. These can be dehydrating and damaging to hair. You might consider using a shower filter for your hair if:

You need to prevent hair-breakage.
You heat-style your hair regularly. (Blow dryer on high/hot, flat iron, curling iron).
Your hair is highlighted or you dye your hair.
You have very long hair (the ends have been through a lot!).
Your hair has a lot of sun damage. Psst - please wear a hat.

How to learn shower pH: 🚿

1) No well, no filter on your shower-head and no whole-house water treatment system? Then the pH that your water treatment facility provides is also your tap water pH.

2) If you do have a well, or you use a shower filter or a whole-house water treatment system, do a pH test using pH strips or a pH meter.

I'm happy with these pH strips. Though they don't go above pH 9 (and my water does!), they're quite sensitive to pH, hardness, and chlorine. Test strips made for aquariums or swimming pools are good option. ➤➤➤

Test pH like a champ: Collect some cool to barely warm water from your shower in a glass or bowl and set it on a level surface. Dip the test strip or pH meter in the water for the recommended amount of time and read the result as the package directions indicate.

Now you're ready for Part 3! Which will be about choosing a filter to meet your needs.

1) Evans AO, Marsh JM, Wickett RR. The uptake of water hardness metals by human hair. J Cosmet Sci. 2011 Jul-Aug;62(4):383-91. PMID: 21982353.

Thursday, July 4, 2024

Shower Filters, Facts and Fiction: Part 1

Where to start. There is so much mixed-up information about shower filters out there. Which isn't helped by the fact that some brands make claims they cannot possibly achieve - but they still help even though they don't claim to do what they claim to do. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2024

Most filter claims are all about hard water, purifying water, or softening it.

Softening water - a visual summary

Only a water softener you add salt to can actually soften water. "Soften" has a fixed definition in water-treatment, and also a less-clear one that is used in marketing.

- True water softening: A cation-exchange resin pulls out hard-water minerals (the cations, right!? Mostly Calcium and Magnesium) and trades them for salt. Softened water tends to feel a little slippery, whereas naturally soft water may not. A water softener is usually a large-ish appliance that softens all or most of the water for your entire home. There is only one brand of in-shower softener (Showerstick by Watersticks) and yes, you have to add salt to it - weekly for most homes.

- Pseudo-softening: Many shower filters claim to soften water. They aren't sticking to the water-treatment definition. They're making up their own. Maybe it removes chlorine, sediment, many can do that quite well. But to change actual hardness minerals? Nope. Maybe it claims to make your shower more alkaline with ceramic balls! You know how bleach solution feels slippery? Baking soda dissolved in water feels a little slippery too. It's the alkaline quality that does that - and for a reason that has nothing to do with removing hard-water-minerals. Slippery and soft are not the same. Alkaline solutions react with the oils on your skin - breaking them down - it feels slippery.

There is so much to unpack here. I'm giving a green light (💚) to the things that filters CAN DO that are great for your hair. And rolling my eyes at the dodgier claims (🙄).

💚 Removing or reducing chlorine disinfectant. This is great for your skin and hair. Even if you don't have hard water, if you have city water, you have chlorine disinfectant. That can be drying and somewhat damaging to hair and can irritate skin.
💚 Preserving hair color. This can result from reducing chlorine. More about that below.

🙄 Create alkaline shower water. Or "increase shower pH." Or "balance shower pH." Maybe that will make the water feel more slippery. Maybe that feels "softer?" There really isn't any good data supporting a higher pH as being better for skin or hair. Skin's natural pH is on the acidic side, and hair is at its most resilient at a pH that is around 6 (I have a wading-into-the-weeds post about that here). Tap water's pH can be all over the place - check with your water-treatment facility to find yours.

🙄 Balance water pH? How can an in-the-box filter "know:" 1) The starting pH of the water. 2) What the end-goal is? 3) How to adjust for that?
If your water has a lower pH, it's possible that raising it with a shower filter might change the way products feel in your hair. But see the previous bullet point.

Why is hard water drying to skin and hair? I have a post about how minerals (hardness) deposit both IN and ON your hair here. That can cause a stiff or rough feeling, inflexibility, and dull appearance. Hard water minerals increase skin pH because they are alkaline when in solution. It takes skin hours to recover from that. Hair cannot adjust its pH - and while hair behaves differently than skin, those minerals are rather like having tiny amounts of gritty road dust in your hair....Things we call "dryness." ©Science-y Hair Blog 2024

Hard water also interacts with many detergents, making them more difficult to rinse off. This is dehydrating to hair because those same detergents penetrate into hair and remove the protective oils and proteins under the cuticles. It's worse for sensitive skin, because that can cause prolonged trans-epidermal water loss. Which basically means your skin is can't retain water and - if skin were a plant - would be rapidly wilting. Instead - it gets dry and itchy and can become inflamed in sensitive individuals. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2024

Is chlorine damaging to hair? Repeated chlorine exposure in swimmers (which is more-concentrated and longer-duration than showering) show us that chlorine in water, which can and does get deep inside hair, damages hair proteins on the inside, damages cuticles (also made from protein) on the outside, degrades and removed oils on the surface of hair (and by extension in the cuticle layers), and strips color (natural pigments or dye). ©Science-y Hair Blog 2024

In the shower - repeated exposure to chlorine in water is much lower than for the swimmers in the linked studies, but you can take away the idea that chlorine in tap water has damage-potential for hair. And if your hair is very tangle-prone or susceptible to breakage, or you frequently heat-style or highlight, color or otherwise chemically process your hair, chlorine might be more likely to make your hair feel less healthy.

Part 2 will cover types of shower filters, how to match that to your water situation, what you might not need, and some nagging about changing the filters as recommended. Because you might be able to save money on products by installing the right filter.

Part 3 has information about which filter media to choose, and a curated list of shower filters.

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Protein Sensitivity: Perspective

I have a little bit of social science to get out of the way. And then some ways to creatively work with protein - hopefully to find something you can use for hair that seems protein-sensitive - and save money on the way!

This page contains some affiliate links for which I may receive a small commission when clicked at no cost to you and without revealing your personal information to me. Clicking them helps support the Science-y Hair Blog - thank you. :)

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What is protein sensitivity in hair?

It's when protein-containing products seem to make hair stiff, tangly, dry, rough, express an altered curl pattern, experience increased breakage. And the result can be so frustrating that it's easier to just avoid protein than try to give it a second chance. Totally understandable.

Coarse hair (wide individual hairs) can often be protein-sensitive because anything that makes hair a little more inflexible will be noticed quickly in hair that is already less flexible (than average / Medium hair).

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The social / communication part

I've seen people claim "protein sensitivity" isn't a problem because they haven't seen unequivocal evidence of it. Or that, "Hair is made of protein, how can it be protein-sensitive?"

This misses the point completely. Because this is a communication issue. And it's a personal experience and perception issue. Sometimes consumers (and consumers talking to consumers) get on one side, professionals get on another side and don't listen to each other.

As consumers, we don't talk and think in terms of things that reach a threshold of clinical proof and broad generalizations. If my hair reacts badly to a product, I have no way to demonstrate statistical significance of that. I am a sample of one person with ornery hair and moderately hard/high pH water. And I don't like what THAT PRODUCT did to my hair and I'm sorry I spent money on it. End of discussion. 😘

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The product formulation and "why use protein" part

Why bother with protein at all? Because it can reduce breakage in damaged hair, or kinky-coily (Type 4) hair types (by stabilizing the inner protein structure). Because it can promote hydration and flexibility - so it helps reduce frizz. Because that can improve sheen. Because it can help support a consistent curl pattern in curly and wavy hair textures.

But - buy a protein mask at the store and it has a bunch of other ingredients too!

Let's say you buy a "Deep repair masque with (trendy things here) and protein." And it contains ingredients you don't normally use, or in concentrations you don't normally use. And your hair ends up feeling dry or tangly or stiff. Oops! I'll never use protein again!

BUT WAIT!

Back this hair-mask up. What else is going on here?

Did the product contain far too much protein? (Were there 3 or 4+ in there? Near the first 5-6 ingredients in the list?)
Did it contain proteins that may not have been a good match for your hair?
Were there other ingredients that might accumulate (deposit) on hair, like butters, lanolin, lecithin?
Were there more oils than you normally use, or oils you have never used before?
Were there herbal extracts or botanical ingredients you've never used?

Any of those could have contributed to a bad result.

The "A Christmas Story" (1983 movie) effect

The "classic" movie where you learn (if you're not from a place where it gets cold) that more layers of things (like warm clothes) makes other things (like kids) less flexible.

The more extras we add to a product along with protein, the more potential there is to create an unpleasant result. If you wanted some extra protein - but you also got some polymer-conditioners, extra castor oil, extra shea butter and coconut oil in amounts you might not normally use - that could create inflexibility. Because protein deposits on and in hair - but so do conditioners and oils and other ingredients. And you may not have been prepared for that. Nor do you have a way to isolate the offending ingredients!

Gloves as additives in a product.
Left: Me, wearing a thin, single layer of flexible, knit glove. So flexible!
Center: 2 layers of gloves - this feels pretty stiff! Hard to bend my hand.
Right: 3 layers of gloves is stiff, inflexible and unpleasant. Not feeling healthy.
They're all fairly light, flexible gloves on their own. But combined they create a bad result!

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"Hack" your way to affordable protein without too many surprises

I'm all about mixing and matching and feeling victorious (with a side-order of hyperbole) when I can make a single product learn new tricks.

If you have a conditioner (or cleanser) you like, you don't need another product to try protein. You need a protein additive that you can put in a product you already trust. Just for a single use so you don't have to make a commitment.

If your hair is protein-sensitive, you probably want to lean towards lower to medium molecular-weight additives that aren't too concentrated.

Add between 1-2 drops of additive per teaspoon of conditioner (or 3-5 drops per tablespoon / 15 ml).

Use the product as you normally would!*

* This is another place where many of us go wrong. Don't try something new, and then complicate things by leaving it on longer than usual. So many things can interact and muddy the results! Do yourself a favor - keep it simple. That makes it easier to succeed.

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Some additives for low-drama. protein-added hair care. (These are all low or medium molecular weight).

Aminotouch Natural Pure Protein Treatment (large bottle - will last for a while)

HairLab Curl Define (This does contain a polymer-type conditioner in to reduce frizz, the proteins are very nice though. For some people, that conditioner might create a dry or coated feeling with repeated use).

Curly Hair Protein Drops

Pantene Pro-V “Hydrate” Mix-In: Also with Bis-Aminopropyl Dimethicone, a conditioner based on amino acids and silicone.

Pantene Pro-V “Shine” Mix-In: Also with Bis-Aminopropyl Dimethicone, a conditioner based on amino acids and silicone.

Sunday, May 26, 2024

Does Your Hair Do The Splits?

Split ends are the result of mechanical damage. Mechanical damage comes from: Brushing, detangling, sleeping, ponytails, braids and up-styles or protective styles. Heat-styling adds the protein-damaging element of heat to the mechanical damage of styling. Sunlight exposure and washing create unique forms of mechanical damage because it makes cuticles shrink.

Green circles: Interior fibrous cortex.
Grayline: Cuticle layers.
Yellow line:
Epicuticle.

Our hair’s inner cortex is a protein fiber is strong, but nature gives it a couple extra layers of defense - the cuticle, which is hard like thin little micro-fingernails, and the epicuticle, which is oil-based and bonded to outside of the cuticles.

The cuticles are like shields against mechanical force - dispersing forces over the hair-surface. Preventing damage to the interior. That’s why there are multiple layers of cuticles - if some break, the ones underneath can still do the job. If something sharp hits your fingernail - it hurts, but it doesn't cut your fingertip. The same concept applies to cuticles protecting the inside of your hair.

The epicuticle is a chemical barrier against water moving in (waterlogged hair cortex is easily over-stretched), and against water moving out because dehydrated hair is brittle and vulnerable to breakage.

When epicuticle and cuticles
are damaged, the interior
of hair has much less protection.

If we lose the epicuticle from UV, from heat-styling, highlights, permanent color, permanent waving or straightening - hair is more easily waterlogged or dehydrated.

When we lose cuticles to brushing, to years of wear and tear, accelerated by heat-styling and chemical treatments - the inside of the hair is vulnerable to - well - fraying.

Let’s break mechanical damage into 2 categories: Force and Friction.

Force on hair is pressure, like from sleeping, leaning back on long hair, a shoulder-strap on your hair, a tight headband, stretching during detangling or styling. Force can cause stress at the surface and below.

With severe cuticle loss,
pieces of cortex fibers
begin to fray under force
and with friction.

Friction is rubbing - of hairs against each other during sleep, as you move, during detangling, washing and styling. Friction causes stress mostly at the surface.

When you see split ends or mid shaft splits - your hair may have lost its protective barriers. This usually happens on the ends. But it can happen anywhere there is a vulnerable place. For example - a place where you always wear a ponytail holder, or where you twirl your hair with your fingers. Or a place where there is kinking and therefore uneven dispersal of stress over the hair-surface and within the hair fiber.

That’s where hair is going to split.

Left: split end. Right: Mid-shaft splits. Top is a split,
lower is a vulnerable area beginning to fray that will
progress into a mid-shaft split.

Left: Force, represented by combing (impact, tension).
Right, friction where hairs cross (blue arrows).

How To Prevent Splits In Your Hair

- Coconut oil use (twice per week) reduces breakage in vulnerable areas near the ends - this may reduce split ends in the long term. Other oils did not produce the same benefit, and mixtures of coconut oil and other oils are intermediate in reducing breakage.

- In the same study, a conditioning cream-oil mixture applied to hair 30 minutes before washing provided substantial benefits for potentially reduced splitting as well.

- The authors allude to the penetrating effect of coconut oil, and the attraction to proteins. Other oils penetrate hair, and so may be beneficial. Coconut oil is polar and attracted to hair proteins… But a combination of a conditioner + a penetrating oil that is not coconut oil (avocado, sunflower, shea butter) might work to get the “attraction to hair proteins” benefit from the cationic conditioner. Part of the protective effect is the occlusive effect - and an oil+conditioner is a good occlusive as you go into "the wash cycle." 😁

- Protein, such as Hydrolyzed keratin, can (temporarily) “fill in” gaps in damaged hair surfaces and protect hair. Medium-weight/size proteins like Keratin, Wheat, Oat, Soy, Quinoa, Milk - can also reduce breakage by (temporarily) stabilizing the internal protein structure of hair.

Short Story on Products that Reduce Split Ends:

Using coconut oil applied hours before washing, or used in hair styling can help prevent split ends.

Using a hair-penetrating oil (other than coconut) mixed with a little conditioner as a pre-wash treatment or in a leave-on product may prevent splits. Do you have a conditioner or hair mask with oils in it? Use that!

Use of Hydrolyzed proteins and other "bond-building" ingredients may reduce split ends.

Reduce Force:

Try not to sleep with your body weight on long hair. If you must - wear a sleep bonnet or use a slippery pillowcase (silk, satin) to reduce friction and distribute pressure.

Lubricate dry hair before detangling if dry-detangling works best for you.

Otherwise, detangle hair when wet, with conditioner applied (to reduce force and friction).

Don’t use tight ponytail holders, and/or not always in the same place. Avoid trapping your hair under the straps of backpacks or shoulder-bags.

Protect hair from the sun (hats, scarves, UV protectants).

Use heat-protectants if you high-heat style your hair.

Be consistent with deep conditioning and / or protein and / or oil treatments if you heat-style, highlight, perm, or color-treat your hair.

In other words - don't choose treatments or products that don't fit your lifestyle or budget. Make it easy to succeed.

If your hair is long, or even long-ish, give the ends extra care with conditioners and treatments.

For multi-day hair, prepare your hair before going to bed. That could be a hydration spray, a little leave-in conditioner rubbed in your palms, or a drop of oil applied to the ends. To get through the night - hair needs to be flexible and lubricated.

Sunday, May 12, 2024

Ceramides in Hair Care

Ceramides are part of normal skin sebum. One of their jobs is to act as part of the upper layer of skin to keep skin cells together, forming a barrier between the outside world and your skin. In SKIN, ceramides have a critical function in preventing water loss from skin, and in reducing inflammation.

In HAIR, ceramides are distributed with skin oils (sebum), though it’s possible they are incorporated into hair as it grows. In your hair, ceramides have an excellent lubricating effect. As an individual “ingredient” of sebum - ceramides tend to be on the “solid at room temperature” side for oils - which is different than in your skin.

This page contains some affiliate links for which I may receive a small commission when clicked at no cost to you and without revealing any of your personal information to me. Clicking them helps support the Science-y Hair Blog - thank you. :)

Ceramide - generic molecular structure

HIT THE BRAKES! Let’s talk about the “skin-ification of hair care.” Where we begin projecting skin-care ingredients benefits on to hair-care. It makes sense, to a point. Scalp oils are meant for hair too. But - we may tend to be distracted by ingredient of the moment. The one that is new and may be great, but isn’t the only ingredient that does what it does. It’s just in the spotlight right now.

So whereas products with ceramides have been a huge benefit for folks with some skin conditions, and those are products we didn’t have 20 years ago, that doesn’t mean they’re going to be the same game-changers when translated into hair-care. The functions of an ingredients like ceramide interact with and provide feedback to your skin that can change how it functions. Skin is alive and even the layer of dead cells has the ability to be “managed” by the living cells underneath.

Hair can’t do that. Which isn’t to say ceramides are useless for hair - quite the opposite! But it is meant to remind you that we’re attracted to new and shiny things that are getting lots of attention. Marketing uses your attraction to novelty to get you to buy. So we’ll look at how this works, but do it with a grain of salt.

What can ceramides do for hair?

In African-Amercian hair, if ceramides (and the other oily substances that go with them) are removed, which can happen through chemical processing and shampooing, hair-breakage increases. Adding back a ceramide can reduce breakage, according to this study. Their ability to lubricate hair reduces both force and friction on hair, and their ability to stop porous hair losing water may provide this effect.

Damaged hair (permed, bleached and relaxed), that was soaked in a 1% solution with ceramide-containing lipids retained moisture better and resisted breakage in this study - of oils extracted from wool. (It was 4% Cholesterol and 22% Ceramides for those who love the nerdy details).

Neither of these studies quite reproduced the normal way we apply products to our hair. But they do indicate there is a benefit to be had.

The kind of ceramide used in a hair product may not matter, considering hair can contain a multitude of different ceramides. It may be the structure of those oily substances we call “ceramide” that matters most in hair cosmetics.

Cholesterol (I promised to bring cholesterol back into the conversation) - works along with ceramides, and in a similar way. They go together, functioning in similar ways to protect hair from breakage.

Other Ways To Approach Ceramides:

If you do not use those intense chemical processes you can prevent loss of ceramides and other very hydrophobic (water-repelling) oils from your hair. There’s a very easy way to do that - no extra steps required: Use a shampoo that contains a cationic polymer - one that performed well in testing was Polyquaternium-10. This ingredient is in many shampoos already as a detangler and conditioner. You can find a list of shampoos - with that ingredient indicated here. I promise - it's not hard at all to find a shampoo containing Polyquaternium-10.

This ingredient prevents the loss of ceramides and cholesterol from hair during shampooing because it is a cationic polymer that interferes with the way that detergents can remove ceramides, cholesterol, and other longer, complex oily molecules.

The other component of oils - the shorter molecules or the ones nearer the surface can be protected from loss during washing by using milder surfactants - ones that don’t over-strip the skin (or hair) of oils nor penetrate the hair deeply.

Take Home Messages:

Let’s take a really rational look at why you might consider ceramides in hair-care.

Damaged hair: Relaxed/straightened, Highlighted, Permed hair - may benefit from ceramides. Especially if your hair is already susceptible to breakage and you don't already have a product that works.

Medicated shampoos, prefer clarifying shampoo: If you need to use medicated shampoos and they are drying to your hair, especially if you have Type 4 (kinky, textured) hair - ceramides might help prevent breakage from those stronger detergents. But so can ingredients like Amodimethicone, or check out products designed for Porous Hair, and "Bond-Building products" too.

Picky hair: Maybe (just maybe!) if your hair is hard to shop for - if it doesn’t do well with lots of ingredients that normally reduce breakage (coconut oil, sunflower oil, proteins) - ceramides might be an option. But product-options may limit you on the "picky hair" front.

Plant oils and ceramides: Ceramides can be derived from plant oils - and those can do a great job in cosmetics. But plant oils are not ceramides in the way we’re talking about them here.

Other strategies: