How To Manage Your Tresses?

Which Is Better-Combing Or Brushing?
If you use a soft brush, brushing is less damaging than combing, but a stiff brush does cause more damage to the hair than a comb.Prolonged brushing also harms hair considerably.Back combing also damages the hair.It ruffles the scales of the cuticle as well as it causes knotting which is difficult to untangle.
Wet hair should never be combed or brushed as this causes greater damage to the hair.A good comb should have rounded and not sharp teeth.Nylon brushes with spiky ends also damage the hair.

How To Choose Your Shampoo?
Most shampoos are detergent based(lauryl sulphates).To this are added several chemicals-stabilisers, preservatives, conditioning agents, perfumes and colours.
A shampoo should be judged by its performance-not by its appearance, colour, perfume and definitely not by its price.It should clean hair and rinse out easily, leaving the hair smooth and manageable.Lots of lather is not a measure of its efficiency-though it may indicate a high detergent content.Neither does a thick consistency mean that the shampoo is more concentrated. There is a good range of products-labelled as "for oily hair", "for dry hair", and "for normal hair".The differences in these shampoos is in the type of detergent used and also in the concentration of the detergent (being greatest for greasy hair) used. Regarding the pH of shampoos, it is generally agreed that neutral or slightly acidic shampoos are better for the hair, especially the hair that has been physically or chemically damaged.

How Safe Are Shampoos?
Shampoos are very safe for the hair because they do not contain any harsh detergents, therefore the natural coating, the hydrolipidic film, is retained on the hair.

How Often Should You Wash Your Hair?
This depends on the type of hair and scalp, and also on the environment.If your hair is greasy then you would need to wash it frequently, say even 3-4 times every week.This is especially necessary if the environment you work in is dirty.Frequent shampooing is not harmful for the hair.

Do Exotic Shampoo Ingredients Have Any Real Effect On The Hair?
Despite their popularity and appeal, many of the shampoo additives do not really benefit the hair, simply because they are quickly rinsed off the hair in the shampooing preocess.However some products, egg and beer for instance, may cling to the hair and impart apparent body to the hair and act as conditioning agents.Amino acids and panthenol are added to some shampoos because they give body to the hair.

Which Conditioner To Choose?
Conditioners are generally used after shampooing.If the conditioner is not rinsed off well, the hair may appear greasy.Sometimes the conditioning agents are incorporated into shampoos; the conditioning perforamance of such combination shampoos is inferior to the perforamance of the 2-stage shampooing and conditioning.The term "balsam" is frequently mentioned in connection with creme-rinses.The term is applied to conditioners which contain plenty of oils and protein.Exotic natural additives such as collagen, gelatin, allantoin and henna are also being used in the conditioners.

Are Conditioners Safe?
The conditioning compounds are not without adverse effectsThe hair maybe softened too much-this happens fequently with thin hair.

Curling And Straightening Of Hair
How Do Hair Perms Work? Perming is a chemical process of changing the shape of hair, so that the new style is retained through several washes.Perming can be achieved either by a cold process or by a hot process.
What Can Go Wrong With A Perm? A number of factors combine to make the perm successful; the correct strength of the lotion, the curler size, the degree of tension with which the hair is wound around the curlers, and the development time.Things can go wrong with any of these and spoil the perm.With small curlers and too much tension on the hair, the hair might look frizzy.Similarly with too long a development time the curl becomes too tight.With a short developement time and larger curlers the perm is loose.
Damage to the hair is another problem with perming; this occurs most often in the hiar which is already damaged by dying.Even in normal hair, too prolonged an application or too strong a lotion may cause damage.
How Often Can You Perm Your Hair? This depends on the condition of your hair.Some damage does take place during perming and this is more so if the hair has been dyed earlier and it is therefore better to avoid re-perming your hair earlier than 4-5 months.
Can Curly Hair Be Straightened? Yes, hair can be straightened just as it can be curled.This is done either by using chemicals or heat.

Setting Of Hair:
What Are Setting Agents And Hair Sprays? Setting agents keep the hair set longer.They are applied to wash the hair before it is set.Both, setting agents and hair sprays have very little chemical effect on the hair proteins.They both contain soluble polymers, but in different formulations.
Blow Drying: Heat is potentionally damaging to the hair because it results in the loss of natural oils and moisture, thereby making hair more prone to damage.

Blow Drying Tips:

• Use the dryer when the hair is comparatively dry.
• Be gentle.
• Use a warm/cool setting on the dryer and keep moving it, so that no one section of hair is subjected to heat for too long.
• Don't hold the dryer too near your head.
• Direct the warm air along the direction of hair growth, so that you are blowing flat on the scales of each hair shaft and not ruffling them up.

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