Many people have already used skincare products containing ceramides and can attest to their effectiveness. Frequently found in hair care products, what are the benefits that this active ingredient offers for hair?
- Carnet
- Active Ingredients
- The benefits of ceramides for hair.
The benefits of ceramides for hair.
- The importance of lipids for hair
- An exogenous supply of ceramides: why?
- Biomimetic Ceramides: The Hair Mask by Typology
- Sources
The importance of lipids for hair.
Besides water, keratin, melanin pigments, and mineral salts, the hair shaft is also composed of oily substances that ensure the hair's barrier function (≃ 3% of the total hair composition). In the cuticle, they notably help to seal the keratin scales to each other by forming an intercellular cement, thereby ensuring the protection of the cortex located at an intermediate level and providing a certain impermeability to the hair.
The lipids of this intercellular cement, produced at the bulb level, are composed of cholesterol sulfate, ceramides, sterols... Lipids are also present in the intercellular spaces of the cortex between the long fibrous cells and a monomolecular layer of a unique branched fatty acid, the 18-methyl eicosanoic acid, covers the surface of the hair. The texture and shine of the hair then directly depend on its condition. Indeed, when healthy, the scales are firmly linked, and the cuticle presents a smooth aspect allowing the reflection of light: the hair then appears shiny, flexible, and silky.
Indeed, the cuticle is the first to suffer and endure all the daily aggressions (shampoos, repeated brushing, hair dryers, coloring/bleaching, UV, perming/relaxing...). It gradually loses its protective envelope and becomes fragile, thus becoming permeable: the structure of the hair is consequently weakened. Damaged, the scales separate, and the interior of the hair fiber (cortex) is therefore exposed to external aggressions.
On the other hand, when the scales of the cuticle are unsealed due to a lack of lipid cement, the water retained within the hair evaporates, which dries it out and makes it more fragile (loss of elasticity and plasticity). Although perceived as an aesthetic issue, dry hair can eventually represent a hair health problem. They then appear fragile, porous, dull, and tend to become brittle.
An exogenous supply of ceramides: why?
Ceramides nourish the hair.
If your hair is dehydrated and lacks shine, treatments formulated with ceramide are a solution. They prevent water from evaporating and nourish your hair. Moisturizing, they help you regain smooth, split-end-free hair.
Ceramides to preserve the shine and luster of hair.
Applying a ceramide treatment to the scalp helps to keep it radiant. It allows your hair to maintain its shine.
Ceramides, a protective element of the hair fiber.
Applying a treatment containing this active ingredient helps to protect the hair fiber from external aggressions. Ceramides assist you in combating and preventing breakages. Ceramides are lipids that can be found on the scales of the hair. Their function is to strengthen the hair fiber. They fortify the roots and enhance the cohesion of the hair cells. They act like a protective cement.
Ceramides to improve hair texture.
If you desire smooth, soft, and flexible hair, opt for treatments containing ceramide. They help you achieve smooth, frizz-free hair. They also allow you to tame unruly hair and thus create a hairstyle according to your wishes.
Biomimetic Ceramides: The Hair Mask by Typology.
Formulated with ceramides (1%), avocado oil, and mango butter, our hair mask nourishes, tames, repairs, and strengthens hair. Silicone-free, this rich formula, 98% of which is of natural origin, thus makes the hair stronger, smoother, easier to style/detangle, more flexible, softer, and shinier thanks to the synergy of three active ingredients. The essential oils of Hô wood (INCI name: Cinnamomum camphora Linalooliferum Wood Oil) and yellow mandarin (INCI name: Citrus Reticulata Peel Oil) give the hair care product a subtle, sweet fragrance. This hair mask is intended for both problematic hair and healthy hair to protect them daily from damage (preventive care).
The ingredients that make the difference:
Ceramides (INCI name: Behenyl/Stearyl Aminopropanediol Esters): with a structure close to the original (ceramide-like), they help to restructure and strengthen the hair fiber, and to fill the porosity of the hair scales. Obtained from bio-converted saturated vegetable fatty acids, these pseudo-ceramides indeed insert themselves into the failing lipid cement of the hair fiber, replace the missing lipids and thus weld the scales together. The result? The hair is smoother, less brittle, and shinier.
Avocado Vegetable Oil (INCI name: Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil): rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, it quickly penetrates the hair fiber to nourish it deeply without weighing it down or making it greasy. In addition, avocado oil helps to "glue" the scales together, leaving the hair better protected from external aggressions and dryness.
Mango Vegetable Butter (INCI name: Magnifiera Indica Seed Butter): rich in essential fatty acids (stearic acid, palmitic acid, and oleic acid) and squalene, it helps to strengthen the hair's resistance against external aggressions, by coating it with a film of fatty acids. The mango butter thus smooths the hair cuticles, restores shine to the hair, softens the hair fiber, and helps to prevent the formation of split ends.
Hair Type: Dry hair, damaged hair, brittle hair, weakened hair, thin hair, dull hair, dry/split ends.
Product Actions: Shine, strengthen, protect, nourish, soften, flexibility.
Usage Advice: After washing your entire scalp with your regular shampoo, gently squeeze out the water from your hair before applying a dollop of mask from the lengths to the tips. Allow it to sit for 5 to 10 minutes before rinsing. This treatment should be done once or twice a week.
Sources
KABA G. & al. Isolation and identification of human hair ceramides. International Journal of Cosmetic Science (1995).
HALLEGOT P. & al. Ceramide binding to African–American hair fibre correlates with resistance to hair breakage. International Journal of Cosmetic Science (2000).
TSUJIMURA H. & al. Highly sensitive determination of diverse ceramides in human hair using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Lipids (2007).
KIM H. & al. Promotion of hair growth by newly synthesized ceramide mimetic compound. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (2017).
KANG H. & al. Synthesized ceramide induces growth of dermal papilla cells with potential contribution to hair growth. Annals of Dermatology (2019).
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