Oils, Shampoos, Hair Protein Loss And Hair Dye Colour Fade

When hair is excessively swelled with water during washing, the cuticles are raised to the point of being more prone to tangling and being damaged, by being chipped and eroded when they are most vulnerable, while wet, resulting in hair protein loss. Coconut oil can help prevent that from happening, when used certain ways.

The lauric acid in coconut oil can penetrate hair to the cortex level of well clarified hair and bond to keratin there, during washing with shampoo after a pre-wash oil treatment, or when coconut oil is added to shampoo. The rest of the fatty acids in coconut oil can help prevent excess water from entering the hair shaft, reducing hair swelling. The shampoo used needs to be one that does not cause build-up and allows the lauric acid to penetrate the hair.

However, enough of any oil used in shampoo, or on the hair when it is washed, can help prevent too much water from entering the hair shaft and reduce hair swelling too. The prevention of hair protein loss by coconut oil was defined by lauric acid hair penetration to the cortex level, in research. Note: Most fractionated coconut oils contain no or almost no lauric acid. They are not suitable to be used for the prevention of protein loss.

Conventional shampoos for colour-treated hair often have added silicone emulsions or added oils to help prevent excess water from entering the hair shaft. Why? Hair colour fade is caused to the largest extent by too much water entering the hair shaft and washing away added hair colour molecules deposited there, not by shampoos in general or oils stripping hair colour. Oil used on its own as a grooming aid or on its own as a treatment is not known to lighten hair colour.

If oil is used as a treatment and washed out with a strong shampoo and there is resulting dryness, more water can enter the hair shaft. If a strong shampoo is used on its own, it can dry out the hair and that allows more water to enter the hair shaft too. Water being the biggest cause of hair dye colour fade has been stated by P&G for years.

As much as oil shampoo with coconut oil can be a great hair option, the fact remains that coconut oil or any vegetable oil or serum cannot moisturize hair as well for as long as mineral oil is able to do. Silicones are often much harder to remove than mineral oil and can require a sulfate or clarifying shampoo to do so. They cannot moisturize hair as well, or for as long as mineral oil is able to do.

Cosmetic mineral oil used on hair can help prevent too much water entering and excessively swelling hair during washing, reducing tangling and hair damage. It can do so without making the hair greasy, being difficult to remove by shampoo or conditioner only, complicated to apply, or requiring a specific type of shampoo to be used. When hair does not have too much water in it, it dries faster than usual because there is less extra water in it to evaporate.

While mineral oil is best used over not too much product or residue, the hair does not need to be clarified first, unless it is necessary for a better look, behaviour and feel. Small drops of mineral oil, evenly distributed throughout the hair are all that is needed. Mineral oil can replace conditioner and other products.

To help prevent hair dye colour fade and help moisturize or help keep hair moisturized, cosmetic mineral oil use is an easy option. Use it as a moisturizer on damp to wet hair, or on dry hair that has a good moisture level. It has excellent slip or detangling properties. Mineral oil can reduce or elimiinate tangles during and after hair washing, helping to prevent protein loss two ways and it can do so better than other oils, or silicones.

Mineral oil cannot chelate iron and copper like coconut and argan oils can, to help prevent damage from hair dye that contains peroxide, or hair damage from peroxide or bleach. Mineral oil needs to be washed out of the hair before using coconut and argan oils as a pre-treatment for those applications, to allow the oils to saturate hair most efficiently.

Cosmetic or USP/BP mineral oil can do far more for hair than other oils or silicones are able to but not quite everything, with regard to conventional hair colouring and lightening. It can be used to help prevent hair dye colour fade.

See Also
http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.ca/2009/11/part-1-of-3-part-series-on-innovative.html
http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.ca/2011/12/when-to-clarify-hair-and-with-what.html
http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.ca/2012/10/how-to-avoid-winter-hair-blues.html
http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.ca/2012/02/more-on-oils-and-oil-shampoo.html