Learn the facts about silicone hair products before jumping on the silicone-free bandwagon.
There is no single perfect recipe for hair care, products or styling. Not even all curlies who fall under one specific curl type need the same product or have the same miracle worker. One recent trend that’s taken the curly hair product world by storm, however, is to avoid silicone hair products. As smart, curly women we must first ask ourselves and get the facts: is this needlessly limiting, or even based in fact?
The purpose of silicone hair products are to coat the hair with a micro-fine layer of conditioners creating sheen, reducing friction for easier combing and to prevent tangles and breakage. Silicones also help other ingredients in conditioners and lotions to spread easily. Silicones are not water-soluble unless they are modified to be, so they also form a water-sealing barrier to prevent loss of water from hair and help retain dye by making hair more hydrophobic (water-repellent).
Healthy, undamaged hair is also hydrophobic. In skin products, this effect is desirable – silicones slow down trans-epidermal water loss by sealing in moisture and slowing dehydration. Unlike vegetable oils, silicones are not likely to cause skin sensitivity reactions.
What Do Silicone Hair Products Do?
Silicones are generally used at a rate of 1 to 2 percent in hair conditioners and skin lotions. If you add one drop of dimethicone to 99 drops of hair conditioner – that is 1 percent. Diluted silicones spread around, but cannot form a 100 percent solid barrier.
Silicones bond to the hydrophobic, or undamaged, parts of hair better than the hydrophilic, or damaged, areas. When added to a conditioner containing cationic surfactants (positively charged conditioners) such as behentrimonium chloride/methosulfate, cetrimonium chloride/bromide, the interaction of ingredients helps silicone bond to damaged areas.
Can You Remove Silicone Build Up?
It was reported in a 1994 article in the journal Skin Pharmacology that silicones deposited on hair by 2-in-1 shampoos can be removed by a single washing with a silicone-free shampoo. This removed 90 percent of silicone residue. Oils and proteins applied to hair can also be removed by shampoo, but cationic surfactants, which provide benefits similar to silicones, are resistant to shampooing because they bond more tightly to the hair. This effect has been demonstrated by several studies reported in the Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemistry.
You can remove silicone residue from hair or skin with cleansers containing Sodium or Ammonium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate, Sodium C14-17 Alkyl Sulfonate (Olefin Sulfonate), or Cocoamidopropyl Betaine. Skin constantly sheds cells, so silicone build up is rarely an issue.
Silicone build up is not a problem for everybody. If you use silicone hair products and never use shampoo, silicone will begin to accumulate on your hair. But there is a limited amount of surface on the hair for the silicone to bond to, and it will not accumulate indefinitely. If you use shampoos containing the ingredients above, you need not worry much about build up from silicone hair products. If you never use shampoo at all, or have very fine, silky hair, silicones may weigh your hair down with repeated use.
Want More?
Our CurlChemist breaks down each silicone for you, letting you decide what works best for your hair type, texture, porosity and density.
Final Thoughts
Build-up of any product is only a concern if it causes your hair or skin to do something you do not want it to do. Be your own judge about what ingredients to avoid in hair care products. Consult the science, and most importantly — get feedback from your own hair and skin.
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 29th, 2011 at 8:48 am and is filed under Products and Ingredients, Silicones. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed.
February 26th, 2013 at 11:44 am
I spent months using silicone free products only to have my long locks become increasingly frizzy, straw-like, with kinky strands, itchy-scalp and split ends. There was no doubt that even thoroughly rinsing with cold water (to seal the cuticle) was not helping. I spent a good deal of the last few months trying to research what to do about my rat’s nest. Here is what I discovered – natural home remedies of egg, avocado, honey, beer and mayonnaise worked well to soften the hair for a few days but would only last a day or so and with limited success. After trying numerous products with Moroccan oil I found these too only lasted a few days and made my hair feel dirty and heavy after one application. Herbal Essences “Honey I’m Strong” helped a little bit but after several deep conditioning applications (hair wrapped in plastic and towel) there seemed to be a stale-mate. So, I researched on. I read up on protein build up and even though I dye my hair and was concerned about using Head and Shoulders my itchy scalp won out and I used it once. No more of the itchy scalp and my hair colour took on more of the brown-red it should have had from the dye color as opposed to the black it seemed to hold on to. Then I tried Nexxus Hydration and found the answer. With one application there was a noticeable difference. Two applications and my hair is glossy, silky and controlled wave (I have a pronounced 1940’s style wave/curl) with no split ends after using the flat iron. I have not been able to use the flat iron in months so I am overjoyed and feeling more like myself now. I will still use the natural conditioning recipe from time to time and will use argon oil as a sealer (especially in the warm humid weather) but I will NEVER go Silicone-free again. I am a Nexxus girl now. Silicone-free did not work for me!
May 22nd, 2013 at 2:09 pm
I agree 100% with KBrazier! I was trying to avoid silicones as well and have found that my hair is what I call “chipping” away. Little chips from the very tips or half of the strands were breaking. I’m transitioning. Using silicones makes my hair VERY soft and VERY manageable down the entire shaft and to me that means strength because when I comb it, it doesn’t break. My purpose of going natural was to strenghten my hair and thereby retain the length. I don’t care if that’s done by using motor oil (ok that’s a bit much) but seriously, I gave up being 100% natural a long time ago. I tried that once and realized that that would mean I’d have to give up everything in my refrigerator – even the “natural stuff”. Anything that’s been touched by another human being has the chance of having something bad on it. Period – even the organic. I can’t afford to live by a lake and catch fish everyday and neither do I want to grow every item I put in my mouth, nor make my own soap. Not going to happen. That said, I’ve accepted that I’m going natural in order to give my hair strength, period, and that’s what the silicones are doing for me. I’m still undecided about how often to use shampoos to remove the silicones (and then put them right back on) as I typically co-wash. The only shampoo that I’ve used successfully since I’ve began co-washing, that hasn’t dried my hair out is the Nairobo deep cleanser. It makes my hair feel just as if I’d co-washed – no stripping. So the Nexxus Humectress and Nairobi are my staples. I will continue to DC with oils and humectants to add that extra moisture but like KBrazier said, they just don’t last long. I also use the Humectress on my ends as a leave in instead of oils and butters because it works AND it doesn’t leave oil marks on my sheets – and yes, I wear a satin bonet. I HATE THAT. Nexxus works fantastic for me.