I've been catching up on the Beauty Brains podcast and the title of this one pricked up my ears, which isn't very surprising!
I really do recommend people to listen to this podcast, it's by cosmetic scientists and they, obviously, know a lot of other cosmetic scientists. If they don't know the answer, they know someone that does.
So, silicones melt on to the hair has been something we've accepted for a long time. I've been somewhat sceptical, I had no real reason to be other than it didn't totally make sense from what I know of other silicones and the kinds of temperatures they can take... but as we know, just because a group of chemicals works one way in one form, it doesn't mean it behaves the same way in other places. So, it was something I repeated because it's generally what we believed to be true because at least one expert had said it's the case (Scott Cornwall). I decided that my suspicions were obviously wrong.
So, here's the podcast if you'd like to listen to it. It starts at just before the 14 minute mark. http://thebeautybrains.com/2016/05/do-silicones-really-melt-on-your-hair-episode-131/
If you'd rather read it, here you go.
Do silicones melt on your hair?
Kylie asks…I am attempting to remove years of black hair dye and came across Scott Cornwall and his product Decolour. He makes a claim that if it doesn’t work likely cause is hair plasticised due to using heat over 220 deg cel. Quote “If you use heated styling products such as hot irons you can seal this build up onto the hair, gluing down the cuticle layer, trapping in the silicone and making it difficult to remove. Is there scientific merit to this? Can silicone boil, coat the hair shaft and remain there plasticised for ever?
To answer this, I spoke with one of the most top experts in the chemistry of silicones used for hair care. This person has over 100 patents on the subject, expertise in development and scale up of silicones for personal care. dozens if not hundreds of publications on the subject. Long story short – this guy knows what he’s talking about. Here’s what he had to say…
The difficulty in answering your question is it is very vague. Silicones cover a variety of compounds smog of which can polymerize, like bath tub sealer, and if applied to the hair could cost the hair, but I assume your audience has the sense not to put bath tub caulk on the hair. The silicones one finds in the personal care do not work that way. They are liquids not solids and do not polymerize on hair. As far as boiling, if they at temperatures that hair processing would experience, they do not polymerize. I suspect the high temperatures of hair treatment exists for a very short period of time. In short the thesis is without any known support.
So, it seems like it's unlikely that silicones in hair care products melt on to hair. What this means about dyes that are hard to remove I'm not sure, they probably just stain badly and colour remover producers want to make sure they're covered for dyes that won't come out with a reason it's hard to dispute if you're not a scientist in that area?
Topic starter
Posted : June 10, 2016 4:51 pm
So I wonder, if this is the case and the silicones really don't pose an issue for coloring hair then is it really that horrible if they are in our shampoos and conditioners. I'm just wondering because trying to always buy sulfate and silicone free shampoo and conditioner can get expensive and its not always easy to find. I know the more natural the better but natural is not always cheap!
Posted : June 10, 2016 7:09 pm
Well, that's really a different issue. Personally, I don't think silicones are terrible, used carefully.
There is such a thing as the naturalistic fallacy too, that natural is always better when it ignores that there's plenty of things that are natural that are bad for us (uranium, Mercury, arsenic, the list goes on and on!). Natural doesn't equal good and synthetic doesn't equal bad. What the beauty industry (and food industry for that matter) is use natural as a selling point. Sometimes they'll take out the latest thing that's deemed bad and remove it. Sometimes for something that's almost as bad or worse. Sometimes they do noting, they just happen to have all the right ingredients, but realise with a bit of rebranding they can sell that product for more money because it's 'natural'.
Yeah, so what I'm saying is, don't put too much stock in 'natural' but at the same time, you still need to be a little bit careful of some ingredients. The reasons we avoid sls is because it's pretty harsh and washes out dye a lot faster than we want and if you don't do anything that gets your hair really dirty then we don't really need a detergent that harsh. We avoid silicones primarily because they block direct hair dyes when we're dying. It's also said that they block moisture from the hair, but then I've also seen people say they seal in moisture, so, I think limited use of water soluble silicones is probably fine.
Topic starter
Posted : June 10, 2016 8:17 pm
Oh I could go on a rant about the "natural" kick some people seem to be on. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be natural but there are so many other things to think about when buying natural products. It is more cost effective and better to just buy local. Especially when it comes to food! But anyways.... thanks for the info, I always appreciate people who teach me something new!
Posted : June 10, 2016 9:22 pm
Interesting stuff! Thanks for posting this!
I agree with the thing about 'natural' being a bit of a buzz word - noticing it a lot with supposed health foods that are full of sugar which of course is natural!
Posted : June 13, 2016 9:14 pm
Well, that's really a different issue. Personally, I don't think silicones are terrible, used carefully.
There is such a thing as the naturalistic fallacy too, that natural is always better when it ignores that there's plenty of things that are natural that are bad for us (uranium, Mercury, arsenic, the list goes on and on!). Natural doesn't equal good and synthetic doesn't equal bad. What the beauty industry (and food industry for that matter) is use natural as a selling point. Sometimes they'll take out the latest thing that's deemed bad and remove it. Sometimes for something that's almost as bad or worse. Sometimes they do noting, they just happen to have all the right ingredients, but realise with a bit of rebranding they can sell that product for more money because it's 'natural'.
Yeah, so what I'm saying is, don't put too much stock in 'natural' but at the same time, you still need to be a little bit careful of some ingredients. The reasons we avoid sls is because it's pretty harsh and washes out dye a lot faster than we want and if you don't do anything that gets your hair really dirty then we don't really need a detergent that harsh. We avoid silicones primarily because they block direct hair dyes when we're dying. It's also said that they block moisture from the hair, but then I've also seen people say they seal in moisture, so, I think limited use of water soluble silicones is probably fine.
Yeah I'm fairly sanguine about silicone use. I don't use silicone conditioners but I do use conerrific serums - you'll pry my Frizz Ease from my cold, dead hands. I love it. I always do a thorough harsh SLS wash before dying so I tend not to worry about silicones too much.
Posted : June 14, 2016 2:27 pm
Recently, I've been using a clarifying shampoo each time I wash my hair, mostly because I've been too lazy to get my non SLS shampoo from the shower upstairs! I still get the same result now, that I used to get from using Frizz Ease, leaving in a small bit of normal conditioner and then using a fairly rich conditioner and oil. At the moment I'm trying out castor oil, but I'm not totally sure yet. It feels way better than using Frizz Ease in fact. I use less conditioner and oil if I'm going to wear it straight, but I haven't been much recently as I'm avoiding using too much direct heat. I used to LOVE Frizz Ease. No more!
Topic starter
Posted : June 14, 2016 2:54 pm
I love castor oil!! It has done great things to my hair. I usually make up a hair mask and use castor oil and eggs and then I add some sort of other oil, usually coconut oil, and then to help my scalp out I add mustard seed, it sounds weird but it just rejuvenates the scalp and it feels amazing afterwards, just stinks when its on! Castor oil is also great for arthritis, I use cold pressed castor oil with a lot of my massage clients that have arthritis or fibromyalgia and it really helps loosen them up!
Posted : June 14, 2016 6:33 pm
This article says that silicones (including dimethicone) can be used to reduce heat damage since they seal the hair cuticle and this prevents moisture loss.
http://www.labmuffin.com/2016/04/how-do-heat-protectant-hair-products-work/
Posted : June 20, 2016 4:22 pm
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