Hair slip is a crucial factor for those with curly hair, as it plays a significant role in maintaining manageable and healthy locks. Essentially, hair slip refers to the smoothness and ease with which hair strands glide against each other.
Without sufficient hair slip, curly hair is prone to tangling and matting, leading to a tangled mess that can be challenging to manage.
Investing in products that provide ample hair slip is essential for curly-haired individuals. These products help prevent tangles, making hair easier to detangle and style. Ultimately, incorporating hair slip into your curly hair care routine can lead to more manageable, healthier, and better-looking curls.
For this topic, insights from a seasoned hair scientist and cosmetic formulator with a PhD in Chemistry have been enlisted to ensure accurate and reliable information. In this article, we’ll go through these scientific details. We will also discuss a formulator’s preferred choice of ingredients to deliver outstanding slip-on hair fibers.
Understanding Hair Slip: Essential for Hair Smoothness
Hair slip, a technical term in hair care, denotes the smoothness of the hair’s surface, particularly facilitated by the quality of its upper layer, known as cuticles. Like roof tiles, cuticles play a pivotal role in defining the hair fiber’s surface properties, including its smoothness, shine, and ease of detangling.1
In simpler terms, hair slip refers to the ease with which hair strands glide against each other and other surfaces during combing or brushing. This smoothness is crucial for managing and styling hair effectively.
Hair slip can be enhanced by various substances, such as conditioner, oil, or hair serum. These substances help hair strands move smoothly without tangling or snagging.
To delve deeper into the intricacies of hair slip, it’s essential to explore factors that may undermine or damage cuticles’ health. Additionally, understanding the ingredients required in hair care formulations to promote good slip is key to maintaining healthy, smooth, and manageable hair.
Hair Slip Challenges: Protecting Cuticle Health
The outermost layer of hair, known as the cuticle, acts as a shield against external aggressors. However, it is susceptible to damage from various sources.
Hair cuticles are constantly exposed to harsh chemicals in hair treatments like bleaching, coloring, and perms. Additionally, UV radiation from the sun can further deteriorate the protein content of cuticles, leading to damage.2
Continuous assault on the cuticle layers results in their gradual removal, leaving the inner core of hair fibers vulnerable. This damage renders hair fragile, weak, and highly porous, increasing the risk of breakage during combing or brushing.
As cuticles erode, the hair surface becomes rough and rigid, compromising its natural slip and making it more prone to tangling and matting. This underscores the importance of protecting cuticle health to maintain smooth, manageable hair.
Harnessing Natural Hair Slip: Preserving Lipid Balance
The lipid content in hair, primarily secreted by sebaceous glands, is crucial in maintaining hair health and slip. These lipids consist of various fatty acids and waxes, forming a natural protective layer on the hair’s outer surface.
This lipid layer serves as a barrier, safeguarding the cuticles and offering defense against environmental stressors and UV radiation. Moreover, it enhances ease of combing, imparts shine, and contributes to the sleekness of hair fibers.3
However, hair can lose these essential lipids due to oxidation treatments and exposure to UV radiation. During washing, these lipids become water-soluble and are rinsed away, resulting in a loss of natural slip.
Preserving the lipid balance is crucial for maintaining hair slip and overall hair health, emphasizing the importance of incorporating strategies to protect and replenish these natural lipids.
Restoring Slip for Compromised Hair Fibers: Formulation Strategies
Restoring slip for compromised hair fibers involves repairing and replenishing the surface properties of the hair fiber. This process focuses on recovering lipid content and enhancing cuticle health to promote smoother, more manageable hair.
Effective formulations work by depositing active ingredients onto the cuticle layer, forming bonds with cuticle proteins. This deposition process is crucial for revitalizing the hair’s natural protective barrier.
Moreover, the formulation must create a delicate and fine coating on the hair surface to avoid weighing down the hair or disrupting its natural curl pattern. By striking the right balance, these formulations can effectively restore slip while maintaining the hair’s body and texture.
Harnessing Cationic Conditioning Agents for Hair Restoration
Cationic conditioning agents emerge as potent solutions for reviving hair surface quality. These ingredients carry a positive charge, allowing them to effectively bond with the negatively charged protein sites on hair through electrostatic chemical bonding interactions (positive attracts negative).
Characterized by a delicate molecular structure, these agents feature a positive charge at one end and a lengthy hydrophobic carbon chain at the other.
Upon application, these cationic conditioning agents attach to the hair fiber via their positively charged end. Their hydrophobic carbon chain contributes to lubrication, slip, and detangling, promoting smoother, more manageable hair strands.4,5
The Power of Cationic Surfactants
Cationic surfactants stand as essential components in conditioning shampoos, conditioners, and treatment products, renowned for their multifunctional benefits.
These surfactants excel in rendering hair soft and enhancing slip and detangling properties.
The positively charged head of the surfactant facilitates strong adhesion to the hair surface, while its elongated hydrophobic chain imparts a slippery texture.
Given their pivotal role, conditioning products often feature multiple ingredients from this category, typically listed within the top five in the INCI listing on product labels due to their significant concentration in the formulation.
As foundational elements of the formulation, these cationic surfactants play a crucial role in delivering the desired slip benefits.
Examples of these surfactants include:
The Potential of Cationic Polymers
In addition to cationic surfactants, conditioning formulations often feature cationic polymers, distinguished by their high molecular weight and positive charges.
These polymers exhibit a remarkable ability to deposit onto the hair shaft, effectively enhancing the overall quality of the hair surface.
However, it’s essential to acknowledge their limitations. While they excel in their deposition properties, repeated application and accumulation can lead to build-up on the hair shaft, resulting in a heavy and lackluster appearance.
As a result, cationic polymers are typically not favored for fine and curly hair types.
Examples of these polymers include:
The Potential of Natural Oils and Butters for Hair Care
In hair care, natural oils and butters serve as valuable resources. They can lubricate the hair’s outer layer, similar to the natural lipid produced by sebaceous glands.
This lubrication not only enhances hair slip but also aids in detangling curls, effectively preventing the formation of knots. Additionally, these oils and butters contribute to boosting hair shine and shielding the hair fiber against damage induced by UV radiation.
It’s important to note that not all oils are created equal. Their chemical compositions vary, impacting their lubricating and conditioning properties.
Lighter oils offer a subtle coating without leaving behind any greasiness, whereas heavier oils may result in a thicker coating and a greasy feel.
For instance, coconut and argan oils are renowned for their lighter textures, whereas castor oil tends to impart a stickier, heavier feel.
Furthermore, synthetic oils, particularly silicones, are commonly incorporated into formulations due to their exceptional lubricating properties and ability to enhance shine.
List Of Ingredients For Hair Slip
Cationic Surfactants / Softeners
- Cetrimonium Chloride
- Steartrimonium Chloride
- Stearalkonium Chloride
- Behentrimonium Chloride
- Dicetyldimonium Chloride
- Distearyldimonium chloride
- Stearamidopropyl dimethylamine
- Behenamidopropyl dimethylamine
Cationic Polymers
- Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride (guar bean-derived cationic polymer, frequently used in 2N1 shampoos)
- Polyquaternium – 6 (contains a high degree of positive charges, preferred for extremely damaged hairs)
- Polyquaternium – 7 (high molecular weight synthetic polymer known for its slip, however, not ideal for natural, fine, and curly hairs).
- Polyquaternium – 10 (cellulose-derived cationic polymer known for high deposition, commonly found in conditioning shampoos)
- Polyquaternium – 11
- Polyquaternium – 28, 39, 47, 53 & 73
The list goes on; the formulator chooses the polymer according to the functionality, product nature types of hair, and desired results.
Concluding Thoughts
Achieving healthy and lustrous hair is a common aspiration for many individuals, and the presence of hair slip plays a pivotal role in this pursuit.
The quality of the hair surface, influenced by factors such as hair type, texture, and condition, largely determines the level of slip. Therefore, maintaining the health of the cuticles, which serve as the primary point of interaction, is paramount.
For restoring hair surface properties, cationic ingredients emerge as a promising solution. Particularly, cationic surfactants stand out for their exceptional adhesion to the hair fiber and consequent superior outcomes.
In addition, natural oils are valued for their ability to enhance hair slip, further contributing to the overall health and appearance of the hair.
References
- Jordan Susan, L.; Kreeger, R. L.; Zhang, X.; Drovetskaya Tatiana, V.; Davis Calvin, B.; Amos Jennifer, L.; Gabelnick Stephanie, E.; Zhou, S.; Li, W.; DiAntonio Edward, F.; Protonentis Anita, A., Effect of Hydrophobic Substitution on Cationic Conditioning Polymers. In Cosmetic Nanotechnology, American Chemical Society: 2007; Vol. 961, pp 59-71.
- Zviak, C., The Science of Hair Care. Taylor & Francis: 2005. ↩︎
- Swift, J. A., Fine details on the surface of human hair. Inter. J. of Cosmet. Sci 1991, 13 (3), 143-159. ↩︎
- Cruz, C. F.; Fernandes, M. M.; Gomes, A. C.; Coderch, L.; Martí, M.; Méndez, S.; Gales, L.; Azoia, N. G.; Shimanovich, U.; Cavaco-Paulo, A., Keratins and lipids in ethnic hair. Inter. J. of Cosmet. Sci 2013, 35 (3), 244-249. ↩︎
- Schueller, R.; Romanowski, P., Conditioning Agents for Hair and Skin. Taylor & Francis: 1999. ↩︎
- Jordan Susan, L.; Kreeger, R. L.; Zhang, X.; Drovetskaya Tatiana, V.; Davis Calvin, B.; Amos Jennifer, L.; Gabelnick Stephanie, E.; Zhou, S.; Li, W.; DiAntonio Edward, F.; Protonentis Anita, A., Effect of Hydrophobic Substitution on Cationic Conditioning Polymers. In Cosmetic Nanotechnology, American Chemical Society: 2007; Vol. 961, pp 59-71. ↩︎
