Recently in Hair Science Category

Formaldehyde treatments in haircare may seem new, but they actually have been common in the wool and textile industry for quite some time. The wool fiber and hair fiber share many similarities, so analysis of Formaldehyde's application to the wool fiber can be used for a basic understanding of how Formaldehyde may work on the hair fiber.

Dr. W. S. Simpson writes:

"Sidechains of ARG, LYS, TYR, TRP, HIS, cysteine, and the amide derivatives of ASP and GLU are known to be capable of reaction with formaldehyde. Some of these reactions can be bi-functional as well as mono-functional, so that new wool protein crosslinkages are likely. In addition to simple - CH₂-, i.e. methylene crosslinkages, formaldehyde has a known propensity for self-condensation so that -CH₂-(OCH₂)_n- or oxymethylene crosslinkages are feasible." (1)

Formaldehyde, Gluteraldehyde, and Glyoxal based systems are probably making crosslinks with the sidechains of amino acids in the hair fiber, rather than reacting with the sulfur-sulfur (disulfide) bonds of the cystine in hair. These crosslinks are stable for a good 3-4 months before the hair starts to revert back to its natural configuration. There is no refilling of the hair with keratin or any other elements that companies are trying to claim.

In my opinion, a significant amount of misinformation continues to exist regarding Keratin treaments, BKTs, Escovas, etc. Companies are now adapting through various methods to the growing consumer awareness, which only fuels the cycle of misinformation.

Some companies are starting to employ Formaldehyde's cousins such as Gluteraldehyde or Glyoxal in their systems and marketing that as a positive attribute. What they forget to mention is that they react with the hair in the same manner that Formaldehyde does. The compounds expose the stylists and salon patrons to the exact same health issues. Gluteraldehyde or Glyoxal may perhaps be weaker than Formaldehyde, but the companies may be using as much or even higher percentages to achieve the same effective straightening.

As I begin to plan for the next decade of products, I wanted to give you a chance to voice some of your ideas, in terms of products that you would like to see from Avlon & Syntonics in the next decade. We have had a very successful 25 years of operation, and most of that success stems from the feedback that we have received from the marketplace.

Over the years, our research teams noticed a puzzling inconsistency in the rate of relaxing process: the same Sensitive Scalp Relaxers showed radically different activity, even though they were applied to the same single hair fibers. A close analysis of the procedures allowed us to find that such inconsistency occurs when the prepared Sensitive Scalp Relaxer (also known as No-Lye, Guanidine Hydroxide, etc) is not promptly applied.

In order to explain the unusual effect, we devised an experiment that tested several consecutive sections of the same hair fiber with the same relaxer. Only the first section was exposed to the fresh relaxer while the next fragment of hair was subjected to the same relaxer formula, which had been sitting on the bench for a selected amount of time. This procedure allowed for us to control a delay time between mixing and the moment of application.

Update: I have written an update on 01/19/10 regarding this subject: The Truth About Keratin (BKT) Treatments. Please be sure to read that entry before commenting or asking a question.

I have been receiving many questions lately about the Brazilian Keratin Treatment (BKT) or as some people call the Escova Progressiva. I have now analyzed samples of three popular brands that are used for straightening curly hair based upon "keratin", "formaldehyde-free", or "aldehyde" technologies.

When perming hair, the conditioning and deswelling of the hair should be done according to the pH of the hair and its degree of swelling. For example, a high molecular weight cationic polymer conditioner should be applied to the shampooed hair before applying the Reshaping Cream. The pH of the cream is around 9.5 and it is going to increase the pH of the hair. The hair is also going to swell to 30-60% percent leaving the cuticles wide open. Therefore, a cationic conditioning polymer will penetrate into the hair cortex and make hair soft, silky and more combable.

Since some of you may have some general questions lingering about permanent waving, I'll quickly go over some generalities that might some common issues:

Let us take a look at the basic chemistry of permanent waving (technically called the "redox" process) to understand how hair is permanently curled or waved.

The redox process has two basic phases: reduction and oxidation. During the reduction phase, approximately 20% of the hair's cystine bonds are broken into cysteine (or half cystine bonds). It is in this phase that the hair assumes its new configuration. In the oxidation phase, 80-90% of the broken bonds are reformed to lock in the new curl formations.

I recently received a request for more information about permanent waving, which I must admit, was a bit of a surprise since I haven't noticed many stylists performing the permanent wave service lately.

Avlon's permanent wave system is the Ferm Permanent Waving System, which consists of a 4-step system along with various maintenance products depending on the need.

I figured that it would be nice to start a mini-series on the topic and cover the topic more in-depth.

But before getting down to the chemistry of permanent waving, which is technically my favorite part, its probably a good idea to quickly go over the history of the permanent wave.

Trace elements usually get overlooked since thay have an average concentration of 100 parts per million in a sample, but it still is good to know for general knowledge purposes that even our human hair fibers contain certain trace elements such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, zinc, iron, manganese, mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic, selenium, silicone, and phosphorous.

The overall amount of these trace elements is less than 1%, so there really is no need to start shaving your hair off. These elements may have been incorporated during the synthesis of the hair follicle and are embedded in internal compartments of the hair.

However, some of these same trace elements may also be on the surface of hair due to environmental pollution. During the straightening of curly hair fibers with No-Lye relaxers that consist of a mixture of calcium hydroxide and guanidine carbonate, hair fibers do adsorb significantly higher levels of calcium ions.

Washing the hair with hard water can also leave mineral deposits (such as calcium or magnesium) on the hair. In an instance like this, The KeraCare De-Mineralizing Wipes would be a good product to use after washing with the hard water, in order to ensure that the hair has been cleansed of mineral deposits.

One thing to remember when dealing with different hair types is the susceptibility to carry electrostatic charges. Generally speaking, untreated African descent hair develops a highly negative electrostatic charge (-25.4 KV/m), but in contrast, Caucasian hair develops a very low positive electrostatic charge (+6.6 KV/m).

The relatively high negative charge acquired by dry African descent hair during combing may be due to the extraordinarily high degree of pulling force required to pass the comb through the mass of entangled hair fibers. This relatively high electrostatic charge produces a "balloon effect" and contributes to a higher degree of hair unmanageability.

Sources: 

Syed, A.N., Kuhajda, A., Ayoub, H., Ahmad, K., and Frank, E. (1995). African American Hair: Its physical properties and differences relative to Caucasian hair. Cosmetics & Toiletries Magazine. 110:46

Robbins, C.R. (1994). The physical properties and cosmetic behavior of hair. In Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair. New York: Springer-Verlag, p.348