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Protein
rinses
Beer and other protein rich solutions like egg and egg yolks have
been used for a long time. You can get commercial products based
on these ingredients but it is easy enough to do it yourself with
the original thing.
Eggs and egg yolk mixed with warm water makes an effective shampoo
for hair that is not too dirty. Alternatively it can be used as
a rinse. It is the protein in the eggs that make it good for increasing
hair "body". It sticks to the hair and makes it a bit
thicker. Some of the oils in the egg yolk can act as soap and conditioner
hence eggs have a limited cleansing and conditioning capacity too.
The most expensive shampoo available is one made from caviar. Caviar
being sturgeon eggs, the principle is probably much the same. You
could probably get the same result from a much cheaper shampoo made
with ordinary hen eggs.
Beer rinses are mostly based on dark, rich beers. In general darker
beers have more protein and sugars in them (although not always).
The principle is simple, the beer gives the hair some extra body
as a result of the sugars and proteins in the beer. These adhere
to the hair shaft and make them a little thicker as with egg rinses.
Unlike eggs though, beer does not have soap or conditioning properties
and the residual smell can be quite a significant deterrent to using
a beer rinse.
Gelatin rinses are another approach with some popularity. Again,
gelatin is protein rich, and if you use something like Jello (jelly)
then there will be lots of sugars too, so this may add extra body
to hair. The gelatin can also be used to help style the hair as
the geleatin will act as a glue to hold the hair in place. However,
gelatin may not be ideal for this purpose, the end result may be
rather stiff. If too much gelatin is left in the hair after a rinse
it may feel coarse and look dull.
All protein rinses work in much the same way. Some people use cream
or milk, a few with expensive tastes use champagne! Really any solution
rich in soluble proteins should have some effect.
Protein
conditioners
Protein conditioners do not change the hair structure, but as
with protein rinses they add some body as well as imparting shine
and enabling easier brushing and combing. Unfortunately protein
conditioners are often advertised as somehow repairing damaged hair
and keratins. This is not true to any significant degree. Hair above
the skin is dead, it is chemically inert and insoluble. It is extremely
difficult to get the keratins in hair fiber to chemically react
with anything and certainly your average protein conditioner is
not able to. What protein conditioners can do is coat the hair fibers
in a layer of proteins that make the hair look thicker. In this
way protein conditioners can be very useful for adding body to thin
and fine hair. In addition, if the outer cuticle is damaged the
protein conditioner may help to "fill in the gaps" sort
of like wood filler. This should make the hair a little smoother
and as such it should reflect light better and make the hair more
shiny. However, this does not actually improve hair strength, protein
conditioners just plaster over the surface, they do not significantly
penetrate the hair and improve the internal fiber structure. The
effects of protein conditioners are only temporary and they have
to be reapplied regularly to maintain an effect.
Some very popular protein conditioners contain keratins and the
advertising suggests (but note the advertising never makes direct
claims) the keratins will bind with hair keratins and repair any
damage. This is rubbish. First, hair keratins are insoluble so a
solution of keratins cannot be hair keratins. There are other soluble
keratins found in skin cells and plants. Keratin based conditioning
agents usually contain plant keratins (occasionally animal skin
keratins) but not hair keratins. Regardless of the source, soluble
keratins are the wrong kind of keratins for hair. Second, insoluble
keratins just do not chemically react with anything much. It would
be very difficult to get the hair to bind topically applied keratins
even if they were the right kind of hair keratins. Third, conditioners
are largely washed away in the application process, they have little
time to bind to anything. Even leave in conditioners do not significantly
bind with hair keratins. However, as above, keratin conditioners
can impart body to hair by the keratin proteins adhering to the
hair fiber surface. In this way they can work well, but they are
no better or worse than conditioners containing other forms of protein.
Finally a note of caution. Conditioners with thickening agents
have been found to induce adverse allergic reactions in some people.
Animal collagen based conditioners in particular have found to be
a problem by some people with sensitive skin.
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