Got some news about deep conditioning for you that you're going to like! Why? Because we're in a better position to say why and how something works than ever before. putting bricks and leopards in your hair will not help
"Deep Condition" usually means we want an extra dose of flexibility, softness, bounce, shine, "life" and detangling ease. But search online for a minute and it can seem like this is going to be an elaborate process. It doesn't have to be, though if you get great results from longer treatments and it works for your lifestyle, and you enjoy it, I wouldn't dare suggest you stop doing that. putting bricks and leopards in your hair will not help
What's in this post:
What are the main components of conditioners that make deep conditioning more intense? (1)
Where do these work in your hair? (2)
How long does it take for each component to be maximally effective (and what if I want to adjust this for more or less conditioning)? (3)
How do I adjust to make a deep conditioning treatment more or less intense? (4)
Here we have our main components. They actually come in different shapes and sizes and can have different effects on different areas of the hair.
Oils and emollients: Detangling, softness, smoothing, shine, and increase the ability of conditioners to bind to the surface of hair. This includes the creamy fatty alcohols (Cetyl alcohol, Cetearyl alcohol, Stearyl alcohol) that thicken conditioners and leave a silky feel in hair. And also oils from plants or seeds or nuts. It also includes silicone emollients like Amodimethicone. These ingredients are active at the surface and can move into deeper sections o the hair, depending on the ingredient.
Humectants help moisture (literally talking about water here) stay in the hair longer. They attract moisture. Maybe they increase your dry-time, but they also keeps your hair better hydrated between washes. Many of these ingredients also do some bond-repair, stabilizing hair-proteins to reduce breakage and split ends. Humectants include Glycerin, Propanediol/Propylene glycol, Panthenol, Betaine, Amino acids, Proteins, Peptides, Sodium (or Zinc) PCA, Lactic acid, Aloe vera, Honey, Sorbitol.
Cationic conditioners have a few jobs. They help keep the product from separating (they're emulsifiers). They have a positive electrostatic charge (hence the plus-signs) and bond to the surface of hair - which has more negative electrostatic charges. That reduces static electricity that causes flyaway hair, friction (tangling) and frizz. These ingredients also help the Emollients and other active ingredients stay with hair after rinsing, in a nearly invisible, micro-thin layer for softness and smoothness.
Proteins and amino acids (and peptides) add support and strength. Many protein-type active ingredients can stabilize the bonds within hair to reduce breakage and split ends. Protein can act as a humectant and is especially helpful in dry climates, for damaged hair (sun, pool, highlights, heat-styling, hair dye), or add extra support/volume for Fine and Medium hair. putting bricks and leopards in your hair will not help
Bond Repair ingredients are a diverse category. Some are humectants, some are amino acid or protein-based. Some are more like Cationic conditioners. All of them work either inside the hair or at the surface (or both) to support damaged areas temporarily, or to smooth the hair's surface.
2. Here is a hair, and next to it are the individual components from before (but in real life they're all blended). Okay, apply your conditioner. We'll wait.
The next image will show you where those components go - on the surface of hair, inside the hair, or both.
On the left you're looking at a hair from the outside. On the right, you're looking at a cross-section, like you sliced through a hair.
Based on research with emollients, conditioners, proteins, humectants and bond-repair ingredients, this image represents where in your hair those ingredients can go relative to the outside and inside of your hair.
- Cationic conditioners stay (mostly) on the outside. Some can seep under cuticles, and some are small enough to get inside hair - but mostly these are on the outside where they do lots of great things.
- Emollients may stay on the outside, and some can move inside hair.
- Humectants may stay on the outside, but many can easily move inside hair to preserve hydration from within. Great for dry climates!
- Some bond-repair ingredients (if not most) are active inside hair, but they also can work on the outside (the cuticles) to help keep them feeling smooth. Less friction, more shine.
- Proteins may stay on the outside, or they may move inside hair, depending on the protein. Small to Medium proteins move inside hair. The larger proteins tend to form a water-hugging film.
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| Adapted from Robbins et al., 1992, Ran et al., 2009 |
We can adjust intensity several different ways.
Thicker products usually contain higher concentrations of fatty alcohols - which count as emollients here. They may also contain more Emollients in general. The chart below ↓ shows you that the higher the Emollient content (darker blue), the more Conditioner product is adsorbed to hair (light blue). This chart is an adaptation of ratios for visual representation of this concept. The greater emollient content facilitates conditioner adsorption to hair. Emollients add their own softness and smoothing as well.©Science-y Hair Blog do not copy
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| Adapted from VanNugyen et al., 1992. Notes to follow. |
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| Adapted from VanNugyen et al., 1992 |
Using gentle heat can potentially double the intensity of your conditioner. See the chart - 95°F (35°C) is all it took to do that. That is near your body-temperature. No need for a high-heat cap or hair dryer. Trap in that body heat.
| Highest intensity options (do all) | Moderate intensity, option 1: | Moderate Intensity Option 2: | Moderate Intensity Option 3: | Busy, no extra time, low maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use heat | Use heat | Use heat | ||
| Use a rich product with emollients | Use a rich product with emollients | Use a rich product with emollients | ||
| Longer treatment time | Longer treatment time (10-15 minutes, up to 30) | Longer treatment time (10-15 minutes, up to 30) | Longer treatment time (but only 3-5 minutes) | |
| Humectants or Bond-repair! | Humectants or Bond-repair! | Humectants or Bond-repair! | Humectants or Bond-repair! | Humectants/Proteins or Bond-repair! More than 1 in your product is ideal. |
Journal of Cosmetic Science Vol. 4 No. 3, 259-273 September/October 1992
Assessment of the substantivity of cationic quaternary compounds to hair by potentiometric titration using the surfactant electrode.
NGHI VAN NGUYEN, DAVID W. CANNELL, ROGER A. MATHEWS, and HANS H. Y. OEI, Redken Laboratories. 1992
Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemistry Vol. 4 No. 5, p. 85-94 1994
Adsorption to keratin surfaces A: continuum between a charge-driven and a hydrophobically driven process.
C. R. ROBBINS, C. REICH, and A. PATEL
Journal of Cosmetic Science, 60, 85–95 March/April 2009
The effects of lipid penetration and removal from subsurface microcavities and cracks at the human cuticle sheath
MANUEL GAMEZ-GARCIA
Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair
Robbins, 1994. 3rd Ed. Springer-Verlag, New York
Structural investigation on damaged hair keratin treated with
ɑ,ꞵ-unsaturated Michael acceptors used as repairing agents
Michele Di Foggia, Carla Boga, Gabriele Micheletti, Benedetta Nocentini, Paola Taddei.
International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 167 (2021) 620–632
I love that there is research on this. Thanks for the info and clear summary! Do you have any idea how long it takes for glycerin to moisturize hair, esp. in a rinse off product? There is glycerin in my shampoo (and I have a bottle of glycerin, so I can always add it), I really don't want glycerin in a leave on product, as I find that it at least doubles drying time.
ReplyDeleteHi Kiki. Glycerin should (hypothetically) move into the hair shaft quickly, it's a tiny molecule. In a product, it's going to move with the product, so it's probably reasonable to think of it in the same way as a conditioner as a whole. More time or using heat allows more glycerin to move deeper into the hair. A short contact-time - like shampooing - Glycerin may reduce dehydration and make nice bubbles. If you leave a Glycerin-containing conditioner on for several minutes - some will seep into broken areas/under cuticles and provide extra hydration. With the rest of the product - it doesn't separate.
DeleteAwesome post! Packed with graphs, just the way a graph junkie like me loves it! 😄
ReplyDeleteRemember in the bond repair post how I mentioned that graph showing conditioner efficacy starts to plateau after 30 minutes? And that you had to remove it because the image usage permission changed?
I think that idea would be good to clarify here. You mention that 30 minutes is 2.6 times more intense than 5, but that might make people think there's still a big gain beyond 30 minutes—when actually, the effect just doesn't keep increasing much after that point.
Especially since the table even says "up to 30 min", it kind of makes it sound like using it for more than 30 minutes might be "bad", rather than just giving little to no extra benefit
I had a bit of fun making graphs. Excellent points all - thank you. I don't know that a longer (than 30 min.) treatment time has been tested in the same way! I'll do some more digging. Longer treatment times do work for some people. There's a trade-off, because leaving hair wet for that long can have a weakening effect. And it's kind rather inconvenient to do long treatments.
DeleteHiii, i have a problem a really big one 😭 Three years ago my hair started to feel super weird, when I washed it it felt hard and heavy as soon as the water touched my hair, no sulfate free shampoo or with mild sulfates worked for me, I remember that when I used sulfate free it didn't foam at all 🥹. I live in Peru and the water is quite hard, I was using a Garnier fructis aloe Vera shampoo for a year because it was the only one that relieved that strange sensation, however it left my hair horrible, the ingredients of that shampoo are :AQUA / WATER / EAU,SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE,COCO-GLUCOSIDE,COCO-BETAINE,PARFUM / FRAGRANCE,CITRIC ACID,GLYCERYL OLEATE,SODIUM BENZOATE,TRIETHYL CITRATE,SODIUM HYDROXIDE,HYDROXYPROPYL GUAR HYDROXYPROPYLTRIMONIUM CHLORIDE,SODIUM CHLORIDE,SALICYLIC ACID,ALOE BARBADENSIS LEAF JUICE,LINALOOL,CITRONELLOL,GERANIOL,HYDROGENATED PALM GLYCERIDES. Three months ago I stopped using that shampoo, and now I use this one from the Savital Hyaluronic Acid brand : Aqua, sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, sodium chloride. Dimethiconol glycerin, parfum, sodium benzoate, citric acid, glycol distearate, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, peg-45m, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, acrylates copolymer, disodium edta cocamide mea, amodimethicone, sodium hydroxide, mica, titanium dioxide. Ci 19140, hydrolyzed hyaluronic acid, ci 17200. Aloe barbadensis leaf extract, amyl cinnamal, benzyl alcohol, benzyl salicylate y linalool. I know it contains silicones but that shampoo makes my hair super nice, and it relieved the feeling of hardness of my hair, however I'm starting to feel my hair without volume, I think I should use a clarifying shampoo? In my country there is not much variety of shampoo in reality the most used brands are Pantene, Savital and Dove, and most have silicones including clarifying shampoos. And I have also tried using a shower filter but I didn't like it at all, when I dried my hair I could feel that the shampoo was still there :(. I have dyed hair, I noticed that it is a little damaged because it is easily tangled when it is wet and also when it is dry.
ReplyDeleteHello Alexandra in Peru! Dove makes some silicone-free shampoos, but I don't know if you have them where you live. Garnier Whole Blends has a coconut water shampoo without silicones, and Garnier Pure Clean shampoo does not contain silicones. ~~~~~~ But I wonder if the bigger problem for your hair is hard water. If that is true, then a hard water (mineral) removing rinse might help. You can scroll down this page to find "DIY Rinses" made with vinegar or Citric acid or vitamin C. (Copy the address and paste into your browser). https://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2016/03/hard-water-and-your-hair.html
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to use distilled water, I know it is hard to find.
That might help keep your hair manageable and feeling more soft.
You can also add a little sugar or honey to your conditioner to help it detangle and keep your hair soft. You can see more about that here: https://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2025/01/sugars-and-bond-repair-and-diy-bond.html
I hope one of these things helps you! -W
Thank you for answering me 🙂. I don’t know how to explain but my hair feels sticky When I try to run my fingers over my hair it just doesn't happen, It gets stuck. I’ve been like this for threes years 😭 I don’t know if is the water I mean I’ve been in Peru all my life. And I’m the only one in my family who has this problem. Even before using shampoo with silicones my hair was like that. Silicones are not the problem, rather they relieve, but i notice that it weights down my hair ( my hair is oily and density is medium) and looks flat. It’s been three months since I start using shampoo and conditioner with silicones like dimethiconol and dimethicone.
DeleteThat is very frustrating! If you had all the crazy options we have here in the 'States, I would choose a shampoo with some silicones for your hair. I think you might look for a clear shampoo - one you can see through. The Garnier Aloe shampoo is clear and green-colored? But the Satival shampoo is creamy-white? The ingredients that add the creamy, pearl-like color add weight and conditioning also (Glycol distearate). That could be causing a problem, if it makes the product a little heavy for your hair. It's a great ingredient! Just a little heavy for some of us.
DeleteThe Garnier one probably leaves your hair feeling awful because one of its detergents tends to leave a sticky, tangly feeling. It is a good formula for hard water, and that may be why it helped the hard feeling, but also left your hair feeling unpleasant.
Another guess is to try a medicated shampoo. I've had clients with sensitive skin and lots of trouble with their hair who benefitted from an anti-dandruff shampoo because it was calming to their skin. Have you used any before? Satival makes one that has silicones to detangle and *might* not be too heavy.
What other shampoos are you interested in trying?
Yes, the Garnier shampoo is clear transparent and the Savital shampo is creamy white. I've never really tried an anti-dandruff shampoo because despite having oily hair I never had dandruff. In Peru most clarifying shampoos contain a strong sulfate and dimethicone, I really don't know why they do that 😭 They shouldn’t put silicones on a clarifying shampoo it’s very contradictory. I’ve been looking and I have these options:
Delete1. Shampoo Savital Mint( with silicone)::: Aqua, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Dimethiconol, Zinc Pyrithione, Sodium Chloride, Dimethicone, Parfum, Phenoxyethanol, Carbomer, Sodium Salicylate, Sodium Hydroxide, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Citric Acid, Glycerin, Zinc Sulfate, Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil, Glycine, Niacinamide, Ci 42090, Phospholipids, Polyquaternium-16, Ci 19140, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Hydrolyzed Silk, Tocopheryl Acetate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool
2. Head and shoulders anti comezón:::: Aqua, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Xylenesulfonate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Citrate, Parfum, Menthol, Piroctone Olamine, Citric Acid, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Dimethiconol, Sodium Chloride, Dimethicone, Sodium Salicylate, Sodium Benzoate, Tetrasodium Edta, Tea Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Mentha Piperita Flower, Leaf, Stem Oil, Mentha Arvensis Leaf, Stem Oil, Trideceth 10, Benzyl Alcohol, Ci 42090, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone
3. Pantene bamboo:::: Agua, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Chloride, Ppg-2 Hydroxyethyl Coco/Isostearamide, Sodium Xylenesulfonate, Dimethiconol, Parfum, Sodium Benzoate, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Tetrasodium Edta, Hexyl Cinnamal, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Geraniol, Panthenol, Panthenyl Ethyl Ether, Histidine, Citronellol, Bambusa Vulgaris Shoot Extract, Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Vitis Vinifera Seed Extract
4. Elvive Hyaluronic Acid:::: AQUA / WATER, SODIUM LAURETH SULFATE, SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE, COCAMIDOPROPYL BETAINE, SODIUM CHLORIDE, GLYCOL DISTEARATE, PARFUM / FRAGRANCE, HEXYLENE GLYCOL, GUAR HYDROXYPROPYLTRIMONIUM CHLORIDE, COCAMIDE MEA, COCO-BETAINE, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM BENZOATE, SODIUM HYDROXIDE, HYDROXYCITRONELLAL, HYDROLYZED HYALURONIC ACID, SODIUM HYALURONATE, PHENOXYETHANOL, STEARETH-6, ACETIC ACID, PEG-100 STEARATE, TRIDECETH-10, TRIDECETH-3, SALICYLIC ACID, DIMETHICONE, LIMONENE, FUMARIC ACID, LINALOOL, AMODIMETHICONE, CARBOMER, CITRIC ACID, HEXYL CINNAMAL.
5. Shampoo Pert Detox:::: Aqua (Water, Eau) • Sodium Laureth Sulfate • Sodium Chloride • Cocamidopopyl Betaine • PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate • Dimethyl Lauramide/Myristamide • Sodium Benzoate •Citric Acid •Polyquaternium-10 • Parfum (Fragrance) • Glycol Distearate • Sodium Sulfate • Laureth-4 •Panthenol • Hexyl Cinnamal• Limonene • Formaldehyde • Phenoxyethanol • Butylphenyl Methylpropional • Benzyl Alcohol • Benzyl Salicylate • Citronellol • Persea Gratissima^(Avocado) Oil • Punica Granatum Fruit Extract.
Which of these shampoos do you think would be better to use? Or should I look for others without any silicones and with strong sulfates?
The nice thing about dandruff shampoos is that sometimes they help calm an oily scalp.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at the shampoos you mentioned for A) Perhaps not adding too much weight. B) Working well in hard water.
#1: Satival: This looks like a good one to try, it has some extra detangling from silicones.
#2: Head and Shoulders: This formula should *work well in hard water* and will clean well. The mint can help with scalp health, it should have a cool feeling. Very sensitive skin may not like that. If your hair is dried out easily, the Satival may be the better option for a medicated shampoo.
#3 Pantene: This is an excellent option. *Good in hard water,* it contains moisturizers, a little Silicone to detangle. Bamboo extract tends to be volumizing. Silicone content is lover than Satival - but enough to work well.
#4 Elvive may have the same problem of being a little heavy as the product you have been using.
#5 Pert Detox: This shampoo may be a little heavy and it isn't as well made for hard water as the others.
If silicones prevent that hard, tangly feeling in your hair - then it seems like a good idea to use them. Sulfates are fine, the ingredients in these products help reduce dryness from shampoo.
Use as little shampoo as you need - that also reduces dryness. You can "activate" shampoo before using it for a better result with less shampoo. Pour a little in your palm - then rub your palms together about 5-10 times, quickly. The shampoo should change texture. Maybe you'll see some bubbles. Then apply to your scalp.
I hope this helps!
Thank u so much. 🥹 I'll see how it goes.
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