Healthy Curls

Healthy Hair, No More Damage

Version info:

v1.1 (Nov 28, 2005)

Healthy Curls

Silicones

What Are Silicones?

From the jessicurl web site (my underline):

"Silicones are viscous oily liquids that coat the hair shaft in gloss, giving the illusion of healthy sheen. As most curly hair tends to be dry and often frizzy, silicones seem like the miracle ingredient to combat these complaints. The downside is that most silicones are not water soluble, and can only be removed with harsh detergents. The very detergents needed to remove the silicones strip the hair of all its natural oils, leaving it stripped and straw-like. This causes the user to think she needs more silicones to combat the dryness. Thus, the cycle begins again. If the user is not using these harsh detergents to remove the silicones, they can build up, creating a barrier on the hair shaft. This barrier prevents moisturizing conditioners from penetrating the hair, further drying it out."

My problem is more with harsh shampoos than with silicones. Since non-water soluble silicones will build up if one doesn't use clarifying (i.e., harsh) shampoos to remove them, I try to stay away from them.

However, if a silicone is water soluble it doesn't need a harsh shampoo to remove it, so I'm okay with using a product that includes it.

For a ton more information about sater solubility, check out this thread on Cones, polyquats, ions, and removal of buildup from naturallycurly.com.

Here's a quick cheat sheet from the ingredients article I linked to on the Ingredients Guide page:

Design by Andreas Viklund.