Proper Hair Care

All that I feel! Everything I hear in your hair! ...

Charles Baudelaire

Epigraph: "... if the most beautiful women have hair taken off their heads ... then let it be Venus herself ... even Vulcan will not like him."

Apuleus "Golden donkey" 14th century

To my great surprise, almost horror, not only modern hairdressing training centers, but also colleges based on the state. Institutions such as the technical school, completely stopped reading the course called "materials science". And what in the end? The modern master is able to paint in principle, but he does not know how to choose the right products for further hair care, or does it by intuition, which has nothing to do with standard errors, what to say, about you, adored clients and just ladies who passed by Salon.

Well, let's deal with debunking myths and "theories" that live, thrive and multiply in a hairdresser and client environment. Myths are different: useful, almost like a fairy tale. We can call them more "commercial moves", when we are professionals, just a little cunning or, rather, we do not talk about it; And harmful ones, which would look charmingly naive, if they did not clearly harm the client's hair and the mind of the master.

We gradually, step by step, get acquainted with what are shampoos and balms. With their basic principles of work, we learn what different products are for everyday care from "therapeutic" means. And most importantly - we learn to read not the advertising annotation of the product (which by the way is written not for you, but for mine and for your mother), but the composition. Read consciously, understanding the purpose of each ingredient, which will give you the opportunity not to be mistaken in your own choice and your own advice. After all, as the house begins with a foundation, and a beautiful hairdo begins with the daily proper care of the hair.

Types of hair - what is "normal"?

Frankly. In this article, I do not really want to delve into this topic, only for one reason - she is not very grateful. And the reason is simple - for today neither physicians nor trichologists (specialists dealing with hair and scalp problems) have established such a notion as a "norm". And in none of the items that describe the hair. For example: the amount of hair varies from 30,000 to 150,000 (a difference of five times!), One centimeter of the scalp accounts for 200 to 1,500 hairs (to someone everything, to someone nothing). Well, tell me, please - where is the concept of a normal average hair? It simply does not exist and frankly, it can not be, because we are very different, people living on the planet Earth.

The situation with the rules for caring for hair and scalp is exactly the same. Let's open the book "Secrets of Beauty" in 1987 edition. This book was a dream and the best gifts for any woman or girl living in the USSR, because it was written by highly qualified specialists of the Moscow Institute of Beauty, located on the street. Herzen. It revealed all the secrets of caring for yourself and, most importantly, how to make your own cosmetics! Quotation: "prone to fat, considered to be hair, which must be washed every 7-10 days ...". So what do you think? Imagine what will happen if a modern person does not have a week to wash his hair ... Well, if they do not beat ... Are you funny? And me not too much - modern dermatologists tend to believe that a person has become a hostage of his own purity. Yes, yes - we wash too often! The truth is it would not be a sin if we used only water, but no, we use a huge amount of money that according to statistics we select, focusing only on 3 main factors: the scale and sonority of the advertising company (something like "name it Shampoo number 1 ... "), the appearance of the package and" lucid beauty "of the inscriptions on it (" flowing silk hair ... "), and lastly - the smell. And where is the type of skin or, in extreme cases, hair? Truthfully, it must be said that in fact, our customers rarely remember this. And besides, in addition to historically prevailing prejudices, there is also a very biased attitude to yourself and your appearance. But let's understand everything in order.

If you do not get into the problem deeply, you can conditionally divide hair types into two main blocks : 1. by the type of scalp : dry, oily and normal; 2. By type of hair : normal, dry and damaged, dyed, I would separately highlight curly. Sometimes, the manufacturers give off as an independent type of hair exhausted or thin hair, but it seems to me not quite true. Although...

Normal skin is moderately fatty, not dry, does not peel, does not have large pores and acne (comedones). Normal hair reflects well the light, poured into the sun. If these qualities persist for several days after washing your hair, then your hair is of the normal type. This type of hair also differs elasticity and plasticity; They almost do not split and are easily combed, regardless of whether they are dry or wet.

Oily skin is covered with a thicker layer of sebum and has a specific fatty luster. For this skin is characterized by enlarged pores. The fat content of the hair depends on the activity of the sebaceous glands, which, in turn, is purely individual and is laid genetically. In a certain, to a small degree, the amount of sebum produced depends on the type of nutrition, that is, from carbohydrates consumed (in the first place) and fats consumed. Oily hair has a characteristic dull sheen, after a short time after washing stick together and begin to seem dirty, untidy. Also, oily hair is often combined with fatty dandruff.

Dry skin is often flaky, weathering, and as a result it looks irritated or tense. Dry hair does not reflect light very well, so they look dull. They are easily torn, confused, difficult to comb, split at the ends. They are rarely accompanied by dry small dandruff. Most often, dry hair is the result of improper care, much less is a consequence of a decreased activity of the sebaceous glands.

PH-hydrogen index

Having dealt with the types of hair, let's begin to understand the means for caring for such different hair and scalp. And I suggest starting with the very depth, that is, with a certain pH value , about which so much is said, but at the same time so few people really know what it is and most importantly - how to use it.

In the hairdresser's practice, we are to some extent constantly dealing with mixtures dissolved in water. These are dyes, styling products and almost all the means of escape, and of course we want to understand the extent of their effects on the hair and skin.

Water is a very weak electrolyte and dissociates insignificantly into H + and OH- ions, which are in equilibrium with undissociated molecules:

H2O = H + + OH-. The ratio of these ions is constant, which means that as the concentration of one of the water ions increases, the concentration of the other decreases accordingly. In this way, one can determine the acidity or alkalinity of any solution.

With the help of pH, the reaction of solutions is characterized as follows: neutral pH = 7, acid - less than 7, alkaline - more than 7.

Scheme 1. pH

Acid neutral neutral

PH 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Reaction of a solution of a strongly acid weakly acid weakly alkaline strongly alkaline

In order to represent the strength and degree of exposure of any chosen preparation to the scalp, you need to know the hydrogen parameters of hair and skin. That is, we can assume that pH is a comparative characteristic of drugs for various purposes in relation to any object, in our case it is the hair and scalp. First of all, remember that the pH of the hair shaft (which is 14% of water) = 3-3.5, and the skin's pH is normal = 5-5.5 (today, thanks to advertising, this is known even to small children).

Now understanding that the pH of the hair and skin is quite different from each other, we can argue that there are no universal means of the "two in one" type. In addition, we now understand that, since shampoos most often have a pH approximate to 5-5.5, the main beneficial effect is on the skin. At the same time, hair care is a very pleasant, but still a side effect, behind which basically is the banal cleansing of hair from mechanical impurities. Balsams and masks most often have a pH value of 2 to 4, which corresponds to the pH of the hair, not the skin, while the acid solution, the stronger it affects the structure of the hair. That is, apply balms and especially masks, it is necessary strictly on the hair without getting on the scalp. Otherwise, you will be guaranteed a sore scalp and sagging hair.

The pH of the skin with pathology is also different from the normal skin pH, it is 6-7. From this it is clear that shampoos for normal skin categorically do not fit the skin with problems and need special means.

We make the first conclusions : Shampoo is selected primarily in accordance with the type of scalp, balms are chosen according to the type of hair and applied without getting on the skin of the scalp.

At the end of the conversation about pH, we will do a little test work. Consider in application to dyes for hair and prove the need for proper washing of hair after staining with special means. Dyes for hair have a strong alkaline medium, depending on the ability of the dye to clarify the pH of the dye varies from 8.5 to 11, which means that after any chemical treatment of hair, it is necessary to return the pH to the norm of 3-3.5. A single washing of hair with water in this case is not enough, since it will lower the pH only to 7, which means that you need to use specially designed shampoos with pH values of 5.0-5.5, which really only remove the remnants of the hair from the hair and restore the normal environment to the surface of the scalp . But we must not forget about the hair, and therefore after shampoo necessarily apply and strongly acidic balms or masks with pH = 2-4.

Scheme 2. Comparative pH values for hair coloring

Acid medium pH alkaline medium

Hair leather water
3.5 5.5 7 8.5 9 10 11

Balms shampoos toner red chemist red super blond

3 5 5.5 6.5

Proper washing or everything should be done without fanaticism ...

Strictly speaking, to date, washing has ceased to be just a hygienic measure, becoming both a cosmetic and therapeutic procedure. However, if you have healthy hair and an impeccable kind of scalp - you are lucky, then you can afford to simply wash off the dirt from the hair. But as my sister says, the doctor is a proctologist: "there are no healthy people, there are people not examined ...", which means that modern detergents must combine cosmetic and therapeutic functions, creating a certain decorative effect in parallel (restoring color and creating shine). But about this in the next article, here I'm more concerned with the question - how often should I wash my head?

Modern trichology believes that "as often as you need it." But the notions of "necessity" and "habit" should not be confused. On the one hand, do not accumulate a week's dirt, just because your village great-grandmother believed that "microbes from the mud are dying" - modern medicine has proved that germs can be dead, but cocci infections and yeast fungi quite the contrary. But on the other hand, we often come across the fact that our clients are washing their hair every morning with only one purpose - "so that my hair is better". In my opinion, this is an example of the fact that the concepts of "necessity" and "habit" are confused. Yes, of course, sometimes the "need" is determined by the working conditions - active sports, abundant dust in the workplace, the need to use a strong styling, etc. Besides, 8-10 years ago there was a kind of "golden rule": you can not go to bed Not washing off styling. I do not know how for you, but for me such a statement is doubtful. Well, firstly, a good modern styling is easy to comb, and secondly, professional styling does not rarely perform the role of a protective shell on the hair that saves our hair from the aggression of the external environment. Moreover, if it is a styling of the type of Charm, so it is not washed off even by deep-cleaning shampoos, then why wash?

Of course, if we are talking about oily scalp, then frequent and even everyday washing is simply necessary. But do it right, using special shampoos and even a special method of application. In addition, do not forget about the "two rules for the lazy" - you can not wash not mine, and you can not dry not sushi. After all, washing is massage, and massage is an additional stimulation of fat and perspiration, that is, in fact, the opposite effect is obtained.

Water is alive and dead

Important is what type of water you use when washing your hair: more often, ordinary tap water is quite stiff, since it contains many salts, so it is necessary to soften it. All tips on water softening are pretty standard: first of all it's a long boiling (not less than 40-50 minutes) or complete freezing. With further thawing, but of course this story is complex and long. You can also use additives: baking soda (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water), ammonia (1 teaspoon per 2 liters of water), glycerin (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water). But this is not all - it is not recommended to wash your hair with too hot or too cold water, it is believed that the greasier the hair, the cooler the water should be. The optimum water temperature for washing hair is 35-45 ° C. But if you ask me personally, I'll say that you need to wash your head with comfortable water - hot or cold is not so important ... It seems to me that our body knows best how. According to my observations, hypotonic (to which I belong) often prefer hot and very hot water (apparently, in order to raise blood pressure), at the same time, hypertensive hot water is often not just not pleasant, but even contraindicated. Why am I doing this? And to the fact that blood pressure largely regulates fat and sweating, and therefore - the type of your skin.

Washing Techniques

Soap the hair with shampoo once is not enough, you need to do this at least twice. The first wash is the removal of mechanical impurities and sebum from the hair. And only the second is the introduction of waste components, declared in shampoos by the manufacturers. Shampoo should be washed thoroughly, very carefully, so that the elements of alkaline detergent do not remain on the hair surface (meaningful these words will become after reading the next article). Do not forget that it would be great to combine washing with a massage of the scalp, in all cases except for the acute stage of hair loss and oily, inflamed scalp, especially burdened by seborrhea.

The shampoo is first poured into the palm of your hand, it is mildly rubbed (previously even the term "warms up" is used) and then applied to the hair. Shampoos of special purpose (for oily skin, against dandruff or from hair loss) are distributed strictly on the skin and aged according to the time specified in the instructions (usually from 3 to 7 minutes). At the same time, a shampoo corresponding to the type of hair (colored, damaged, curly, etc.) is applied to the length. Shampoos are washed off together. If the shampoo is a universal purpose (for frequent washing, for normal hair, for volume, etc.), then they are applied immediately to the skin and hair

By the way, double washing is also recommended for balm , especially when it comes to long or thick hair. The first time the balm is applied over the entire length of the hair and washed off quite thoroughly, and the second time the balm is applied to 1/3 of the length (which is closer to the ends) and at the same time is only slightly rinsed (so that the sensation of the balm is not washed off). This is necessary because long hair, or rather the ends do not have enough power. This procedure is also mandatory if your hair is heavily shaken. Static electricity is formed only where there is no water (moisture), which means that your hair does not receive the necessary or sufficient care. If after such procedure your hair instead of glossy received a fat coating, safely change the balm - it just does not suit you (most likely, you decided that instead of normal hair, they have you damaged).

Personally, I'm pretty hard at combing wet hair . Unequivocally false it is recognized the old regime statement that before washing dry hair must be combed. On the contrary, it is better not to touch them, as you can tear off catagenous hair (hair that is in the period of hibernation), which is not correct in itself. Knowing the chemical structure, I understand that up to 80% of hydrogen and salt bonds are broken by wet hair, which is why they become so fragile. But at the same time, personally, I always comb my hair with balm applied to them, since it still smoothes out, almost polishes the cuticle of the hair, making it incredibly shiny. In addition, I, like the French hairdressers, believe that combing promotes a deeper penetration of the waste components into the cortical layer of the hair. Choose what you understand, and therefore more correct. But what exactly you can not do, so it's rough rubbing your hair with a towel - whipped swabs are very poorly combed! Blotting - that unity is the right way to remove excess water from your hair.

Here he is - the right care