SHAMPOOS
What about other products, you ask? Well, here are two more:
Neither KMS Curl Up Shampoo nor Marc Anthony Strictly Curls makes strong curling claims. KMS only promises to be your “curl’s best friend,” “start your style in the shower” and “boost boisterous curls while adding moisture and shine.”
Marc, on the other hand, offers to protect color; repair dry, frizzy areas; and repel humidity to define shiny, soft curls. (Define curls is not really a very emphatic claim.) Aside from a little polyquaternium (a conditioning ingredient), neither of these products has any curling technology, either.
We could go on and on, but you get the picture. These shampoos don’t have anything in them to make your hair curly. They don’t even really do anything to prepare your hair for styling, other than getting it clean.
THE BOTTOM LINE
If you really want curly hair, go buy some mousse or, God forbid, get a perm! Curling shampoos don’t work.
2 TIPS ON CARING FOR YOUR HAIR
We all care about hair care products, but have you ever wondered what really works? In this chapter we’ll give you tips on preventing split ends, drying hair properly, keeping it shiny, and we’ll even explore how to keep your hair from smelling bad. If you want great-looking hair without spending a fortune, this chapter gives you the answers.
DRYING DILEMMA: WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO DRY YOUR HAIR?
Angela asks: I usually don’t have the patience to blow-dry my hair completely, but my hairdresser said it’s not good for my hair if I only half blow it dry and then let it finish drying by itself. Is it true?
We think this idea is kind of silly but we’ll avoid the temptation to just tell you to get a new hairdresser and instead we’ll try to present both sides of the story.
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
It’s more damaging to blow-dry or towel-dry your hair than it is to let it air-dry. It’s as simple as that. That’s because heat from blow-dryers can mess with the natural lipid distribution in your hair and degrade the intercellular cement that holds the hair’s protective cuticle in place. And the physical abrasion from towel-drying not only loosens healthy cuticles but can actually wear them away! So if you dry your hair a lot, you’ll end up with less shine and more split ends.
STYLISTICALLY SPEAKING
We assume a hairdresser would argue that blow-drying keeps your hair sleek and smooth and that air-drying makes it frizzy. At least this is what the hairdressers we have worked with think.
THE BOTTOM LINE
It looks like the answer to your drying dilemma could come down to this: What’s more important to you—avoiding damage or fighting frizz? Less damage is better for your long-term hair health, but nobody wants frizz. Only you can decide which to choose. But, hey, if you’re that worried about frizz, you can always use a good smoothing product after you dry your hair. You can buy a few bottles of an effective frizz fighter, like John Frieda Frizz-Ease, for only twenty bucks!
DOES ANTIDANDRUFF SHAMPOO REALLY WORK?
Fran is feeling flaky: What’s your opinion of Burt’s Bees Feelin’ Flaky Shampoo? Checking out the ingredients list, it looks as if the formulation does a good job of avoiding skin irritants (except for the tea tree oil), but since it all gets washed off after a few seconds, I don’t know how much good it could do. The ingredients are vegetable glycerin, lemon fruit water, sucrose cocoate, decyl polyglucose, willowbark extract, peppermint leaf extract (organic), willow leaf extract, burdock root extract, nettles leaf extract, yucca schidigera extract, cedar leaf oil, tea tree oil, lemon oil, rosemary oil, juniper oil, peppermint oil, xanthan gum (natural thickener), glucose, glucose oxidase and lactoperoxidase.
This is one of the shampoo issues that really make the Beauty Brains mad—false and misleading antidandruff claims. Some companies make it appear as though their products will control dandruff, but they really won’t. The way companies do this may not be strictly illegal, but it certainly is unethical in our opinion. Let’s look at this Burt’s Bees product as an example. While we believe Burt’s Bees generally produces high-quality products, the way they market their anti-dandruff shampoo is questionable.
BURT’S BEES FEELIN’ FLAKY SHAMPOO
According to drugstore.com, the full name of the product is Burt’s Bees Doctor Burt’s Herbal Treatment Shampoo with Cedar Leaf & Juniper Oil. Doctor Burt, huh? We know that the reference is tongue-in-cheek, but that sure sounds medicinal to us! Strike 1.
Below the name it describes the shampoo as Feelin’ Flaky? with a question mark. In the context of cleaning hair and scalp, flaky is generally the term used to describe a symptom of dandruff. (Itchiness is another symptom.) Hmmm. Strike 2.
And finally the directions: “Wet hair, lather, rinse, then lather and rinse again. Shampoo at least three times a week for maximum effectiveness.”
Maximum effectiveness? Again, sounds like they’re promising some kind of sustained effect. If they’re not talking about dandruff, what effectiveness are they talking about? Just getting your hair clean. That’s lame—Strike 3!
While this product, and others like it, don’t overtly claim to control dandruff, they seem to be making that implication.
WHAT’S IN A REAL ANTIDANDRUFF SHAMPOO?
The truth is antidandruff shampoos contain active ingredients that treat the physiological causes of dandruff. How can you tell if a shampoo is really effective against dandruff? In the United States, look for active drug ingredients like zinc pyrithione (ZPT) or selenium sulfide. In Europe and a few other countries, look for octopyrox on the label. If you don’t see some kind of legitimate active ingredient listed, it’s not an effective antidandruff shampoo. Don’t believe everything the cosmetics companies tell you!
THE BOTTOM LINE
You ask “how much good” this product will do for you. Well, it will certainly get your hair clean. The primary surfactants (sucrose cocoate and decyl polyglucose) will see to that. And it won’t dry your scalp out, either—those are pretty mild cleansers. But that’s about it. It’s not a medicated shampoo so it won’t do anything to control dandruff.
CAN YOU CLEAN YOUR HAIR WITH CONDITIONER?
Nancy needs to know: WEN is a line of cleansing conditioners created by Hollywood hair stylist Chaz: Dean. Dean believes that sulfates in most shampoos can be very damaging and stripping to hair, so he created these cleansing conditioners to clean hair without stripping it. Nancy wants to know if hair can really be better off in the long run by cleansing with a conditioner. And if it does work, would a regular drugstore conditioner produce the same effect?
First
