Product Deconstruction....

It's been a good hair day, and it's going to be an even better hair night - it's an out night! And I think I won't do the Caramel treatment til tomorrow morning - that way I can have a night with my hair 'out'.

Then - there was discussion as to whether ayurvedics (more specifically, shikakai & amla) lighten your hair - and several ladies noted that it made their hair REDDER. Mind you, I've been noticing an increase in the redness of my hair, but I assumed it was just the henna finally coming out. I checked my hair in the mirror at work (realll close) though - and I don't think that's henna.

*hugselfwithjoy* Ohmigods, ohmigods, OHMIGODS!!! Could I have accidentally stumbled across a way to make my hair RED (or at least, light enough that the henna will show better) WITHOUT harmful chemicals? *fanself* I really might fall out. So - I'm going to keep using them (obviously) and keep track of how red/light my hair gets. I'm seriously so over the moon - I'm almost twitching, I'm so excited!!

I might mix up a FRESH batch of henna to celebrate, rather than using one of the frozen bags. I'm starting to wonder if they are loosing their potency - my gloves haven't been getting stained as much, lately - and considering I'm down to an every 8 week cycle, I need all the 'umph' it can give me.

Okay - I went home - it's FRIDAY!!! - and took out my hair on the way. My hair - for one - was still wet. I soaked it in the shower this morning (oooh, water on my scalp is such a treat - esp. when I KNOW I don't have to care how it looks afterwards!). For two, the twists came apart like butter - just amazingly smooth and easy and soft. It's - lovely. And it smells - fresh. Lightly herby, and slightly human, but - clean, somehow. It's odd.

Anyhow. From before I left work, I had copied down the ingredient list for French Perm Stabilizer Plus - which I think is just a acidic formula that smooths down your cuticles. I figured I could look up each ingredient in the comestic dictionary, and see how much is filler, and how much actully DOES anything. Hrmph. I've listed them in order, as well.


water - obvious! :lol:
isoproply alcohol - The alcohols to be concerned about in skin-care products are ethanol, denatured alcohol, ethyl alcohol, methanol, benzyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, and sd alcohol, which not only can be extremely drying and irritating to skin, but also can generate free-radical damage (Sources: “Skin Care—From the Inside Out and Outside In,” Tufts Daily, April 1, 2002; eMedicine Journal, May 8, 2002, volume 3, number 5, www.emedicine.com; Cutis, February 2001, pages 25–27; Contact Dermatitis, January 1996, pages 12–16; and http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-4/277-284.htm). In a product where these ingredients are at the top of the ingredient list, they will be problematic for all skin types; when they are at the bottom of an ingredient list, there most likely is not enough present to be a problem for skin. (Source - the cosmetic dictionary)

trideceth-7 - Surfactants that help to form emulsions by reducing the surface tension of the substances to be emulsifed.

carboxylic acid - L-carnitine. Also known as carboxylic acid, it is often erroneously labeled an amino acid (which it is not). It has been claimed to have miraculous (albeit unsubstantiated) properties for enhancing the metabolization of fat when taken orally. There is research in animal studies showing it has anti-aging benefits when taken orally (Source: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, April 2002, pages 133–166). However, there is no known benefit for skin when it is applied topically in skin-care products, though it may have antioxidant properties. See antioxidant.

polyquaternium-10 - Group of ingredients used primarily in hair-care products for their antistatic and film-forming properties. They can have water-binding properties for skin due to the sheer “plastic” film layer they create on skin.

oleakonium chloride - no clue. Creepy.

fragrance - obvious

propylparaben - Group of preservatives, including butylparaben, propylparaben, methylparaben, and ethylparaben, that are the most widely used group of preservatives in cosmetics. It is estimated that more than 90% of all cosmetic products contain some form of paraben. Parabens are believed to cause less irritation than some preservatives. There is research showing that in animal models (and in vitro) parabens can have weak estrogenic activity. Whether that poses any health risk for humans who are using cosmetics is unknown. The technical findings of the study, which involved both oral administration and injection into rat skin, did show evidence of a weak estrogen effect on cells in a way that could be problematic for binding to receptor sites that may cause proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The study concluded that “future work will need to address the extent to which parabens can accumulate in hormonally sensitive tissues and also the extent to which their weak oestrogenic activity can add to the more general environmental oestrogen problem” (Source: Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, January 2002, pages 49–60).

methylparaben - see above.

Okay. We've got a filler (water), an evaporater (isoproply alcohol), a surfactant to help everything mix together (trideceth-7), an acid (carboxylic acid), a smoother/silkener (polyquaternium-10), something mysterious (oleakonium chloride), stuff to make it smell good, and stuff to make it last longer.

Out of that, the only things that REALLY do anything are the acid (carboxylic acid), the smoother/silkener (polyquaternium-10), and the unknown one (oleakonium chloride).

Replacing the acid is easy - in chemical structure, citric acid shares the properties of other carboxylic acids.

The smoother - well, I guess for the sake of detangling - this would be the 'slip'. I'm thinking Irish Moss?

That leaves the mystery ingredient. Let's try breaking it down.


oleakonium chloride
Oleo - possibly related to oleic acid? Arrgh, I need more of a science background! I'm getting nothing on the konium suffix, at all. Well, that's not true. I get several hits on it as an ingredient is several products.... hrmm. I should see if those products have any similarities.

Rusk Thick Body and Texture Amplifier
Alberto VO5® Red REAL CLEAN! Styling Gel
Better Braids Medicated SHAMPOO
Alberto balsam extra body mousse (could only find search links referencing the product)
One n’ Only – resistant formula (Jheri Redding Step 2)

Hrm. None of that seems to really 'hang together'. Someone noted that the product foamed - so maybe it's a foaming agent? I don't know. Maybe it just makes it thick and fluffy - gives the whole mix some substance.

So. Assuming that's right - and I could be totally wrong about EVERYTHING - I should be able to make something that detangles my hair like a dream out of a citric acid/irish moss mixture.

*grin* That was fun. It'll be even MORE fun to make the mixture, and to see if it makes detangling a dream. *slygrin* And if it DOES work - oooh, how much FUN I'll have doing this to OTHER products.....