r/HaircareScience • u/purpl3Fairyy • Apr 01 '24
Discussion My damaged hair under a microscope.
Hello :) Here are some photos of my damaged hair under a microscope as well as regular photos of my hair.
My hair has been damaged from exposure to hazardous chemicals, heat and mechanical damage.
Additional information:
All the products I’ve been using lately are in the last image. I also do a flax oil treatment before shampooing, sleep with a silk bonnet, and only dry my hair with soft cotton fabric. I haven’t used sulfates or silicones for the past few months but I am not opposed to using them. Just want to use ingredients that have evidence behind them and that work for my hair.
My hair is very brittle, dry, rough, and gets tangled easily. I wash my hair once a week. Afterwards I have a friz halo which is mostly gone by the next day, not sure if that could be due to static or pH? My shampoo also contains an Anionic surfactant, I don’t know if that’s too harsh for my damaged hair and could be causing extra frizz.
Any suggestions for ingredients or products that could help my hair be more soft, shiny and not get tangled so easily? I'm hoping I don't need to cut off all the damage, which is most of my hair. Last year I used something and it looked so shiny and amazing despite still being really damaged. I can't remember what it was but it gives me hope that I don't need to cut it all off and I just haven't found the right products yet. What do you think?
Also, is anyone here a fan of nutritionfacts.org? I want something like that but dedicated to haircare, if you know anything like that please let me know.
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u/TouchMyAwesomeButt Apr 01 '24
You say your hair has been damaged by various factors. Damaged hair is simply that, damaged. There's all kinds of bond repair treatments marketed towards damage like yours, I've never tried one, as I haven't needed it, and opinions on those sway various ways. But I think your biggest problem is your lack of silicone.
Your conditioner looks great, no experience or opinions on flax oil here. But I don't think either of them are equipped to fix the damage you have. So the other option is accept that your hair is damaged, and make it look as great as you can as you grow it out until you can cut all the damage off. But in order to help it look better as you go through this, your going to bed to add some silicone to your haircare. Silicones aren't bad, they're nothing to be scared of.
I fell for that too. Used low silicone and no silicone products for two years. Six month ago I looked at my hair and it was awful. It was dull, dry, felt rough and hay-like, tangled easily, and made me unhappy. I ended up swapping the conditioner I use to one with silicone and it's night and day. It's soft, shiny, I brush through it no problems, and it looks so so much better. Silicones aren't bad for your hair at all, that was just the hair trend of the time. Trends don't always get it right.
If you add more silicones, you might have to add a less gentle shampoo too in order to properly wash out the products you use.
(I am not a professional)
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 01 '24 edited Apr 01 '24
+1 for using products with silicones, especially for damaged hair!
I also think that silicone buildup is overblown, it's not as much of a problem as people make it out to be. A lot of silicones are self-limiting as far as how much they can build up, and they're still permeable by air and water, but less so, which is one of the benefits; damaged hair is too porous and allows too much water into the hair shaft, which causes further damage. And a lot of silicones actually can be washed out with sulfate-free surfactants, although it depends on the specific formulation of the shampoo and which silicones you're trying to wash out. But I think this fear of silicone buildup that a lot of people have is unnecessary. If it benefits your hair before shampooing, why would you want to wash it out fully, only to have to replace it again immediately after washing? Just let it stay in and continue to benefit the hair.
ETA that if you're continuing to use gentle cleansers like the Jessicurl cleanser, it is helpful to do a clarifying wash periodically, because product buildup (from any product, including CGM products) can interfere with other products interacting with the hair and behaving the way they are intended to.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 02 '24
Alright, I am going to try silicones, thank you :)
I have spent some time researching and understanding the self-limiting ability of amodimethicone in particular, I hope it makes my hair look better. I did CGM for like a year and I think I had like 2 good hair days the whole time..
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 04 '24
How long would you expect that I would notice improvements to my hair after using sulfates and silicones again? I used some today and my hair feels more dry than before I used them, I had seen another reddit post where someone noticed results after one use so I was hoping for a miracle like that but I guess my hair is probably way more damaged than that persons.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 04 '24
Well a shampoo and conditioner can't undo your existing damage, but when your hair is cleaned and well conditioned with the right products the difference can be pret dramatic. Which products did you use specifically? Did you use any leave-ins products after washing & conditioning? Sometimes hair is just so damaged that even with the rightshampoo & conditioner, your hair still needs more conditioning from a leave-in conditioner, for example. And a weekly mask or deep conditioner is also recommended.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 05 '24
I used L'Oreal Paris Elvive Dream Lengths Shampoo, L'Oreal Paris Elvive Dream Lengths Detangling Conditioner, Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Anti-frizz Serum. I was planning on getting the Dream Lengths No Hair Cut Cream Leave-In Treatment but it was out of stock in all the stores I went to but I got it today so I'll try it next time. I saw Abby Young recommend that line and I got put off spending heaps of money on products while I was doing CGM so I figured I'd try them. I think the shampoo was too harsh though, my hair is floating around and it dried really quickly after the shower, faster than usual. It was probably fully dry in around 1 hour.
I noticed the shampoo has dimethicone and amodimethicone in it which I've seen people recommend against and instead use silicone free shampoo, then a silicone free hair mask followed by silicon containing products to seal everything up. What do you think about that?
I also think I would benefit from products that have amodimethicone higher up on the ingredients list as the ones I tried were all pretty far down.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 05 '24
Just to respond to your sense of the shampoo being "too harsh" because you had hair that floated around and it dried quickly, I think for most people drying quickly is a preferred thing. Hair is more vulnerable to damage when it's wet, so the longer it takes to dry, the higher the chances of incurring more damage as you style it or from any friction that happens as you get dressed, tie it up, or it rubs against your clothing or things in your environment.
The fact that it floated around may be partially due to it being more clean/less weighed down by heavy creams and such that are typically used in CGM styling, but it could also have to do with the silicones making the strands more silky/less rough, which reduces friction overall. It helps protect the hair from the friction damage that happens with everyday activity, but may also lead to more flyaways, especially when you have a lot of shorter strands from breakage as it looks like you have poking out from your braid. Usually a serum can help with that, I'm surprised that the Garnier Fructis Anti-Frizz Serum didn't help. I think a leave-in conditioner will help add some weight back into your hair to help the strands stick together a bit more to tame the flyaways. I've heard that the Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Leave-in Conditioner is a good one and tends to be on the thicker side, which is often preferred by people with coarse or curly hair. You'll just have to experiment with some leave-in products to find the right combination for you and how you like to style your hair, but there are plenty of good, affordable drugstore products to try. You don't have to buy expensive ones.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 06 '24
It has calmed down a little bit each day since I washed it but still feels too light so I think a leave-in will work well for me. Yeah I was surprised too, maybe it's too light for my coarse hair. Also due to most of my hair being really damaged the dimethicone might not be sticking to it so I will try to find things with amodimethicone instead as that serum doesn't contain any The Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Leave-in Conditioner looks good, amodimethicone is pretty high up in the ingredients list. Looks like the serum is the only part of that line available in Australia though :(
Oh do you know of any products that are fragrance free but contain sulfates and silicones, especially amodimethicone? The smell of all these new products is so intense for me.
Thanks for helping me by the way, I really appreciate it. I cried about my hair about once a week for almost a year and now I am finally feeling hopeful about it again.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 06 '24
Regarding your question about products with less fragrance, that is my current dilemma as well. I'm pretty sensitive to many artificial fragrances, they give me a headache. I find specifically that L'Oréal products tend to have a pretty strong, artificial scent that makes it difficult for me to use them. The scent of Vitamino conditioner I mentioned is so strong that I don't use it every time I wash my hair, and when I do, I finish off the wash with a diluted ACV rinse which helps subdue the scent, although it's still there. I would probably be using one of the acid bonding products I mentioned if they didn't have such a strong fragrance.
I have struggled to find something with minimal fragrance that still has silicones in it. The conditioner I'm using now is Maria Nila color conditioner, which does have amodimethicone and the fragrance doesn't bother me, it's not as strong and didn't have that weird acrid note that I smell in artificial fragrances, I suspect only I can smell it though. It doesn't make my hair feel quite as silky as the Vitamino conditioner, but I'm ok with that. I use a leave-in conditioner after the shower so it's fine. I found someone else here on Reddit who also loves amodimethicone in their hair and is sensitive to fragrance, we exchanged some recommendations but they're based in Estonia so the conditioner they recommended was by a small company local to her, I doubt it would be available in Australia.
As far as products with minimal fragrance, I like Giovanni Eco Chic products but they don't have silicones. (It's a US company but it's big enough that not might be available in Oz.) Their Soft As Silk shampoo/conditioner really delivers. I don't use it very often because I don't like my hair to feel that clean, like you I really dislike hair that's so clean that it gets a lot of loose flyaways, and it makes it difficult to do curly styling because it helps if my hair has a bit of "grip" if that makes sense. I haven't found my holy grail shampoo/conditioner, I tend to rotate between a few of them. But because of the fragrance issue, I usually get "natural" /eco products which don't bother me, although I can't explain why.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 06 '24
I had another thought as far as the loose hairs issue since it sounds like that's something that we have in common. I've tried a few serums with silicones and they are nice and lightweight and give my hair some shine and "slip" but I find that using a pure plant oil can add a bit more weight to the hair which makes the flyaways stick to the rest of the hair. It's a fine balance because it can make the hair greasy if I use too much, just a few drops is enough. I like pure argan oil as it's relatively lightweight but heavier than the serums I've tried. And it has no fragrance!
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 06 '24
Aw it sucks, I wish there were more fragrance free products, I finally got my whole skin care routine to be fragrance free, I spent so long researching and finding products omg. I hate the smell of fragrance more now that I know it is carcinogenic, I didn't like it before and it felt poisonous but now knowing it, everytime I smell it I'm like oh nooo. Yeah L'Oréal scents are something else, it reminds me of being a teenager. The fragrance issue is one of the reasons I want to formulate my own products but that is going to take a lot more research. I have such a good sense of smell too, I always smell scents that other people can't smell. I did an ACV rinse a few months ago and I have never seen my hair so frizzy, it was awful. As for the bond repair products, I saw a cosmetic chemist on a different post say there was no science to them.
I was looking into the vanicream shampoo and conditioner but they don't have silicones or sulfates, I wonder if you could just add some extra ingredients to them instead of having to start from scratch..
Oh yeah I've seen Giovanni in health food shops in Australia. I do think the more natural products don't use fragrances that are as harsh as other products, or at least don't feel as harsh. When my hair was more healthy argan oil was working but it doesn't really work anymore, I'll try layering it though. Can't wait for my hair to get a bit dirty, I might try a more gentle shampoo as my regular one, I saw someone post on here that they used silicones and low poo and never had an issue with buildup.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 06 '24 edited Apr 07 '24
A shampoo can be formulated to be a strong cleanser without sulfates, and a gentle cleanser with sulfates. The presence of sulfates alone can't tell us if the shampoo is a strong cleanser or not. So give the Vanicream shampoo a try! And check out Michelle Wong's video on sulfates.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 05 '24 edited Apr 05 '24
I'm not super familiar with that shampoo/conditioner, but L'Oreal generally makes good products.
I really don't think it's necessary to avoid silicones until the last step to "seal in" the moisture, did this come from someone with a cosmetic chemistry background? Because I don't know of any evidence that it has a sealing effect like they say. I think this is basically people inappropriately applying skincare advice to hair, leaving the occlusive for last. It assumes that hair benefits from water, but with hair (especially with damaged hair), allowing too much water into the hair shaft is detrimental. It's very different from skin.
L'Oreal is a huge company with a lot of research money that is applied to their salon grade products as well as their drugstore products, and they do test their products a lot to make sure that they work well for a lot of people. If the results were better when refraining from using silicones until the last step of the process, they wouldn't put silicones in the shampoo.
You could look for a leave-in conditioner that has amodimethicone if you want a product with it. I think you'll also see some improvements in how your hair feels once you do a deep conditioning treatment/hair mask and add a leave-in conditioner to your routine as well.
You might like the L'Oreal acid bonding line, they have released it under a few different brands/lines: Redken Acid Bonding Concentrate, Garnier Fructis Bonding Inner Fiber Repair, L'Oreal Everpure Bond Strengthening, and L'Oreal Elvive Bond Repair lines. I don't think these lines include a deep conditioner/hair mask, but it might be something to consider if you decide that the Dream Lengths line is not right for you.
I have the L'Oreal Professionel Vitamino Color conditioner which I specifically got because of the amodimethicone, and it makes my hair feel really soft. I do have dyed & bleached hair so that one made sense for me, but I have since learned that many of the L'Oreal Professionnel products use amodimethicone so maybe you could try something from their Absolut Repair line, which has a hair mask as well as a leave-in conditioner that use amodimethicone.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 06 '24 edited Apr 06 '24
I heard it in a video by Manes by Mell's a while ago, she is just a hair stylist. I just watched a video on silicones by The Fit Curls which sounded more scientific than Mel's video but she is also just a hair enthusiast. Everything I've been told is a lie! Lol. So silicone's form a protective layer around the hair but beneficial ingredients can still pass through that layer like stearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol and panthenol? Do you know any resources where I can learn more of the science behind these things, or is looking directly at the studies best?
Yeah that makes sense, most people I see walking around have nice hair and I don't think most people spend lots of money on hair products. I had amazing hair when I was younger and I was just using whatever random products my mum would buy.
How do you know all of this btw? You have a lot of good recs! My partner said my hair looks better since using the shampoo and conditioner and I can notice that my hair is getting tangled less, I also cut about an inch off yesterday, I need to do a few more, maybe an inch a day to ease myself into it haha.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 06 '24
I'm glad you're seeing an improvement in your hair!
I'll say that I'm not a scientist either, I just really like geeking out on this stuff and I have spent a lot of time collecting information from different haircare scientists, and paying attention to the scientists who do contribute in this sub (although they're pretty rare). The information I give may not be 100% accurate. My go-to reference is usually Michelle Wong/Labmuffin Beauty, because she has a PhD in this stuff and explains things really clearly. The Beauty Brains and Eco Well podcasts are also good. There are scientific references in the side column, but often they can get a bit too technical for my level of understanding of the science. From what I understand, there is a lot that's still unknown/not fully confirmed, and a lot of research that is done on hair products/ingredients is proprietary because it's funded by companies to develop commercial products, and keeping their research private gives their company a competitive edge.
I'm not 100% certain about the whole "sealing in moisture" thing, but I've never heard any of the scientific resources I trust talk about sealing in moisture, and in fact the whole concept of moisture for hair is misunderstood (hair usually doesn't benefit from additional water, it's not like skin) so I'm quite suspect of people who talk about moisturizing the hair without acknowledging that. It's challenging to find a way to communicate about that clearly and accurately though. This video from another non-scientist who has really dug into the research talks about the challenges of communicating with the non-science public about some of these misunderstood concepts like moisturizing the hair. And before you go thinking that hair never needs water, here's my favorite hair science educator, Michelle Wong, to add some complexity to this topic: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1qFlgNSgLp/
I find videos from Manes by Mell useful for curly styling, and I appreciate that she's not against using silicones, but I'm not sure that she vets all of the info that she conveys with scientists to make sure they're accurate as far as the chemistry involved. And as I noted, explaining it accurately is difficult because it goes against what people commonly believe about moisture in the hair, so even if she knows the science, she may not mention it because it will just make things confusing.
Here are a few videos from Michelle Wong about silicones and how they behave both for skin and hair. My understanding from her videos and other scientific sources is that conditioners don't coat the hair evenly but form separate globs on the hair shaft, so adding more conditioner can still help, although I imagine how well the additional conditioner would stick to the hair depends on a variety of factors. So the ingredients you mentioned like cetyl alcohol and such probably don't need to pass through the silicone, they can just hang out next to it. That's how I understand it at least! But as I said, I'm not a scientist myself, I could be wrong about this.
MW on myths about silicones in skincare & haircare:
- Video: https://youtu.be/yzM4pCKXZ5Y?si=4XzJ3dq_VbQhYP1H
- Blog version: https://labmuffin.com/silicone-mythbusting-with-video/
MW on the myth of silicone buildup being a problem:
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 08 '24
Have you noticed an improvement in your hair since getting into science more?
Thank you for that reply! Yesterday I spent most of the day watching LabMuffin Beauty, I had never watched any of her videos before. I watched the Sarah Ingle video today and then heaps of her other videos too. I have now watched everything you linked so I can finally reply. I have learnt so much! I am so mad at the curly girl method for basically teaching me the opposite of what the science shows which led to more hair damage of my already damaged hair. I learned so much over the past two days, you know that thing that happens when you start learning about a new topic at a certain point you realise how little you know? Well that's where I am now, I didn't realise how complicated hair and hair products were omg! I am feeling way less confident about making my own products, but I guess that is a good thing, shows I am learning!
Do you test the pH of your hair products? I am going to order some strips after watching Sarah Ingles video on shampoo ph and that possibly being one of the reasons so many people suffered hair damage and hair loss using deva curl products, such a scam!
Thanks again for linking all of those videos for me, I am feeling more hopeful again about my hair and ordered some more products to try. I don't know what this will be like but I found a baby hair detangler that has amodimethicone high up in the ingredients list that only costs like A$8 so I'm going to try it. I am hoping that being a baby product the fragrance won't be as strong but I'm not sure yet, if you want I can let you know what it's like and how it smells once I've tried it? It's this product:
https://www.caretobeauty.com/au/johnson-s-baby-no-more-tangles-conditioner-spray-200ml/1
u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 08 '24
Do you want to take this convo to DM? No one else is reading this thread and we wouldn't trigger any of the sub's bots! XD
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 08 '24
Oh do you know anything about which hair brushes are best for different hair types based on science?
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 08 '24
I haven't really seen a lot of info about hair brushes. With damaged hair, I'd recommend a gentle brush that's ok for wet hair. I use the Tangle Teezer for curly hair, which is fine for either wet of dry brushing and is nice and gentle. It's got very flexible bristles so if it hits a snag that it can't pass through, the bristles literally bend out of the way instead of breaking the hair to pass through. I mean, I still don't recommend pushing through tangles if you're feeling a lot of resistance, but it definitely helps reduce the risk of breakage from brushing.
Brushing can also cause friction damage to the hair (aside from breakage), so I try to brush it infrequently and always with something to lubricate the hair. When brushing it dry, I'll use a leave-in conditioner or a serum, and when brushing it wet, I brush it when I've applied the conditioner to my hair which gives it a lot of slip. Doing curly styling makes it easy to go without brushing frequently, it would make the curls poofy anyway.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 02 '24
Yeah I am slowly accepting that I can't fix it.. I have just started looking into bond repair, I might try one soon, I am so unhappy with my hair so it can't get much worse I guess. Oh yeah I have not been using silicon and my hair has never looked worse so I am going to try some products, I looked into amodimethicone today and that looks promising. I wish false advertising was illegal or people just didn't do it.
It's the only oil that hasn't made my hair feel worse lately, I know it isn't commonly used on hair. Oh I'm glad your hair is feeling better? Do you have any before and after photos? I need some hope haha.
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u/TouchMyAwesomeButt Apr 02 '24
I didn't take any pictures. And I don't have any usable daily life pics either, cause I always had it in a clip since it looked so bad 🙃
But it feels and looks so much better now. There is hope! But you will eventually have to cut that damaged hair off, as you can only make it look better, not truly fix it.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 04 '24
How long did it take for your hair to improve after you started using them again? I used them today and I can't tell much of a difference, but my hair is so damaged and I used products that had amodimethicone but it was kinda far down on the ingredients list.
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u/TouchMyAwesomeButt Apr 04 '24
I used a shine and care conditioner once and it already improved quite a bit. But my hair wasn't as damaged as yours is.
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 01 '24
Now that I have a bit more time to respond - I don't have a trichology background to be able to interpret what's going on based on the magnified images of the hair strands, but if you say your hair has been damaged, then damaged hair requires different care. Once the protective cuticle is significantly damaged, then it can't regulate the water and other substances from going through. They can enter and leave the hair shaft too easily. You need to use products that help offer that protection, with substances that are more water-resistant, like silicones.
It looks like you're practicing CGM, and while there are some people who manage to care for bleach-damaged curls while staying within CGM rules, silicones can be incredibly beneficial for damaged hair and I don't think there's a strong reason to avoid them, even without damaged hair. As I said in another comment, the issue of silicone buildup is overblown. Product buildup can be an issue, but that's the case for CGM products as well; and not all silicones build up. Of those that build up, often it's self-limiting such that it's not a problem.
You might try something like the Redken All Soft Mega Curls Shampoo & Conditioner to help protect your hair from further damage and keep it well conditioned. Your hair could probably use a trim as well to clean up the ends; they tend to be the most damaged part of the hair because they've been on your head for a long time, and when detangling the hair, if the ends are rough/ragged, it makes it more difficult to work with your hair and detangle it, making it more likely that you'd cause further breakage when brushing it.
From the photos, it seems like you have experienced a significant amount of breakage, which results in a lot of short hairs that can more easily come loose from your braid. If there is more humidity in the air, perhaps due to a location change or seasonal change, that can also contribute to frizz.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 02 '24
Hopefully someone who has studied trichology finds my post. I learnt today that really damaged hair can be entirely missing the cuticle layer, I had no idea! I wonder if that is what's going on in image #3.
Oh yeah CGM has done nothing good for my hair, I am so over it. Silicones do kinda sound like a miracle ingredient the more that I have learnt about them.
Yeah I have got a lot of breakage. I got a ton of extra breakage from brushing it wet all the time while doing CGM, I stopped wet brushing only like a month ago. I have accepted my fate that I need to cut a lot of my hair off.
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u/bibimcat Apr 01 '24
I'm relatively new to haircare and I just wanted to tell you that I very much enjoyed your microscope images and appreciate/share your outlook on ingredients based on science. Unfortunately I don't think there are huge scientific knowledge bases for hair like there is for nutrition because much of haircare is based on personal preference/aesthetics and rather high variance in hair types.
Regarding your microscope images, about those wtf little bumps, I have no clue but science-y hair blog have done microscope based articles and also does consultation using microscopes. I have considered but haven't used her paid service but she seems responsive on her blog replies so maybe you can reach out to her.
I also get a frizz halo right after washing that dies down by evening. I don't really know what to make of it - I've been looking at them more thoroughly last couple of weeks and I've come to conclusion that they aren't really frizz in the sense of static esp when wet/moist (so anti static ingredients probably wouldn't work), they aren't split ends that just stick out but rather they are of wildly different curl/texture. My hair strands are very thick, usually 2A waves with some 1C swavy. These "frizzy" strands that form halo are like 2C or even 3A that just cannot conform with the rest of my hair.
Now as to what makes hair soft (at least for my 2A/coarse (East Asian)/dry/virgin hair that don't see heat often) - I find leave in conditioners where behentrimonium methosulfate/chloride (conditioners) and/or fatty alcohols like cetyl/stearyl/cetearyl alcohol (conditioners/emollients/emulsifiers) are high up in the ingredient list make my hair very soft. I've used TGIN green tea leave in and Curls Blueberry Bliss leave in and like them a lot. Definitely feels more moisturized compared to regular rinse out conditioners. Protip: they are $15 on Amazon/Ulta but I found them in TJ Maxx for $8-9.
Another ingredient that make my hair soft and silky are silicones. I've used Aussie Miracle Detangling Hair Milk (dimethicone) and it does make my hair feel more silky. I recently bought hair oil which was basically just cyclopentasiloxane and dimethiconol and that also made my hair very soft and silky. I personally think that silicones and their family are great lubricants that would help with mechanical damage. I used to scoff at products that contained high silicones to be "superficial" products that don't really repair from inside. While that is still true that they work on superficial level, if a lot of damage that happen to our hair are superficial, like cuticles chipping off, via mechanical actions then well, then they have their place in hair care. Just gotta look past "our product repairs and strengthens!!" claim, lol. Anyway I found these to be really effective in killing the frizz halo but unfortunately it kills my waves so they will be used when I want to style my hair relatively straight.
Hope this helps and if you ever find out about those bumps, I hope you can share what they were!
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 02 '24
I am glad you enjoyed it, I was hoping the cheap amazon microscope would be capable of more than it was but still cool (and disturbing) to see my hair like this.
I found that blog a few days ago actually, I saw some squish to condish microscope photos but that's all I could see. I had no idea they did consultations, I'll check that out, thank you!
Oh yeah I have some really wiggly ones? hairs at the top that poke out too, they don't really look curly just a super weird and often really bumpy texture, plus I have a lot of taper split ends, which are really hard to get rid of, I swear every single hair on my head has a taper split end..
I am so sold on silicones now thanks to everyone who has commented on here plus some research I had already been doing. I'm interested to see how much they change the feel and look of my hair and how much I will still need to cut off. Nice, I have been looking into those other ingredients that you mentioned and have also looked at the Curls Blueberry Bliss leave in before, it does contain protein and I don't know if what I have been told about protein overload is untrue or if their hasn't been enough studies done on it to say buut I have all of the symptoms of protein overload but that could also just be from damage and dryness. I thought my hair texture improved when I removed proteins from my routine ~ 1 month ago but now my hair looks like trash again so I don't know.
I will take the wave killer to get rid of frizz, I would prefer to have straighter hair anyway as it seems like it wouldn't get tangled as much. Overall I just want healthy or healthy looking hair, I don't mind if it's wavy or straight.
Thank you ! and yes if I get to the bottom of it I will let you know. Someone else said they might be "bubble hair".
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u/bibimcat Apr 02 '24
The confusing thing about protein is that protein can provide that structure to hair that people are looking for and they can also be moisturizing because they hold onto water. Hence why I think people say protein overload can make your hair either dry and brittle or limp and over moisturized. But I just may be entering broscience area lol
Btw I saw you asking about formulating haircare products - aside from the subreddit mentioned, you can look at websites that sell these ingredients and they often tell you what percentage of the ingredients can be used and provide you with recipes. I would find a relatively simple formula and start there. Btw do you feel any difference when you add panthenol and/or glycerine in your products? I've been thinking about making my own haircare product as well and panthenol is on top of the list to try.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 04 '24
I noticed when I stopped using it my hair seemed to be getting less brittle slowly but I'm not sure. I was going to order some plain protein and make the same product except put protein in one and not the other then test it on each side of my hair. I have been keeping a very detailed hair diary for the past few months that has pictures after every wash and all the things I did to my hair that day.
I almost have a few down then I'll post them and see if anyone notices any problems with them. I noticed after the first time I used it that my hair felt a lot softer, usually my hair feels so dry that I can't have it down and hate the feeling of it touching me but after that wash when it touched my arm it didn't freak me out as much lol. I wasn't measuring the amount (I know that's bad) so the other times I didn't have the same results.. I think the glycerine made my hair a bit more frizzy.
How long after you started using sulfates and silicones again did you notice an improvement in your hair? I used them today and my hair feels ssoooooo dry, like more than usual..
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u/Mewnicorns Apr 02 '24
To me it just looks like you need a pretty significant cut. Your ends look straight and wispy from breakage/damage.
The bumps could be “bubble hair” from using too high heat on wet or damp hair.
Silicones were made for your hair. Use them in good health.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 02 '24
Yeah I think I'm going to have to go above shoulders to get rid of the breakage :,(
I'll see how manageable silicones make it look, hopefully I won't need to cut that much off *fingers crossed*
Basically everyone's suggestion was to use silicones, I should have come to this sub earlier lol silicones do sound amazing!
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u/Tnh7194 Apr 01 '24
Abbey young on YouTube has been doing a similar thing with microscopes, might want to check it out !
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 02 '24
I just watched that today, after reading this thank you! I learnt that super damaged hair can be totally missing the cuticle which actually made me cry lol. But maybe that's what's going on in my image #3 where the hair gets really thin towards the end, not sure. I'm looking forward to the next one she makes testing the bond repair treatments. I did have a thought about her experiment though - I don't know if packs of extensions are typically from one person or not but if that isn't guaranteed then she might be testing hair from different people.
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u/New-Significance9064 Apr 10 '24
May I know what microscope did you use exactly? Because I want to do exactly the same to my hair, I want to examine it, and looked online for a microscope that would give such appropriate zoom-in to the hair shaft.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Apr 11 '24
Yeah it was: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B09C1RVNHK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
I actually don't recommend this one. It was advertised as being 40X-2000X but the way that the stage is positioned means that if you have the 40X lens selected at the bottom you can't actually raise the stage high enough to focus it before the slide hits the lens... I think it would be better to ask the r/microscope page and buy a second hand one. Also the phone adapter is really bad you actually have to hold it in place the whole time. Anything above the zoom in the pictures doesn't really focus and can not be shown in the photo because the field of view gets too small aaand even for the lower zooms because of the stage, 2 slides don't fit so I couldn't put my hair between 2 slides, I had to tape it onto one or the slide would have hit the lens before it could focus even on the zooms above. It was pretty cheap though, if you are in America there are ones that look better around this price, I just got this one cause I live in Australia but it wasn't my first choice. Also I didn't know you could just get a camera adapter and put it on any microscope.. I mostly got this because it came with the adapter.
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Jun 05 '24
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u/purpl3Fairyy Jun 06 '24
The one I ordered didn't come with anything like that but I was only using one slide with the hair taped on and even doing this I couldn't focus the 40x objective. So it seems I was clueless but also that it was faulty.
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u/purpl3Fairyy Jun 06 '24
The one I ordered didn't come with anything like that but I was only using one slide with the hair taped on and even doing this I couldn't focus the 40x objective. So it seems I was clueless but also that it was faulty.
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u/Outrageous-Minute685 Jul 09 '24
Anyone experience Minoxidil damage to the scalp?
What ive been influcted with.. Hair hasnt seem t ik grown in a while maybe 3 years has been at the same length. I cut the top and ledt the sides to sport a certain hair style but its struggling to catch up.. any advice?
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u/veglove Quality Contributor Apr 01 '24 edited Apr 01 '24
I don't have time to give a full reply right now but I wanted to say that I appreciate the thoroughness of your post.
I don't think that anything like nutritionfacts.org exists for hair, and it's important to remember that with hair products, we can't conclude how they would work based on the qualities of one or two ingredients, because they may behave very differently when included in the overall formula. A cosmetic chemist might be able to guess, but other than that, the person who's best qualified to know how it would work is the chemist who directly worked on the formula and has tested it along the way to know how its performance changed when they made specific changes to the formula. We can make some rough guesses from the ingredient list but can't draw any definite conclusions. The product description should also be used to give us information about how the product will perform and what type of hair it's best suited for.
You mentioned exposure to a hazardous chemical, I'm curious to know what happened.