Can I use clay to wash my hair?
Joneen says… I have a question about rhassoul clay. I’ve heard good things about using it as a shampoo. However, my concern is the accumulation of minerals. This is one of the effects of hard water on hair, and it’s something I’m dealing with right now and want to avoid in the future. I know that rhassoul is mostly silica and aluminum, but it has some calcium and magnesium in it, the same minerals that hard water contains that are very problematic. So it seems to stand to reason that these would also be included in the hair when using rhassoul. Is there a scientific reason why it might not cause mineralization – ie does the large amount of silica somehow prevent the calcium and magnesium from binding to the hair? I will mix it with aloe vera juice to create a consistency that is easy to use.
We touched on this before when we talked about an article published on a website called “The Natural Haven.” It was written by a scientist who goes by the name “JC” and posted a very interesting piece exploring different types of mild detergents.
He conducted a study where he collected his shed hair and divided it into several groups: a negative control group that was left dirty and greasy. A good control was washed with normal shampoo, and several test groups washed them with different types of detergent. then, and here’s the cool part, he took micrographs of the group to determine how well the test products were cleaned.
Check out his website for pictures of the results but here’s what he found:
- Best cleansers (all oil removal): Shampoo, oat water (oats boiled in water to release natural saponins), natural soap bar.
- Good cleanser (most oil removed): Hair conditioner (cowash), liquid soap, clay
- Poor cleanser (little or no oil removal): Baking soda, Shikaki (crushed acacia lumps) and the worst of all apple cider vinegar.
So back to Joneen’s question…will rhassoul clay cause mineral buildup? Rhassoul clay comes from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. (Also known as Moroccan lava clay.) It is mainly composed of a mineral called stevensite and another clay called montmorillonite. It can also contain impurities such as iron, potassium, Al, and other metals. So it partly depends on how it was cleaned.
Mineral build-up is a major problem when the metal ions in hard water combine with soap and form an insoluble “gunk” that is difficult to remove from your hair. To a lesser extent you get mineral deposits where hard water dries on your hair. But this only happens if you have metal ions in the water in the first place. In rhassoul and other clays, many metal ions are bound in a molecular complex so they are less likely to stain your hair. Again, this depends on how clean the clay is.
It is interesting to note that there is a patent covering the use of this clay mixed with aloe.
It seems unlikely that this would cause a major problem but unfortunately the best answer is that you just have to try and see.
He said he still has this problem, I feel like I wash his hair with hard water. Will she have a problem when she washes her hair after this treatment?
Finally, remember that some cleansers like clay won’t do a good job of removing residue from heavy conditioners or styling products.
Why is Redken Pre-Art so good at removing hard water?
Nicole who asks… Why is Redken Pre-Art so good at removing hard water build-up?
He says he has spring water that turns his red hair green. The color carries her hair and the areas that turn green are the holes, highlighted. Tried all the green blockers and the ONLY thing that worked was Redken Pre-Art. She puts the product in her hair under a shower cap, waits 30 minutes and then shampoos it out – “she can literally see the green slip in my hair.” Want to know what makes it work like a real miracle?
I looked at the ingredients not expecting to see anything remarkable. But I was surprised to find that this is a really unique product. The first four ingredients are: Water, Trisodium HEDTA, citric acid, and PEI-35. Includes other conditioning agents.
It seems that the magic ingredient is Trisodium HEDTA (if you keep the points at home it stands for Trisodium Hydroxy-ethyl-ethylene-diamine-triacetate) which is a chelating agent. That means it can trap certain minerals and prevent them from binding your hair. In this case, it is the chelating copper responsible for the green tint. I haven’t seen this ingredient used much but any product that has it at the top of the ingredient list should work just as well.
It is also interesting that it contains PEI (polyethyleneimine) which is a familiar ingredient from VO5 Hot oil. It is recommended because of the high charge density which makes it attractive to the hair. In fact, we co-authored a paper titled “Solid-state Polyelectrolyte Complexes of Branched Poly(ethylenimine) and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate” which was published in the Journal of Macromolecular Science. I’ll put a link in the show notes just in case any of our listeners WRITER THEIR OPINIONS. Seriously, there is no way you would want to read this.
This combination is really unique and has some science behind it so I can definitely recommend this to anyone who has problems with hard water build up.
Can I use body lotion to condition my hair?
Grasielle asks…I ran out of hair conditioner, so I used my body lotion sparingly, my hair didn’t feel bad afterwards and the lotion smelled great. Is it safe to use hair oil? Or conditioner for the skin? I feel that these products are similar but I have very curly hair and I will not use my body lotion as a conditioner because it is not smooth enough and the conditioner tends to leave a soapy feeling on the skin. But what if I want to use conditioner on my hair once a while after washing, are there any harmful ingredients for the hair?
It is absolutely SAFE to use body lotion as a conditioner. Whether it works well or not depends on your preference.
Lotions contain emollients, humectants, and occlusive agents that soften the skin. These are similar to leave-in conditioners although I would expect them to be too heavy/greasy for most people’s hair.
Lotions are less likely to work as a rinse out hair conditioner because the ingredients are not designed to stick to the hair after washing.
You also asked if it is safe to use hair conditioner on your skin. In some cases, no. This is because cleansing conditioners sometimes use high levels of quaternium ammonium compounds that can be irritating if left on the skin. These ingredients do not cause problems when cleaned. Conditioners are supposed to be safe to leave on your skin but these formulas don’t usually contain the moisturizing agents your skin needs.
What is important is that the products are made for the intended purpose. It is generally not a good idea to use something for a different body part than it is intended for.
Is horse oil good for skin?
Wendy says… I’m going through the podcasts but I’m wondering if you’ve gotten to more… scary ingredients like snail mucus, bee venom, and horse oil?
We’ve talked about snail slime and bee venom before but I thought this must be a typo. There’s no such thing as horse oil, right? I asked her and she answered: “It’s a real oil from horse fat! It’s one of those ancient Chinese remedies for skin related problems like eczema, skin burns, bug bites, aging). Recently it’s been considered a current trend in Asian beauty and some Korean actresses are actively supporting it. The part of the science that I see a lot is mixing oil with sobud like sobud oil like human somlipid. It absorbs better.”
Wow. I don’t believe in this day and age that anyone would market a product with horse oil. What’s next? Keratin from activated cats? But putting the ethical issues aside for now how can we find out if there is any science behind horse oil being good for the skin? Kulula just read this technical paper I found: “The composition of horse fat in relation to the fat of other grazing animals.” (From the 1949 journal of biochemistry, by the way.)
However, it turns out that horse oil usually contains a mixture of oleic and linoleic acids interspersed with palmitic acid. Is this really “similar to human sebum for better absorption?” However, human sebum contains a good slug of these fatty acids (about 20 or 30%) but also contains glycerides, wax esters and cholesterol. So it’s the same but if you really want to use a skin-friendly oil why not just use one of the many products that contain oils rich in linoleic acid. We did a whole show on rose hip oil for example. No need to hurt the poor little horse.
However, is this one of those examples we keep hearing about how advanced the Korean beauty industry is compared to the US?
Beauty Stories of Science
Robots can wash your hair and brush your teeth
Link
It seems like the industry is obsessed with smart phone apps that can help with your beauty but I say screw it. I want to jump right into robots doing my maintenance tasks for me.
Are you joking? Then you haven’t seen the work of Swedish robotics pioneer Simone Giertz who calls herself, get this, “The Queen of Sh*tty Robots.” Simone has invented a helmet for brushing teeth and a hair-washing robot made of “a shampoo bottle, a rubber hand, and a bunch of servos.” The article described these inventions as “bewilderingly useless.” There are, of course, YouTube videos of this in action. I think this was cheeky but I’d love to see a leading beauty company get into robotics for a long time.
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