January 04, 2011

Condition Your Hair Like Oprah, Part 1

 
 

Sent to you by redcliff via Google Reader:

 
 

via The Beauty Brains by Right Brain on 1/3/11

Post image for Condition Your Hair Like Oprah, Part 1

Alysse anxiously asks…I've been wondering about the Phytospecific line of products formulated for ethnic hair. I've heard that Oprah uses the "Vital Bath" Conditioning product and I was just wondering if it's worth the money? Also, do you have any tips for helping coarse/relaxed Black hair grow better? What products/ingredients should I look for? My hair still seems thin, coarse, and it's not growing! I've tried everything from Dark & Lovely to Goldwell Kerasilk to Nioxin, but I'm beginning to fear there's nothing I can do to help my hair.

The Right Brain replies:

Alysse, you raised some very good questions about taking care of ethnic hair. So good, in fact, that it will take us two posts to answer them all! So today, in Part 1, we'll talk about why ethnic hair needs special attention in the first place.

Hair biology

Because of its shape, ethnic hair tends to break more easily than Caucasian or Asian hair. That's because the cross-section of Caucasian and Asian hair tends to be fairly round. Ethnic hair, particularly African hair, has a very elipical shape, almost like a kidney bean. The less round the hair shaft is, the kinkier it will grow out. This distorted shape is caused in part by the shape of the follicle that grows the hair partly by the chemical nature of the keratin proteins that make up the hair.

Combing danger

So, African hair tends to be very kinky and curly and that means it's harder to get a comb or brush through it. Every twist and turn of the hair shaft results in a dangerous hairpin turn (pun intended) where breakage can occur. It also means that to get rid of the kinks (no relation to the musical group) many people use chemical relaxers to straighten their hair. Unfortunately, this process attacks the hair's natural protein and causes even more damage.

To reduce damage and breakage people with this hair type need a lot of conditioning. There are many products designed for ethnic hair – some are good; others are not so good. Next time, in Part 2, we'll take a look at the product you asked about: Oprah's fave, PHYTOSPECIFIC Vital Force Creme Bath, for Damaged and Brittle hair.


 
 

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