Do Brand-Name Hair Conditioners Really Benefit Your Hair?




WashingHair1-main_Full Many of us believe that a regular use of conventional, over-the-counter hair conditioners protects our hair from negative environmental factors, dryness, and even loss, shredding, and thinning of hair. It is estimated that the US population, including both men and women, spend about one billion dollars a year on hair conditioners and related hair care products of often questionable quality.

Researchers from Columbus, Ohio, have recently examined whether the alleged effect of popular brand-name conditioners really takes place. The atomic microscope picture of sample scalp hairs, that had been treated by different types of conditioners, revealed the absence of any protective effect coming from the use of these hair care products. Theoretically, hair conditioners should protect our hair by replacing valuable oils naturally covering hair but eliminated during shampooing. However, the researchers showed that about 90 percent of all available on the market hair conditioners neither performed this vital function, nor chemically influenced hair and were, in fact, useless. Moreover, some brands of hair care products, including conditioners, have manifested a negative effect on hair, making people using them more susceptible to hair loss. Therefore, instead of resolving damage caused by frequent shampooing and negative environmental influences, conventional hair conditioners can cause hair damage and, in some cases, trigger hair loss.

The study of hair and its interaction with popular hair car products has been conducted by the team led by Professor of mechanical engineering of Ohio State University, Columbus, Dr. Bharat Bhushan. The researchers used an examination method based on nanometre technology that increased the picture of hair at one-billionth of a meter, thus allowing to see in detail how hair care products interacted with the structure of hair under experimental stress conditions of friction, crashing, pulling, and others.

The results of the study clearly show that popular hair conditioners do not attach to hair on the chemical level and that their protective qualities are grossly overrated by manufacturers of hair care products. A good hair protection alternative, therefore, would be to reduce excessive shampooing, to use natural oils for hair nourishment and lubrication, and to apply proven hair care remedies that chemically or hormonally influence hair roots, protect hair follicles, and facilitate hair growth.

Christiana Roberts

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Posted on January 28, 2008 
Filed Under Hair Care

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