Could some of those products in your bathroom be thinning your hair?
I’ve wondered for a long time whether it was my faulty technique, or whether most hair products don’t deliver on their promises. It was only when I went to a hair product launch last week for what, ironically, turns out to be an excellent new addition to the bathroom shelves, that I realised it’s not me, it’s them.
I’d gone because it was hosted by Colorwow and I generally rate this brand, most notably its root cover-up, which has saved many of us from a dash to the salon when our roots showed through earlier than expected.
Gail Federici and John Frieda, Colorwow’s founders, have form with hair innovations. Twentysix years ago, they introduced the world to Frizz Ease, which transformed millions of despairing hair routines, although Federici now says the formula has been changed to make it better for hair health.
I mentioned to her that
I’d given up conditioner (see my column in The Saturday Telegraph Magazine next week), expecting bemusement and sorrow – after all, Colorwow has its share of conditioners. She didn’t seem surprised.
It turns out that last year in the USA, where the Federal Drugs Administration’s purview of cosmetic ingredients is lax to say the least, 21,000 people took out a $26 billion class action against Wen Hair Products, alleging its conditioners and shampoos (the kind promoted as ultra-mild “cleansing conditioner” shampoos) caused their hair to stop growing. Wen, a popular range thanks to celebrity-infested infomercials, was anxious to move on, and settled out of court.
My hair’s not especially dry, and it’s chin-length, so the ends get snipped before they’re out of control, so my conditioner moratorium works for me. The important thing apparently, whether you use conditioners,
straightening lotions, powdered volumisers, de-frizzers, shine boosters, colour glazes or steamed dragon’s eggs, is not to over-massage them into your scalp. “Rubbing anything, even oils, into your scalp can trap it in the pores,” explains Federici. This doesn’t mean you can’t moisturise a dry scalp if it needs it, but wash the product out scrupulously afterwards – and avoid silicones. “Otherwise, eventually the product blocks pores, which can impede hair growth,” says Federici. “You especially don’t want silicones on there. There seems to be a direct correlation between overuse of product and increased female baldness.”
What we do need is a really good shampoo – she thinks the no-poo movement (the trend for not washing your hair with any form of soap) is disastrous for pores. “And buy good shampoo,” says Federici. “Use something that is gentle, non-stripping and thorough, that doesn’t promise too much. If it says it conditions, de-frizzes or thickens then the likelihood is that it contains ingredients that won’t do you any good in the long term. Use a separate product for this.”
We talked about volumisers and shine boosters and why so many of them are disappointing. “Many volumisers weigh hair down, or they’re sticky and lead to build-up or greasiness.”
Shine agents generally rely on silicones and other pearlising agents which, over an extended period, dull hair and clog follicles. But never mind, because the beauty industry has a solution: clarifying shampoos that promise to get rid of all the stuff they’ve previously sold you that’s now creating clusters of teeny fat burgers up and down your follicles. Other ingredients to avoid: lemon, which yellows hair (and not in a helpful way) and apple and vanilla, which darken hair. As for those mauve shampoos designed to restore your colour to its (un)natural glory after the hard water and metals in the atmosphere have dulled your rich chestnut or tinged your creamy blonde orange/green/mud? “Most of them are so harsh, they wreck your hair’s ph and rip all the good stuff out,” she says.
I hadn’t expected this degree of candour – but maybe the beauty industry really is beginning to change. Anyway, Colorwow’s latest baby, Dream Filter, is one product worth finding space for in your bathroom. Spray it on before shampooing, rinse off after three minutes, and, ta-da, your colour looks salon fresh. My blonde highlights, which after three weeks of London water looked slightly orange, were born-again buttery (see above). Just ensure you wash it out and give your scalp a good clean.
Colorwow Dream Filter,
£24 (victoriahealth.com)