Opposites Attract
Positive and negative charges are not only found in magnets. They play a major role in hair conditioners too!
Combing through your hair may not be the easiest task especially if you have dry, damaged hair. As much as we don’t want to damage our hair, it’s almost impossible to avoid. Hair becomes damaged by factors such as combing, pollution or chemical hair treatments which leads to hair that appears dull, dry, brittle and frizzy.
Thankfully there are conditioners to come to the rescue! Using a small amount of a hair conditioner can work wonders to allow a comb to glide through the hair while repairing and protecting your locks from damage. The primary functions of a conditioner are to dissipate static electricity, improve manageability, soften hair, remove tangles and improve combing in wet and dry hair. Extra benefits include repairing damaged hair, protecting hair from environmental and physical stressors, strengthening and reducing hair color fading.
So how does a conditioner work?
The images below are hair strands viewed under a scanning electron microscope. The normal hair strand is hair fiber that is not damaged. The cuticle scales lay flat and the hair strand is nice and smooth.
Normal Hair Strand
As the hair becomes damaged, the cuticle splits away and the scales become chipped and broken in places. Each site of damage is negatively charged and the cuticle lifts up from the rest of the hair strand and causes hair to be frizzy and full of static.
Damaged Hair- Cuticles lift and break
This is where the conditioner saves the day! A typical conditioner is made up of cationic ingredients, some hydrophobic (oil loving) silicones or other oils, emulsifiers, preservatives and fragrance. The cationic part of the formulation is responsible for the majority of the conditioning properties. Remember all of those negatively charged (-) sites of damage? Cationic ingredients are positively charged (+) ingredients that are attracted to these negatively charged sites of damage.
Have you ever taken the positive end of one magnet and placed it next to the negative end of another magnet? Just like a magnet, the opposite charges of the cationic conditioner will stick to all of the negatively charged sites of damage on the hair. Truly a case of opposites attract!
As the cationic ingredient sticks to the damaged sites, the cuticle is smoothed down, the hair becomes more lubricious and is easier to comb. Light is refracted off of the hair strands which increases shine. Actives such as volumizers, oils and extracts are also deposited onto the hair shaft by the cationic ingredients. This results in shiny, moisturized and more manageable hair and makes it seem like the damage never happened.
