Relative to skin care, consumers' understanding of hair care knowledge is much poorer. If you want to choose a shampoo that is suitable for your own hair, you will face various concepts of shampoo products, such as silicone oil-free shampoo, sulfate-free shampoo, amino acid shampoo, anti-shampoo, anti-dandruff shampoo and many more. Faced with so many products, most small partners may be aggressive and do not know how to choose. I followed the commercial's advertisement and tried and tried, but I couldn't find a suitable shampoo product.

Zhen Ye felt the need to put aside the hype, objectively evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each type of product, and allow consumers to choose rationally and find products suitable for their hair quality. Today, write "silicone-free and silicone oil shampoo".


About "silicone oil"


Anyone who knows a little about skin care or hairdressing should have heard of "silicone oil", but what exactly is silicone oil? Is there any harm? Maybe most of my friends are not very clear. Before starting to analyze "silicone oil shampoo", let's understand the characteristics of silicone oil.




Silicone oil generally refers to linear polysiloxane products that remain liquid at room temperature. It is not a product, but a class of products. Polydimethylsiloxane, cyclic polydimethylsiloxane (such as D4, D5, D6), emulsified silicone oil (commonly used in shampoos), etc. are often used in cosmetics. If in the ingredient list, it is found that a certain ingredient contains "siloxane", this ingredient basically belongs to "silicone oil".




The structure of silicone oil is stable, it is not easy to degrade, and it is not easy to react with other substances under general conditions. At the same time, the chemical bonds are flexible, easy to move, low surface tension, smooth skin feel, and also waterproof but breathable. These characteristics of silicone oil make it widely used in skin care, make-up, hair care and other products.




Silicone oil does not exist in nature, but is synthetic. Many small partners may worry, is there any guarantee for the safety of silicone oil? Will it be teratogenic, carcinogenic or genotoxic? Will it cause hair loss?




The most widely used polydimethylsiloxane in silicone oil, current research believes that it is basically not absorbed by human skin and gastrointestinal tract, has almost no acute toxicity, has basically no irritating effect on the skin, and has irritating effects on the eyes. May cause mild conjunctivitis or erythritis. There is no evidence that polydimethylsiloxane is teratogenic, carcinogenic, and genotoxic. There is reason to believe that it will not cause a health hazard under normal use.




Overall, as far as the silicone oil is concerned, safety is guaranteed. It's just that some silicone oil has some impurities mixed in the refining process, and some magazines may have safety issues. However, products from regular manufacturers generally do not have to worry about this issue, and security is guaranteed.




Formulation of shampoo products


Each shampoo product contains a variety of ingredients, and it is difficult for ordinary consumers to judge the basic characteristics of a product from these ingredients. Zhen Ye found a formula chart of the shampoo products, as follows:








From the picture above, we can clearly understand the basic composition of a shampoo product. There is no doubt that the most added amount of shampoo is water, which accounts for about 70-80%. The second most added amount is surfactants for cleaning and foaming. It is also well understood that shampoos, like facial cleansers, have the primary function of cleaning. Of course, the amount of surfactants with cleaning effects will be larger. According to the characteristics of surfactants, sulfate-free shampoos and amino acid shampoos are divided. I will write more about this kind of shampoo later.




The third added amount is hair conditioner, the added amount is 1-5%. Hair conditioning agents mainly include silicones, quaternary ammonium salts, oils and fats, compounds, and proteins. These ingredients are mainly to nourish the hair and make it soft and smooth. Among them, the most commonly used are silicones, commonly known as "silicone oils".




The following assistant agents, functional efficacy agents, appearance modifiers, suspension stabilizers, pH conditioners, preservatives, and flavoring agents are added in small amounts, and are not discussed in this article.




After understanding the formula and composition of shampoo products, you will be well-informed about the various concepts in the market, and will not be misled and misled. Let's analyze the silicone oil-free shampoo and silicone oil shampoo.








Silicone oil shampoo


Through the above analysis, we know that shampoos containing "silicone oil" can be called silicone oil shampoos. If you find the word "silicone" in an ingredient list, you can basically determine that this shampoo is a silicone oil shampoo. So why add "silicone oil" to shampoo products? Let's start with the structure of the hair.




◆ Hair structure


We can see that the hair is a cylinder and the surface is smooth, but under the microscope, the structure of the hair is another scene. Zhen Yan found a picture of hair structure, as follows:








As can be seen from this picture, the hair can be divided into three layers, of which the outermost layer is the epidermal layer (hair scale layer), which mainly contains 8-10 layers of overlapping, hard layered hair scales (hair skin), similar Tiles on the roof. These "tiles" overlap each other to wrap the entire hair and protect the inner layer of the hair; determine the appearance and brightness of the hair; the scales open when exposed to alkali and heat, and close when the scales meet with acid; the mass accounts for 10%.




When the hair goes out of this "tile" structure, when it is cleaned, it feels very rough and not smooth. In addition, the hair is negatively charged, and with this scale structure, it is easy to adsorb dust and dirt.




◆ The role of silicone oil


Silicone oil, as a light, smooth and breathable grease, can form a protective film on the surface of the hair, wrapping the hair, making the hair smooth, soft and shiny. It also prevents moisture from evaporating and prevents hair from drying out. The film formed by silicone oil in the hair has a porous structure and cannot "clog pores" as some people speculate. It is because of the excellent properties of "silicone oil" that silicone oil is added to most shampoo products on the market.




There are some “silicone-free shampoos” in the market. In order to promote their products, many crimes of silicone oil are listed. For example, safety is not guaranteed and may cause cancer; long-term use of silicone oil shampoo will cause hair loss; silicone oil shampoo may block pores, etc Wait. These "guilts" were not supported by persuasive literature, and afterwards proved to be a "threat show" for manufacturers promoting "silicone-free shampoos". The earliest manufacturers in China to promote "silicone-free shampoos" have been beaten countlessly, and their products have not been promoted.




However, silicone oil is not without its disadvantages. When we wash our hair, a part of the silicone oil is deposited on the hair. Although the shampoo itself has a cleaning effect, it will also wash off some of the silicone oil, but it will still deposit more and more on the hair as the number of uses increases. more. Generally, after washing the hair 5 to 9 times, it will reach a dynamic equilibrium process.




If the hair itself is more oily, and the silicone oil deposited on the hair is more oily. The more you wash your hair, use a conditioner that contains silicone oil. The greater the amount of silicone oil deposited, the more hair you wash. In addition, the excessive silicone oil attached to the hair will make the hair sag and have no fluffy feeling, and it will become more and more sticky. For the partners with thin hair, the feeling will be more obvious, and the hair will collapse and stick to the scalp. . These are the biggest problems with silicone oil shampoos.








Silicone-free shampoo


If there is no silicone oil in the shampoo product (the word "siloxane" cannot be found in the ingredient list), it is a "silicone-free shampoo". Silicone-free shampoos were first introduced in the West. Mainly because westerners have thin hair, if they use "silicone oil" shampoo, silicone oil will deposit on their hair, causing the hair to collapse, the hair will have no volume at all, and it will lack fluffy feeling. This problem does not exist with "silicone-free shampoos".




Another advantage of "silicone-free shampoo" is that there is no deposition of silicone oil, which can better clean the scalp and hair and keep the hair dry. For friends with hair and oil, you can try "silicone-free shampoo", which can solve your troubles of getting more oil. If you use "silicone-free shampoo" for a while, then you will feel abnormally smooth skin.




"Silicone-free shampoo" does not contain silicone oil, and does not form a protective film on the surface of the hair. The outer scale layer of the hair is exposed outside. The hair carries a negative charge increase, the hair is dry, lacks smoothness, and is easy to stain . Although there are many components of silicone oil in patch bags, for the moment, it is not a perfect substitute for silicone oil.




In summary, "silicone oil shampoo" can make the hair soft and smooth, and the hair texture is more shiny, but it is easy to cause hair and scalp to be greasy, and the hair is flat. It is suitable for rough and dry hair. The "silicone-free shampoo" is clean, the hair is fluffy after washing, and will not collapse or stick to the head. However, the hair is easy to dry and rough, and lacks smoothness. It is suitable for fine and soft hair and oily hair. Mixing two different types of shampoo is a good choice.