hair and beauty products - Shampoo
Shampoo is a hair care product, used to remove the oils, dirt, skin particles and grime that build-up in the hair with time.
The word shampoo dates back to 1877, and its origin is believed to come from the Hindi word for massage. During the early years of shampoo, English hairdressers boiled soap in soda water and added herbs to make the hair healthy and fragrant.
In the beginning soap and shampoo were almost the same product; both were frequently made from surfactants which is a type of detergent. Shampoo became the logical evolution of personal hygiene products, and targeted the specific needs of hair and not the body in general. Throughout the 20th century a number of specially designed shampoos were released for effectively cleaning specific hair types. Now, synthetic surfactants are mostly used in shampoo.
It is advisable to change your shampoo every few weeks as in my experience the hair tends to become immune to the effects of the shampoo, for example a shampoo that gave your hair good condition when you first start using. Does not have the same affect after using it for a while.
Hair conditioner is often applied after shampooing to improve the texture and appearance of hair. - Further on you can find information about Hair Conditioners.
Chemistry of shampoo
When Surfactant molecules gather around air instead of oil the result is millions of bubbles which seem to be like soap foam. However the bubbles are using the sarfactants that should be removing the dirt and oil from the hair.
Eventhough you see on the advertisements for shampoos smiling faces with loads of foam -In actual fact is more effective to use less shampoo as too much foam is a sign of too much shampoo which can damage the hair and is much harder to rinse off.
It is advisable to use just enough shampoo to cover the scalp and the hair which can be massaged much easier and more effectively into the hair with your fingers.
It is also not advisable to measure the quality of the shampoo by the fragrance - but too use a certain shampoo and to test after a few washes the condition of your hair. If your hair is too Flyaway, tangled,limp or greasy or if you have an itchy scalp or in general not the condition that you would like it to be - then the type of shampoo you are using is not good for your type of hair.
Basically it is recommended to use a trial and error method untill you actually find a shampoo that is good for your specific hair type, taking into consideration what was mentioned earlier that it is advisable to change shampoos every few weeks, even if you have black hair style.
When selecting a hair loss shampoo, you need to remember that your scalp is skin, and that skin is there to keep things out of your body. Most hair loss shampoos will be able to penetrate the first layer of skin and therefore make your scalp softer, but it’s doubtful that any hair loss shampoo can penetrate the second layer of skin, into the living cells of the papilla.
