Introduction
Anything that cleans your hair can be considered a shampoo. Shampoo cleanses the hair with the help of chemicals known as surfactants. They act as soap agents and clean the minute debris on your hair. Most shampoo products remove all the oil from your hair which results in dry hair and this can cause problems for many people. In this article, Handy explores the various ways in which a shampoo affects your hair.
The Affects
- Cleaning – When you don’t shampoo your hair for a while, you find it quite oily and sticky. This is because hair is covered with a natural oil called sebum. Secreted from the scalp, the main purpose of sebum is to keep the hair healthy and protected. But in a couple of days, this oil attracts dirt that sticks on your hair making the hair go limp. When you shampoo your hair, the sulfates present in it surround the oil and remove the dirt. The dirt and excess oil present pass in the water when you rinse your hair.
- Drying of hair – As the shampoo removes the dirt from the hair, it eventually strips off the oil present on the hair. This can make hair dry and vulnerable. Most of the time, people use warm water while shampooing as it opens the hair cuticles but doing so makes the hair look dull and rough.
- Moisturizes your hair – Even though shampoo may dry your hair, you cannot refuse it as it is necessary to cleanse your hair. So, it is a good idea to invest in good quality shampoo that also moisturizes your hair. Such shampoo products use emollients or humectants to replace the oil in the hair. Emollients are oily substances that grease over each strand of hair to secure and moisturize it. Humectants also slick over each strand carefully and help to draw and retain water in them.
- Separating your hair – Many shampoo products claim to make your hair look fuller and tangle-free. It is possible due to the separating effect in their shampoo. When your hair is covered with slick substance, it automatically reduces the friction with other hairs and thus keeps it tangle-free; making it easier to comb. Shampoos that claim to increase the volume of hair cover each strand of your hair in a light film. Each strand of the hair is separated, and your hair looks much fuller.
- False claims – There are always tall claims put forward by shampoo companies. One such claim is that they can repair damaged hair. This is not true. Once the strand of the hair is damaged, it may be temporarily fixed by some gluing properties, but it is just for a short time. Weakened hair is destined to fall. Shampoos may prevent further damage to good quality hair but cannot repair the damaged split hairs.
Conclusion
There are many benefits of using shampoo, but it is essential to use it in a correct manner. Handy believes that you should never keep shampoo on your hair for more than four minutes and wash your hair regularly for that lustrous black tresses.
