Hair Conditioner - heads-up!

[Kimela]

I went to a new stylist today (always a real nail-biter but it turned out well). I told her I'm a diver and she asked what I do to protect my hair when diving in salt water. I told her I get my hair wet with fresh water (and she nodded 'yes') and then I put in conditioner (and she shook her head no). If I understood this correctly, conditioner is formulated to work to restore the hairs' proper pH. It will continue to work to do that for as long as it is on the hair. When we leave it on too long it actually weakens the hair, making it more brittle!!

LEAVE-IN CONDITIONER is not the same. It is formulated to leave in, so if you're using Stream2Sea's leave-in conditioner (like me - phew) you're ok. But if you're using something that says "rinse afterward", follow the directions and get that stuff out of your hair in short order. I didn't know there was a difference. Yes, I know the name of the product should have been a dead giveaway. I only got Stream2Sea because it's reef safe - totally lucked out that it's the leave-in stuff!

 

[MichaelMc]

Thanks Kimela.

Relevant to those of us with skin in suits who use diluted conditioner to get the thing on and slather our hair with it in the process.

 

[morecowbells]

Thanks for the tip! I keep getting ads on my Facebook feed about 'cleansing creme' conditioning shampoos. They claim to be gentle on the hair without aggressive cleansing ingredients. While I would welcome some TLC with my scuba hair, I wonder if they would be effective in removing salt etc. Oh the dilemma of trying to keep my (in denial)greying and fickle hair happy.....

 

[Esprise Me]

I'm skeptical. "Restoring ph balance" is one of those beauty product ad copy phrases that doesn't seem to ever actually mean anything. What is the proper ph of human hair? Is it acidic, basic, or neutral? What is causing my hair to not be the proper ph, and which direction is it moving my hair on the ph scale? By what mechanism does the conditioner restore it, and how does leaving it on too long make the hair more brittle? How is leave-in conditioner formulated not to do that?

I had to get out of the shower once without having a chance to rinse out the conditioner. It dried like that, and it was greasy, but not brittle. Leave-in conditioners seem less greasy, and don't weigh my hair down if I leave them in.

 

[Kimela]

Thanks for the tip! I keep getting ads on my Facebook feed about 'cleansing creme' conditioning shampoos. They claim to be gentle on the hair without aggressive cleansing ingredients. While I would welcome some TLC with my scuba hair, I wonder if they would be effective in removing salt etc. Oh the dilemma of trying to keep my (in denial)greying and fickle hair happy.....

I hit the hair jackpot during covid. I decided to let my hair go its natural color and the gray is actually a-ok. Maybe yours will too?

 

[Kimela]

I'm skeptical. "Restoring ph balance" is one of those beauty product ad copy phrases that doesn't seem to ever actually mean anything. What is the proper ph of human hair? Is it acidic, basic, or neutral? What is causing my hair to not be the proper ph, and which direction is it moving my hair on the ph scale? By what mechanism does the conditioner restore it, and how does leaving it on too long make the hair more brittle? How is leave-in conditioner formulated not to do that?

I had to get out of the shower once without having a chance to rinse out the conditioner. It dried like that, and it was greasy, but not brittle. Leave-in conditioners seem less greasy, and don't weigh my hair down if I leave them in.

I have NO idea about this stuff, but I assume my stylist knows her business better than I do. Maybe the shampoo takes something out (along with the oil) and the conditioner puts something else back in? A previous stylist told me that the shampoo opens the tips of the hair and the conditioner closes them again. I think it's witchcraft, to be honest. Voodoo, pure and simple. I generally buy what smells good!

 

[morecowbells]

I hit the hair jackpot during covid. I decided to let my hair go its natural color and the gray is actually a-ok. Maybe yours will too?

Two different times I tried to let the grey grow in using lighter blond highlights. The sides are practically white, while the crown is about 40% silver grey. Once it is more evened out, I may try again. It made me look tired and older than my husband. now I have a tote filled with hair color from Sally's and have to work on the roots every 3 weeks.-ugh. I am jealous that your transition was smooth.

 

[Esprise Me]

I have NO idea about this stuff, but I assume my stylist knows her business better than I do.

I wouldn't make that assumption, at least not so broadly. This is not the first stylist you've ever had, but it's the first stylist to ever tell you this? Red flag number one. If all stylists agree, that lends credence, but if you're old enough for grey hair and using words like "always" to describe the experience of getting a new stylist, you're old enough to wonder why you're just hearing this now.

Also, I would be amazed if cosmetology school actually taught anything about the ph scale. Red flag number two-- this person isn't a doctor or chemist, but they're throwing around technical terms that they probably need more than a high school education to really understand.

Sometimes I do defer to someone's knowledge from experience, but I temper that with an understanding that their analysis might be flawed. OK, so a stylist sees a lot of hair, and maybe asks all her clients what they do to it, which gives her a large data set. But does it give her insight into cause and effect? Perhaps she's seen a lot of people with split ends who slather their hair with conditioner and leave it on, and then she's seen lots of people who just rinse out the conditioner normally and have nice hair. It's understandable she might conclude that the conditioner is causing the damage to the hair of the people in the first group. It's also easy to see the fallacy in that conclusion. Maybe the people who don't rinse are a self-selected group of people who already have damaged or brittle hair, and the conditioner isn't hurting them; it's just not helping as much as they'd like.

What you would really need is a controlled study. You could do one on yourself, though the sample size would be small. You'd just have to part your hair every time you washed it, and rinse out the conditioner on one side while leaving it on the other. After a few months, you may see a difference--or not. My money's on not. But I'd be interested to hear if you decide to try it.

 

[tarponchik]

I'm skeptical. "Restoring ph balance" is one of those beauty product ad copy phrases that doesn't seem to ever actually mean anything. What is the proper ph of human hair? Is it acidic, basic, or neutral? What is causing my hair to not be the proper ph, and which direction is it moving my hair on the ph scale? By what mechanism does the conditioner restore it, and how does leaving it on too long make the hair more brittle? How is leave-in conditioner formulated not to do that?

I had to get out of the shower once without having a chance to rinse out the conditioner. It dried like that, and it was greasy, but not brittle. Leave-in conditioners seem less greasy, and don't weigh my hair down if I leave them in.

Hair consist mostly of protein called keratin, which has high content of amino acids capable of ion exchange. Thus, in theory, glutamic and aspartic acid residues in keratin can be present in their acidic (-COOH) or salt forms (-COONa or -COOK, for example), etc. So nothing wrong with this "pH balance" thingy, although I've no idea how important this is for hair quality. I'm skeptical for another reason: all these shampoos and conditioners contain ingredients that can be poisonous to marine life, so I am against using them on liveaboards and isolated tropical islands where they get straight into sea waters after use.

 

[Marie13]

Hair consist mostly of protein called keratin, which has high content of amino acids capable of ion exchange. Thus, in theory, glutamic and aspartic acid residues in keratin can be present in their acidic (-COOH) or salt forms (-COONa or -COOK, for example), etc. So nothing wrong with this "pH balance" thingy, although I've no idea how important this is for hair quality. I'm skeptical for another reason: all these shampoos and conditioners contain ingredients that can be poisonous to marine life, so I am against using them on liveaboards and isolated tropical islands where they get straight into sea waters after use.

Stream2Sea has a fabulous moisturizing shampoo & body wash (combo product). I use it both at home and when I travel (by car).