Hair Types and Required Specific Ingredients for Conditioning ...

2. Conditioning Needs for Different Hair Types
Hair conditioning products have to provide a wide variety of different properties. The properties that are specific to a need are
claimed on the package, others are simply implied. The most important properties that need to be addressed in a hair conditioner are:
• detangling/wet comb
• wet feel
• dry comb improved (lower force)
• dry comb reduced (higher force, provides hold of the style)
• dry feel
• gloss/shine
• style retention (reduced curl droop)
• straightening effect (weighing down, poor volume)
• volume/body
• antistatic effect
• color protection
• hair strengthening properties
Looking into this list of conditioning effect one may think, that all of them are requested in any case. This is true, but
nevertheless, the most important parameters do differ between specific hair types. Figure 2 shows an overview about
the specific conditioning needs of the various hair types, which already have been described in chapter 1. The crosses
symbolise the “primary” importance of need, the circles symbolise the “secondary” need for property improvement.
Improvement of detangling/wet combability is important for all hair types, because this property is immediately
perceived by the consumer.
The improvement of the wet feel is mostly important for colored hair which feels very hard and rough when wet.
The parameter “dry combing” has to be differentiated: fine hair does not necessarily need reduced dry combing forces,
because this would lead to a reduced volume related to the lower friction between the single fibers. But thick hair and
curly hair types generally do need to be smooth in the dry stage, especially if they are chemically treated.
Dry feel is also one of the parameters, which are detected by the consumers immediately and is therefore important for
all hair types.
Gloss/shine is mostly important for straight hair, because curly hair has a structure related low shiny appearance.
Colored hair needs to have a gloss improvement.
An improved hold of the hairstyle is mostly interesting for fine and normal hair.
This plays also a role in minimizing the frizzyness of curly hair. For this type of hair, defined curls or even straight styled
hair is desired.
A straightening effect is desired for the thick hair type. The opposite, an increased volume/body is desired for fine
and normal hair with exception of the permed types (because the perming treatment already increase the volume).
An antistatic effect is mostly interesting for the chemically treated fine and normal hair because of the lowered
isoelectric point of the hair keratin.
An improved color protection is essential for colored hair, esp. for the very modern intensely red colored hair. The red
pigments are much smaller than others and therefore may be washed out more easily.
The table in Figure 2 summarizes the specific conditioning needs of the various hair types.
4