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©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 I’ve wanted to post this for a while, but it makes me feel a bit subversive because I’m going to tell you that what you think you’re doing with hair conditioner is a wee bit wrong. This is my "ingredient-based" perspective. Not so many years ago, women washed their hair with bar soap. Many of them knew if they used water from their rain barrels (rainwater) that their hair would shine – because rainwater is soft water so there is less soap scum left on hair. People did not wash their hair often. Nor their bodies. Especially in winter. Now that so many of us shower daily and have hundreds of soaps and shampoos to choose from, it’s easier to over-cleanse the hair. Enter the “cream rinse.” A cream rinse is the ancestor of modern conditioners. – in the U.S. it was Breck and Wella Balsam that led the pack with fairly simple formulas that helped detangle hair which was dried out from frequent shampooing or damaged by teasing or hairspray and a multitude of ...

The steamer and diffuser, hose not shown - better to use a hose to prevent burns. My hair loves humidity. I don't worry about frizz - it looks natural. But how do I call up some humidity when the weather is very cold and dry, or very dry and windy and my hair has gone limp and flat? Here's my quick hair (and mood) pick-me-up. I made a steamer. I already had a "steam hot roller" steamer, which is like a facial steamer for skin or sinus problems. This picture simply has a diffuser attachment set on the steamer. This can be both too hot and very tippy. That steam is HOT and you do not want to dump boiling water on yourself. I am working on attaching a heat-tolerant hose - but I keep forgetting to pick some up at the hardware. If you want to do this yourself, I highly recommend using a hose to make it easier to use and safer. Boiling water and steam cause burns.  You want the steam to be a temperature that is comfortable to your skin - that way you know it's safer f...

This is an extremely low-effort post on my part. I'm linking you to a site with some fantastic pictures of chemical damage, high heat damage, and backcombing (teasing) damage to hair. I passed on some information from an article about heat damage here for reference. If you wouldn't do something to your skin, don't do it to your hair. How's that for simple?

One word. Beer. See the end of the post for store-bought vegetarian protein products! ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 I have been wracking my brain for a homemade   vegetarian protein treatment which would give "I want to see a change right now" results like my gelatin protein treatment recipe , and which you can find locally and easily. I tried commercial hydrolyzed proteins at varying levels, but they just did not pack the punch I was looking for. When I use a protein treatment, I want my hair to feel different - to be bouncier and shinier. I'm looking for instantaneous gratification! Hydrolyzed protein, whether hydrolyzed by heating with acid or by fermentation, is the form of protein which is the most useful to your hair. Gelatin is hydrolyzed collagen, an animal protein. Soy sauce is hydrolyzed soy protein, but did not impress me much - though I admit fear of using it on my entire head because I have light-colored hair and don't like the smell very much except in cooki...

The last post was all about the dewpoint. On a normal day, that's the measurement that tells you how much water you might expect to be in the air - so you know whether your skin and hair will be dehydrating or not. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 Relative humidity is how much moisture the air is actually holding right now, vs. (relative to) how much it can possibly hold (the dewpoint). I am looking at a temperature of 67°F (19°C) with a dewpoint of 60°F and a relative humidity of around 80%. This is very juicy air! We are expecting strong storms from an air mass like this. It is usually foggy and very dewy in the morning when the air temperature is this close to the dewpoint and it's not very cold . When the dewpoint is close to the temperature, the air is wet. I think this is some of the worst "weather" for maintaining bouncy waves and curls because the moisture is being taken on by the hair and the wave and curl is expanding in some places, tightening in others and just n...

Doubtless you have read about dewpoint and what it means for wavy and curly hair. Generally, wavy and curly hair looks better when there is a “just right” amount of water vapor in the air. The important thing to remember is that we Always Obey the Laws of Thermodynamics! Things tend to come to a state of equilibrium. If there is more heat in your house than outside and you open a window, the warm air rushes out. If you place a glass of iced tea on a table on a hot day, the ice melts and the tea warms as it absorbs heat from its surroundings. ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013 Too little water vapor in the air and hair tends to lose moisture to the drier air. Too much water vapor in the air and your hair takes on a lot of moisture and begins to curl more – getting bigger and less defined (frizzing). Just right – and your waves and curls look healthy and defined. But I need pictures. I love concepts, but for mental recall – flashing back to a picture is so much simpler. First of all, dewpoint. Wh...