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Monday, June 1, 2009

Cosmetic Chemistry Tidbits #2

Happy June everyone! I'm kicking this month off with another episode of Cosmetic Chemistry Tidbits. Today's post is all about SILICONE. What is it? Why are they in my hair products? What does it do to your hair? What are the different kinds of silicone? And more!

Gee, where do I start? I guess I'll start with explaining what-in terms of haircare-silicone is. Silicone comes from silica, which is actually sand! Crazy right? It gets better. Silicone is a slippery, water-binding emollient. It has great conditioning properties, and leaves your hair and skin feeling soft and silky. You can tell if a product has silicone by looking at the ingredient list; if you see a word with the suffix -cone, it's a type of silicone.

Why are they in hair products? Because they work! Silicones are very effective in shampoos, conditioners, deep conditioners, leave-ins, detanglers, smoothing serums, glossers, and shine sprays. They are also commonly found in makeup--primarily in foundations, concealers, primers, etc, because they leave the skin feeling smooth and supple. People talk a lot of smack about silicones, but the bottom line is: THEY WORK. They make hair soft, manageable, shiny, and can actually strengthen your hair.

Now let me talk about a few of the most commonly found silicones:
  • Dimethicone: A silicone derivative that adds shine, locks in moisture, and gives a product a very smooth creamy texture. However, dimethicone can be too heavy for some people, so keep that in mind. It can be found in mostly in smoothing creams and deep conditioners.
  • Cyclomethicone: A lighter silicone that is an emollient. It is slightly more common than dimethicone, and is used in more products, like conditoners, aerosol hairspray, shine spray, glossing serums. As with anything, be sure to use shine products sparingly.
  • Phenyl Trimethicone: A water-resistant silicone that adds a lot of shine, as well as flexability, elasticity, and heat resistance to hair. It can be found in a lot of professional shine reflecting & color correcting services, and thermal protectors.
  • Cyclopentasiloxane: An increasingly popular emollient that makes hair easier to comb through and less susceptible to breakage. It's very watery and good at breaking up other silicones, so it is often used in conjunction with dimethicone to thin it out. I personally love Cyclopentasiloxane, it's so useful and always leaves hair feeling healthy and shiny.
  • Amodimethicone: Has good conditoning properties, leaves hair feeling soft and reduces fly-aways. I see it mostly in conditioners, sometimes in leave-in detanglers too.
So I think I've covered the most common silicones, but if you have a question about something I didn't cover, please feel free to comment and I'll get back to you! I really hope this will help put your fear of 'cones to rest, because they really do help your hair. Be on the lookout for the next episode of Cosmetic Chemistry Tidbits and take care of your hair! : D

8 comments:

G. said...

Ooooh, I love how you broke it all down for us! Thanks a million--this will help me so much in reading labels and figuring out exactly how (and why) a product might work for me. Once again, you rock. Maybe for a future post you can talk about clarifying shampoos and how they work to remove silicone build-up? :)

HEARTSTARBOLT said...

You always give great compliments and great ideas! I'll definitely discuss clarifying shampoos, as well as all shampoos/alternatives in CCT#3!

Kelly said...

What do you think of silicone products for your skin? Good or bad? I hear both!

HEARTSTARBOLT said...

I honestly can't give a general opinion on skincare products that contain silicone, because there are so many products that all contain different amounts of different types of silicone. Some people are also allergic to silicone. Generally it does make the skin feel very smooth and supple, and is very good in makeup primers, lotions, lip products, etc. However, there's always the chance of having too much of a good thing. Too much silicone on your skin could result in breakouts, or milia which are tiny red bumps that look similar to acne. So, in the right amount, silicone is very beneficial, but too much is not good. Hopefully this helped! <3

Bailey (Makeover Momma) said...

Thanks for the post! I always loved this product and thought it made my hair so silky smooth. I can't use it anymore because of the wheat protein (I'm crazy allergic to wheat), but it helped me realize how important protein can be in hair products!

Dr.Dad's advise said...

The first of all I like your blog because I am working in cosmetic company. I am just wondering why you didn't explain structure of silicon and how safety is working with this chemical. Recenlty, I opened my blog about cosmetic chemistry. http://btumur.blogspot.com
I will write a more in depth-strucure of silicon in my blog very soon.

HEARTSTARBOLT said...

Thank you for the compliment! Actually, I'm not a cosmetic chemist, so I don't know all the scientific reasons why silicone works and all that. I just try and do a little research so my readers can understand their hair products a little bit better. :}

Alex Taylor said...

Nice One !! Found your post interesting to read. Good Luck for the upcoming update. Cosmetics