The kind of alcohols present in hair products is vital to hair health and progress.
In Chemistry, there are Short Chain alcohols (volatile alcohols) and Long Chain alcohols (fatty alcohols). The former possess very few carbon atoms in their chain structure, thereby making them highly soluble in water and can leave hair or skin feeling dry, whereas the latter has longer carbon atoms in their structure, making them less soluble and fattier (containing oils and lipids). Fatty alcohols are used in the manufacture of skin moisturisers and hair conditioners to give them sleek and make hair softer.
So when next you shop a hair or skin product, be on the lookout for the following.
Hair and skin friendly alcohols include:
- Behenyl alcohol
- Cetearyl alcohol
- Cetyl alcohol
- Lauryl alcohol
- Myristyl alcohol
- Stearyl alcohol
Hair and skin unfriendly alcohols are:
- Ethanol
- Isopropyl
- Propanol
- Propyl
- SD Alcohol
- SD Alcohol 40
- PABA
- DEA
- Paraben
- Sulfates
- Phthalates
In addition, there’s a group of neutral alcohols present in hair product but have no effects whatsoever. They are the Benzyl alcohol and Propylene alcohol. Benzyl is just a preservative that is necessary for the shelf life of a product while Propylene is a humectant. Humectants are hydrophilic (water loving) alcohols that draw moisture from the atmosphere and then trap this moisture in the hair or skin. A good example is glycerine.
From now on, always look behind those beautiful jars for details on the ingredients.