On the small capillary planet and in particular that of curly / curly hair, we find various beliefs and “myths” spread – in all good faith – from site to site, blog, forum or even on youtube…, and even in the books devoted to the subject. When I started my blog Beautiful Loops , I spent a lot of time reading all this literature which sometimes left me perplexed by its scientific contradictions and / or “nonsense”.
hair myths-hydration-hair-silicones-proteins

Today I therefore wish to present to you a first series of “hair myths” with scientific answers / leads, fruit of the knowledge that I have been able to acquire during my research. These answers are based on the physiological characteristics of the hair and a bit of logic… 🙂Nothing completely definitive, however, because even science is not always very developed in the matter, this is how I will have to qualify according to the uncertainties that remain. As I often say, I do not have “infused science” and I always welcome comments, clarifications or argued corrections (do not hesitate :-). Let’s go for demining

This (un) truth is probably the one that gets on my nerves. the most (almost as much as the scales of the hair under the action of water!), and also the most widespread and repeated. Its logic may seem attractive. Indeed, in the verb “to hydrate” we have the etymological root “hydr-” which means “water” in Greek so if we apply its meaning to the letter, it amounts to “giving water” to her hair. Except that the reality is less simple and “direct” than that. The verb “hydrate” is also confusing.

– In English, moreover, there is another much more exact term: ” condition ” (awkwardly translated – by layer – by “conditionner” his hair in French, I like to use for my part the verb “gainer” which seems fairly faithful to the expected effect, see myth # 2 below). “Condition” means “condition” in French, that is to say that we are going to modify, cosmetically speaking, the condition of the hair, that is to say its external appearance, its texture.
Water, harmful for the hair, promotes aggressions. Source: Hair-science.fr
Water, harmful for the hair, promotes aggressions.
Source: Hair-science.fr

– In fact the verb “to hydrate” is originally more suited to the skin (even if the application of water externally to the skin does not hydrate it either and rather dries it out by osmosis). However, the hair is not the skin (unlike the scalp). The skin “breathes” (evacuation of carbon and sweat / waste mainly through the pores), heals, regenerates, exchanges with the dermis, not the hair which does not have pores. A hair does nothing but deteriorate . As it grows, its keratin erodes (more or less quickly depending on the treatments that are inflicted on it) and ends up breaking.
A hair, as I keep repeating, is biologically dead material. Consequences: It cannot regenerate in any way, it cannot be “fed” nor watered / “hydrated”. In other words, it is a “corpse”. Hmm, sorry it’s not very glamorous!

See article: Water: friend or foe of dry hair?

the water (as well as the humectants which capture water from the air ) swells the fiber and therefore lifts its scales, and as explained above, what we want is exactly the opposite: scales well laid and smooth.
In addition, water can alter the external and internal keratin which constitutes 95% of it and cause its lipids to evaporate.
Like the skin, the hair cuticle is supposed to provide a barrier function, ie protection against humidity in particular. Finally, water and oil (immiscible) repel each other so I find it difficult to see how the second would seal the first … However, the use of an emulsion (such as a conditioner for example) can undoubtedly allow to fix the new hydrogen bonds formed (elasticity of the curl) while smoothing the cuticle and mitigating the harmful effects of swelling linked to water

The water factor does not appear to be decisive with regard to its shine, definition and softness (if we are looking for its qualities of course).
BUT … the hair does contain internal water and moistening it is still useful for revitalize the elasticity / bounce of the curls(formation of hydrogen bonds), to give flexibility to the hair, in light vaporization preferably followed by a moisturizer (fatty substance, emulsion with or without rinsing) to close the scales. Note that the hair is above all capable of absorbing water at a molecular level (water vapor: absorption of water by capillarity i.e. the water diffuses through the tiny tube-shaped interstices of the structure of the hair. hair such as ink absorbed by blotting paper). Indispensable also for disentangling (never dry untangle your curls, unless you like the sparkling effects of course!). It is also necessary to take into account the climate and its humidity to avoid foamy swelling and frizz to properly dose its use.