Choosing Hair Care Products That Are Right for You

People with healthy, undamaged hair often don't realize how fortunate they are. The daily routine of brushing teeth, washing face and combing/brushing hair is hardly given a second thought.

However, many people are not so fortunate in the health and appearance of their hair. Instead of healthy and luminous, it may be discolored, tangly, hard to manage and be plagued with physical damage such as broken hair shafts and split ends.

How does a person with healthy hair keep it healthy and looking good? How does one avoid the pitfalls that result in damaging the health and appearance of hair? Since it is best to keep hair healthy in the first place, let's look at pitfalls first, and then at advice regarding how to choose hair care products.

Things That Can Hurt Your Hair and Its Appearance

Hair can be damaged by physical injury, chemical injury, thermal (heat) injury, and by disease. When we eliminate disease from the list, we are left with types of damage that are more or less under our control. We can prevent much of the damage that can be done to our hair.

Hair is a biologic fiber (see How and Why Hair Grows). The hair fiber is constructed largely from the proteins called keratins, which provide both the central core of the hair shaft and the cuticle scales that armor the shaft and give it pliable strength. When we talk about physical, chemical or thermal damage to hair, we are talking about damage to the keratins. Damage usually affects the cuticle scales first; this reduces the pliable strength of the hair and makes it harder to manage, and it opens the way for damage to the keratins that make up the hair shaft's central core.

Excessive Sun Exposure

We are familiar with advice to avoid excessive sun exposure that can damage our skin. The same advice holds for avoiding excessive sun exposure that can damage hair. As with sun damage to skin, it is the ultraviolet component of solar radiation that damages hair. The ultraviolet wavelengths break chemical bonds in the keratin proteins that constitute most of the bulk and strength of the hair shaft. Weakened keratin proteins weaken the hair shafts and renders then more likely to become dry and "weathered" in appearance. It also makes them weaker and more likely to break when combed or brushed.

Wearing a hat is the easiest way to avoid sun damage to hair. Ultraviolet protection is claimed for some hair care products including shampoos, conditioners and sprays.

Sun and Salt Water

Sea water is not only salty, it is alkaline, in contrast to hair keratins which are slightly acidic. Bathing hair keratins in the alkaline solution of sea water can damage the keratins. The combination of sea water and solar radiation also has bleaching effects. Various recipes have been offered for products that are claimed to protect against the combination of salt water and sunlight-for example, before entering the water, give the hair a protective coating of a grease such as cocoa butter that prevents sea water contact with hair. A readily available method for limiting hair damage is to shampoo and thoroughly rinse hair in fresh water after leaving the ocean, then applying a protein conditioner.

Chlorine in the Swimming Pool

Chlorine is a potent bleaching agent and causes severe damage to hair keratins. Thus, chlorine in the swimming pool can both lighten and weaken hair. Damage to keratins can be even more severe when the proteins have already been damaged by chemical or thermal hair styling treatment. Chorine-damaged hair can manifest its damage in hair breakage, split ends, decoloration and difficulty in styling. The belief that swimming pool chlorine causes blond or gray hair to turn green is not altogether true; the greenish sheen comes from metals such as copper or iron that are dissolved in pool water and are oxidized by chlorine after they are taken up by hair shafts.

A first line of defense against swimming pool chlorine is (1) to rinse hair thoroughly in fresh water immediately upon leaving the pool, and (2) shampoo with a product that will limit chlorine damage to keratins. A shampoo of this type should be acid/alkaline (pH) neutral (see Hair Styling Product Ingredients) and contain sodium thiosulfate which neutralizes chlorine. Some hair experts recommend limiting or preventing chlorine damage by applying a protective conditioner covered by a latex or silicon cap before entering the pool.

Excessive Heat in Hair Styling and Blow Drying

Keratin proteins are easily damaged by excessive heat. Two common ways for this thermal (heat) damage to occur is by (1) use of heated implements for hair straightening or styling, and (2) using the blow dryer at too high a temperature for too long when drying hair.

Hair styling implements should be used at the lowest effective temperature for the least amount of time that will produce a desired effect. They should be used only as often as necessary to maintain a styling effect; too frequent application of heated styling implements can cause an accumulation of hair damage over time.

The blow dryer should never be used at high heat to dry hair. Blow drying should be done on the "cool" setting to prevent thermal damage to hair keratins.

Excessive Brushing

Myths die hard, and one of the most tenacious is the belief that women (and men) should brush their hair with at least 100 strokes daily. The belief may have been credible-and useful-in days when bathing and hair-washing was less frequent because running water was not readily available. Hair brushing in those circumstances was an effective way to remove dead skin cells and distribute hair oils. Today the belief may do more harm than good. It is known today that too-frequent and too-hard brushing can physically damage the cuticle of hair shafts and result in hair weakening and hair breakage. While "100 strokes a day" was once useful to clean and lubricate the hair, these functions are performed more effectively today by appropriate use of shampoos and conditioners.

It is still necessary to comb and brush hair, however, but damage can be limited or prevented by observing some rules: