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We all want great looking healthy hair and marketeers love an angle. One you may have seen recently is hair Botox - jumping on the bandwagon of this popular nerve-blocking treatment.
Firstly, it’s not about neutralising muscles as there aren’t any in hair. There are no hypodermic needles nor Botulinum toxin in the ingredients either.
But Botox has a nice ring to it and the wrinkle-defying treatments are popular. So, the tag for hair products is really just linking some of the key effects of Botox and fillers – the plumping and smoothing, then applying that understanding to hair. To this end they are like conditioning treatments. Some are temporary and will stay in the hair until the next wash and some are longer lasting with ingredients ironed or blowdried into the hair. The best ones are the most effective versions of the keratin straighteners or Brazilian Blowdrys, our favourite being the Botox Permanent Blowdry.
The hairshaft breaks down slowly or quickly depending on lifestyle. Gaps and voids appear in the structure and the surface cuticle starts to lift away. Without help, it loses its gloss and flexibility becoming thinner and less responsive. You can see this difference by feeling the tips of your hair compared to the roots.
Healthy hair is essentially 97% protein and 3% water. Modern living (heat styling, colouring, aggressive products etc.) breaks down the hairshaft and the hollowed-out protein structure cannot hold onto as many water molecules, so it becomes brittle, unstable and breaks down quicker.
The aim of the better conditioning treatments is to repair gaps and cracks in the porous protein structure and encourage more moisture into the hair. This, ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ approach, requires consistent care as any loss in the natural structure is permanent until better cared for hair grows down to replace it.
Hence regular feeding and protecting with treatments is key. A feast and famine approach to treatments doesn’t work for haircare because a grand salon conditioning treatment just once a month maybe washed out by week two leaving the hair unprotected for the rest of the month.
Better to apply LifeSaver Prewash Treatment yourself every second wash to maintain replenishment and protection. Once out of the scalp the hair cannot repair itself as, unlike skin it’s no longer connected to the body’s metabolism.
Other masks and treatments may just cover the damage with a coat of varnish, usually silicone or a plasticiser but these are cosmetic approaches. They don’t slow down the ageing process and some speed it up by interfering with moisture regulation.
Replacing Missing Protein - Some ingredients will try to mimic the protein structure in hair and re-bond molecules into the gaps. Amino acids are the key building blocks of nature, and some are a closer match for hair than others. The hair may take on some molecules near the surface, better matches can penetrate deeper. The amino acid in our unique Hydrabond Rx blend is from cashmere protein and almost identical to the human hair molecule, so penetrates deeper being the most bioavailable to the hairshaft.
The more complete the hairshaft the slower it breaks down so the longer you get to keep more of your own healthy hair.
Replacing Missing Water - Water really is the key to life for hair, and in its dehydrated moments the brittle protein structure breaks down and thins out. So other ingredients are used as humectants - elements that pull in water to hydrate or moisturise. They have hygroscopic properties, such that they can help absorb water from the air by osmosis and hold onto more than their own weight of moisture.
We use various humectants across our range to hydrate and moisturise the hair. These include; hyaluronic acid, panthenol B5, glycerin and derivatives of castor seed, sunflower seed, brazil nut, wheatgerm coconut. eucalyptus, black oat seeds, aloe barbadensis leaf and guar bean to name a few.
So when you hear the term hair Botox, know that it has nothing to do with botulinum injected into the skin and is just a marketing term for a very effective Permanent Blowdry.
The word ‘healthspan’ has been absorbed into our daily lexicon. It pops up as often as lifespan now as the movement to maximise health progresses. Healthspan is the length of time a person is healthy, not just alive, and was coined by gerontologists in a 1987 Science article. A period of life in which you are healthy and free from chronic disease or disability.
