Ingredient labelling is required by law, and so much the better. You should know what hair products contain, as you may be allergic to a particular ingredient or may want to avoid anything derived from animals, etc. The problem is that the list of ingredients in products is quite staggering – literally running into thousands -and identification is not made any easier by the fact that many of them have more than one name. I do not want to put you to sleep with a long scientific list, but unfortunately hair product ingredients are a long scientific list. The choice of products on the market is so enormous that it is not surprising there are so many ingredients used in their manufacture.

 

Many of the ingredients included in formulations are not neces­sarily intended to be beneficial to your hair. They are there simply to help the mixture to bind together, to stop the ingredients sepa­rating, to give it an attractive look or to act as preservatives. In such instances the ratio of the ingredient may be minute, but everything has to be included. All ingredient labels have to have the contents cited in order of percentages, with the highest listed first (water is often number one).

 

Many ingredients have multiple purposes: they may be humectant, anti-static and conditioning all in one, or they may be used just for one purpose, with another ingredient that does similar things but in a different way, or the percentages of what they may do vary -or they are better for some hair types.

 

The job of a formulator is extremely complicated and often requires a gift of foresight as to how the blending is going to look, feel, smell and behave – do what it’s supposed to do. The look of the package is the first to hit the senses. The feel of the product when it is on your hands and on your hair is second, and then there’s the smell. Their importance is not necessarily in that order, but dissatisfaction with any of them would either negate buying it in the first place or buying it again. Oddly, it’s performance that seems to be last on the list – although it is the most important aspect.

 

Just to show some of the complications, the following alphabeti­cal list contains the various categories of ingredients that may be required in a product. As I have said, many products straddle numerous categories – silicones being one.

 

You may think it’s a boring list, but don’t let this stop you from read­ing it. Many things will surprise you, and the list will help you to understand how to read an ingredient label. If you think this list is endless, wait until you see the list of ingredients. I haven’t counted them but it’s over 2500! Most ingredients are listed, but there may be others introduced by the time you read it – things are changing all the time.

 

 

- Antiseptics (includes disinfectants)

To a degree these are also anti-dandruff ingredients, as they inhibit the growth of, or destroy, micro-organisms on the skin.

 

- Anti-oxidants

There are used to inhibit oxidation, which causes color changes and rancidity in products.

 

- Anti-statics

These reduce static on the hair by neutralizing electrical charges that the hair gathers from various environmental or product sources.

 

- Botanicals

These are derived from plants through various chemical and physical processes. Their inclusion usually means that the man­ufacturer is trying to appeal to your ‘green’ leaning, although often the product will have extra preservatives – which almost defeats the purpose. There are a large number of botanicals but not that many are used in hair products. When they are, it is in very small quantities. However, some botanicals, such as witch hazel, capsicum, cloves, eucalyptus and other essential oils, can be beneficial in certain circumstances.

 

- Buffers

These are used to maintain the pH balance (acidity or alkalinity) of the product and, although they do not necessarily affect the behavior of the hair, they can affect the look of the product.

 

- Carriers

Used as the base of a preparation; often called ‘vehicles’ because they may carry the active ingredients.

 

- Chelates

It is often difficult to have 100 per cent pure ingredients. Traces of metallic impurities may be left over from the process of extrac­tion, or absorbed from the environment or the container. A chelate forms a complex with these trace-metal impurities, bind­ing them firmly to it.

 

- Conditioners

This is a huge list, and the ingredients used depend both on what the conditioner is aiming to do (whether it is meant to be light, heavy, body building, remoisturizing, film-forming, detangling, etc.) and on the degree of strength required. The definition of a conditioner is something that improves the con­dition of the hair (or skin). This, however, is a very personal matter. Only you know what you want your hair to do, and you may achieve this only by trial and error. The description on the label, which should tell you what type of hair the product is for, is obviously a good guide. The ingredients in one conditioner may not be present in another, so you may finish up choosing the right product by a process of elimination.

 

- Coupling Agents

These help to make ingredients more soluble and thus easier to mix or emulsify. Many ingredients are chemically or physically incompatible, but some manufacturers still combine them for specific reasons.

 

- Denaturants

Used to make some alcohol-containing products unfit and unpleasant to drink.

 

- Deodorants

Although rarely found in hair products, these are sometimes used to mask unpleasant odours.

 

- Detergents

The mere name, somehow or other, has become synonymous with ‘strong, drying, lethal-for-hair, should only be used for dishwashing or laundry’. Detergents, however, are defined as purifying or cleansing agents. They cleanse by emulsifying oils and suspending dirt particles, allowing them to be rinsed away. A detergent may be pure soap, shampoo or indeed a dishwash­ing or clothes-washing product. The choice is considerable and they are rarely, if ever, used alone. A shampoo would be for­mulated not only with detergent bases, but also with other additives to give specific effects. As with conditioners, the choice on the market is huge, and trial and error may be needed to arrive at your favourite. You can be guided to a great degree by what the label tells you (descriptions such as body building, remoisturizing, etc.), but some ingredients may suit you better than others.

 

- Dispersants

These are often used to stabilize a suspension or dispersion of an ingredient that does not dissolve. They keep the ingredients sep­arated but evenly mixed into the smallest possible parts throughout the preparation.

 

- Emollients

Generally speaking, emollients are used mostly in skin care, to soften and smooth the skin. However, these ingredients are also found in hair-care products, particularly conditioners, and to some degree in hair-styling aids where the stiffening effect of some ingredients is buffered by the emollients. Products for frizzy, difficult-to-control, dry hair use them to help make the hair smoother, silicones, of course, in particular.

 

- Emulsifiers

These promote the formation of oil-in-water or water-in-oil emul­sions, which range from milky lotions to quite heavy creams. Oil and water do not mix, and an emulsifier therefore spreads them together uniformly throughout the mixture. They are what are termed ‘surface active agents’, i.e. they lower the surface tension of liquids, enabling them to mix together. In a way they are sim­ilar to detergents, which emulsify water and oil to enable oil and dirt to be rinsed away.

 

- Film Formers

These are used mainly in styling aids – mousses, gels, sprays, serums and any other product meant to stay on your hair. Their purpose is to form a film after the solution they are in evapo­rates. The film can be hard, soft, malleable, shine-making, bodying or softening, depending upon what the product is intended to do.

 

- Fixatives

These are not hair fixatives, but they do ‘fix’ or set fragrances and perfumes, retarding their evaporation and therefore giving products a long-lasting aroma.

 

- Foaming Agents

Psychologically, a good lather or foam is essential for a shampoo. However, it does not necessarily add to the cleansing effect, as some excellent shampoos produce little lather. As long as there are enough bubbles to lift the dirt and enable it to be rinsed away, then the shampoo will have cleaned the hair. There are three types of foaming agents, and to some extent these sub­divisions overlap. Foam boosters enhance the quantity and quality of lather; foam stabilizers decrease the tendency of the bubbles to disappear, and foamers simply produce foam – an emulsion of air in water. Foaming agents also encompass detergents, emulsifiers and surfactants. A surfactant lowers the surface tension between two or more substances, enabling them to be emulsified and to form a foam.

 

- Gellants

Agents that form gels. They are used in many hair-styling aids, as well as for thickening purposes in other products.

 

- Glossers

These give lustre, gloss or brightness and are used mainly in lip­sticks. As with so many cosmetic ingredients, their use in hair products is becoming more common, particularly the silicone derivatives (methicones).

 

- Humectants

Absorb water and hold and retain moisture. They are therefore used to prevent products drying out and to add moisture to skin and hair. Care should be taken when using humectants, as their moisture-absorbing properties may backfire and they may absorb moisture from the surface of the scalp. They are meant to mois­turize, but their drawback in hair products is that they can give the hair a limp look and feel, as well as a peculiar dryness if used over a long period.

 

- Lubricants

These reduce friction, smooth the hair and add shine. They can make the hair heavy, but in some circumstances can be benefi­cial, particularly for protection purposes.

 

- Moisturizers

Increase the moisture content of the skin and hair, and add soft­ness and control to frizzy hair. They can, however, be unsuitable for use on limp, thin hair.

 

- Opacifiers

Used to make liquids and creams opaque so that they appear thicker or richer. Opacifiers do not add to the performance of the product.

 

- Pearlants

Formally popular as a marketing gimmick in shampoos and con­ditioners, pearlants are now used for their supposed beneficial properties or to impart a richer, pearly texture.

 

- Plasticizers

These make film-forming ingredients more flexible and softer. They are also used to denature alcohol (methyl), making it unfit to drink.

 

- Preservatives

These are found in all cosmetics, including hair preparations. Each preservative controls the growth of specific micro-organ­isms that can cause spoilage. One preservative is often insufficient because different ingredients may grow different micro-organisms, and each ingredient may be affected in a dif­ferent way. The shelf-life of a preparation is of immense importance and a lot of work goes into testing it. There are many proprietary preservatives that are a combination of several. The percentage of preservative in a product is very small, and you can see that they are near the bottom of the list of contents on the label.

 

- Propellants

These are used to propel the product from its container, being mainly found in mousses and hair sprays.

 

- Proteins

Proteins should really be eaten! However, they are also used in hair-care products, and when applied externally they coat the hair shaft, helping to strengthen it. Proteins are contained in many hair preparations in one form or another, and choosing the right one can be a triumph of formulation. There is absolutely no truth in the theory that because hair is nearly 100 per cent protein, proteins in hair products must be beneficial to its growth. Although there are naturally occurring complex com­binations of amino acids of which proteins are composed, neither externally applied amino acids nor proteins are absorbed into the hair shaft or the hair root. They may help to strengthen hair, but only in their binding and coating capacity.

 

- Refatting Agents

These help to add oily materials to the skin and hair. Remember, dryness of hair is due to loss of moisture, not loss of oil. Adding oiliness makes the hair heavy if it is fine and limp, and attracts dust and dirt. Refatting agents can, however, be occlusive, and are sometimes used in treatment masks for dry hair or skin to prevent temporary moisture evaporation.

 

- Resins

There are many forms of resin and they are often a component of hair fixatives such as sprays, gels and mousses. They are either solid or semi-solid substances. Resins are often obtained from plants, but equally effective ones can be made synthetically. Various substances are used to dissolve the resin; when the sol­vent evaporates, a film of resin is left on the hair.

 

- Solvents

In themselves, solvents are often beneficial. They are used to dissolve other substances to enable them to be used in the way the formulator wants them to. The most commonly used solvent is alcohol, which, in its liquid form of methyl or ethyl alcohol, can be drying, so oils and fats as well as fatty alcohols may be added to counteract this effect.

 

- Stabilizers

These are usually additives with no beneficial effect except to sta­bilize an emulsion or suspension and to stop it separating.

 

- Stimulants

Produce a temporary increase in the activity of other ingredients, but can also act as a stimulant in their own right. They are often used in scalp tonics, in small quantities, and give an invigorating, tingly feeling to the scalp.

 

- Sunscreens

Their use in skin preparations is well known, but it is only fairly recently that they have been included in hair products – and why not! Hair is just as prone to sun damage as skin, but as it doesn’t become inflamed or sore, by the time you have realized this, it is often too late. The biggest problem with sunscreens is that most are heavy and need to be spread evenly in a light coating. They can also attract dirt. Some people are sensitive to certain ones, so it is important to know which sunscreen (s) the product contains. UV-A absorbs the longer wavelengths and UV-B the shorter ones; many sunscreens absorb them both.

 

- Surfactants (Surface-Active Agents)

You may be getting a little fed up by now with detergents, emul­sifiers, foaming agents, foam boosters and stabilizers – they all seem to do a similar job. This is true to an extent. But surfactants also lower the surface tension between the many apparently incompatible materials found in soaps, detergents, wetting agents, foamers, solubilizers, emulsifiers, etc. Surfactants act as negatively charged (anionic), positively charged (cationic), non-ionic (neutral) and amphoteric (anionic and cationic) agents. This makes them suitable for many purposes, and they are included in a large range of products, not only as beneficial com­ponents to the hair, but for formulation purposes, too.

 

- Suspending Agents

These are used to keep finely divided, solid particles suspended in a solution so that they don’t separate. Although not found that often, they have been included just in case.

 

- Thickeners

As their name suggests, these are used to give lotions and creams a thicker consistency. Many of them also fall into other cate­gories and are used for other purposes.

 

- Thixotropes

You have never heard of them? Although not often used, they do have an interesting property. Thixotropic gels or emulsions become more fluid and easier running when shaken or stirred, and their inclusion in a product enables quite thick substances to be expressed more easily from their containers.

 

- Vegetable Oils

These speak for themselves. Olive oil, almond oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, walnut oil – the list is long.

 

- Vitamins

Some products contain vitamins as a marketing gimmick. There is no evidence, in my experience, or any true scientific data to support the claims that they are absorbed into the hair. They may, however, be used to coat or smooth the hair shaft. Vitamins, like proteins, are best when eaten!

 

- Waxes

These are used less than you might have thought. However, waxes are quite often required in small amounts in skin and hair cosmetics, although too much wax may make the preparation over-greasy or heavy. Some products, though, are called a ‘wax’, wanting that effect for styling.

 

- Wetting Agents

These help in literally wetting the surfaces on which they are used. They are surfactants (surface active agents), and may in some circumstances give a softening effect.