How Shampoo Works
A shampoo is a mixture of ingredients that work together to cleanse the hair and scalp. The ‘power’ ingredient that shampoos have in common is the base surfactant, a term which is short for ‘surface active agent’. The surfactants are the ingredients that clean the hair and are present in all shampoos.
When shampoo mixes with water it creates lather. The amount of lather however does not reflect the cleaning power of the shampoo. So why do we need lather? Firstly, people just like the feel of lather, it makes using a shampoo more pleasant. Secondly, lather helps you to see if the shampoo has been divided equally over the hair, and thirdly, when the lather has disappeared out of the hair, you know that you’ve rinsed out all the shampoo.
The surfactants loosen, lift and remove the dirt, excessive amounts of sebum (scalp’s natural oils) and styling residues from the hair. When rinsing, these particles are removed together with the lather. For a shampoo to be really mild, it must clean the hair and scalp but not remove the natural oils and grease from the skin.
The major benefit of using a shampoo is well manageable, clean and shiny hair with volume.
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Classification of Shampoos
When you look around you notice that people have different hair types and want different results from washing their hair. This means that all these people need their own hair care regime. To fit people’s needs for their hair, different shampoos are required.
Looking back in history the classical shampoo had one purpose only: cleansing hair. Nowadays there is a lot of variety in modern shampoos to fit all types of hair.
Four classifications in modern shampoos can be made to fit the people’s needs:
These shampoos are adjusted to different hair types like:
Clarifying shampoo is a non-conditioning shampoo that is frequently used in salons before a colouring or perming treatment. The clarifying shampoo removes dirt, environmental pollution and styling residues and does not deposit any conditioning agents so that the hair is completely clean before treatments. Normal shampoos can also be used before treatments.Other shampoos are specifically adjusted to help prepare the hair before chemical treatments like perming and colouring/bleaching/highlighting, also they help to leave the hair in good condition following those treatments.
Shampoos for technical use have the same basic composition as shampoos designed for the different hair types, but the pH can be adjusted to the technical treatment. A shampoo to be used after technical treatments such as colouring, decolouring, perming or relaxing can be slightly acidic. These help to stabilise the hair and lengthen the durability of the treatment, neutralise the chemicals put on the hair during the treatment, balance the pH of the hair, close the cuticle scales once treatment is complete, detangle the hair before and after the treatment to reduce static electricity (fly away effect) and give the hair its shine again.
How Shampoos Work
Surfactants are the essential cleaning substances in shampoos. As oils, like sebum, do not mix with water, the water needs an addition to make the oily matters soluble. Surfactants are the ‘power ingredients’ that do this. So let’s look at how they do this.
Imagine a surfactant as a molecule in the shape of a head with a tail. During shampooing, these surfactants surround the sebum and oil-based residues, as the tails of the surfactant are oil soluble they just love sebum and scalp oil. When these tails find dirt they bury themselves into it. Now, the tails are in the dirt and the surfactant’s head (ball shaped) sticks out. This is because these balls are water soluble. They do not like oils and have a tiny negative charge. These balls totally surround the surface of the sebum, giving the dirt a negative charge. And this the trick! Hairs carry small negative charges on their surface. Two things with the same charge do not like to be near each other and so, now that the dirt also has become negatively charged, the hair’s surface and the charged dirt tend to push each other away.
In shampooing terms this means that the hair repels the dirt that was originally clinging to it. This way the surfactant molecules lift the scalp oils and dirt into the rinse water and are then rinsed away to leave behind clean hair. The mildness of the surfactant is important for users who have sensitive skin and those who wash their hair frequently. They need to clean the hair from dirt but not take away the natural oils and moisture.
Six Steps to Clean Healthy Hair
1. Brush the hair gently before washing with a semi-circular shaped brush made from man-made materials.
2. Wet the hair and make sure the temperature of the water is luke warm (not too cold and not to hot).
3. Pour an amount of shampoo in the palm of your hand. Dilute with a little water before applying to the hair. Spread the shampoo between the palms of your hands and lather before applying to the hair.
4. Massage the shampoo gently on to the scalp using your fingertips. There is no need to massage shampoo into hair growing below chin length. As the lather runs from the scalp it will clean the entire length of the hair.
5. Rinse hair thoroughly – Any shampoo and dirt residues will leave hair dull and sticky hence attracting more dirt. If the hair is washed frequently, most shampoos are effective enough to warrant only one shampoo per wash. If necessary you can shampoo for a second time.
6. Towel dry the hair. Do not rub, pull or wring as wet hair loses much of its resilience/toughness.
When the hair is long, make sure it hangs straight down as it is washed. Piling the hair up on to the top of the head creates lots of unnecessary tangles. To avoid this happening let the hair hang straight down and the shampoo run the length of the hair. That way the hair’s cuticles stay in the right direction avoiding unnecessary damage.
