Taking the time to get to know your hair care products may make you cringe if you’re not familiar with reading the ingredient names on the labels. Typical products may make your hair look and feel really great, but the truth is that many hair products contain ingredients that can actually damage your hair. The long term effects of these types of ingredients can eventually lead to hair that is dull, limp, and breaks. Specifically, the culprit here is a popular ingredient called Silicone. So why is silicone bad for your hair?

Silicone is like plastic. It acts as as a sealant against water and air, preventing moisture from penetrating the hair shaft. This unnatural ingredient can give your hair the illusion of shine, but it is anything but healthy for your hair. Not only will it weigh your hair down, but the lack of moisture will cause your hair to become brittle and eventually break over time. And don’t even think of getting any benefits from the other ingredients in a silicone-based product. The “plastic” layer you just added with the silicone prevents any nutrients from penetrating the hair shaft as well.

Silicones are also hydrophobic, which means that they are difficult to wash out. This will cause the hair to look and feel heavy and greasy. This will likely make you to want to wash and style your hair more than necessary leading to even more damage.

So, what makes silicones so popular, and why are they used? Silicones, on the surface, give the hair the look we want. In essence, silicones smooth the cuticles, get rid of the frizzies, and give the hair a temporary shine. It makes detangling wet hair easy because of the added slip and can make hair that is damaged or dry look healthy instantly. Because of this, manufacturers can’t get enough of adding this product to their formulas. Mostly you’ll find silicones in your conditioners, detanglers, and some “oil” products. Be careful, some of these “oil” products contain less than 1% oil and are really just pure silicone.

Silicones provide a quick fix, but long lasting damage. Healthy hair actually shines because the cuticle layer is sealed and light reflects off the hair. This only happens when hair is properly hydrated and kept as healthy as possible. Healthy hair is also easy to detangle because of the sealed cuticle.

If your hair is dry and brittle, coating it with “plastic-y” ingredients like silicone will actually just make matters worse. The deposits that silicones leave behind deposits that will lead to limp and dull strands. If you’ve ever wondered why your hair is so dry even though you use “moisture” products, you can likely contribute it to the consistent use of silicone based products. Does your hair ever appear flat and lackluster? This is yet another effect of silicones on the hair.

So, how can you spot silicones in your hair products? Look for anything that ends in “cone.” Common names include Dimethicone, Methicone, Cyclomethicone, Amodimethicone, Dimethiconol, Cyclomethicone/Cyclopentasiloxane…and the list goes on. Also, ingredients are listed in order of the hightest to lowest concentration. That means that the closer an ingredient is to the top of the list, the more of it is in the product.

This is one of the things that makes Hairfinity SO different from other hair care brands.  ALL Hairfinity hair care products are free of silicones and other damaging ingredients. Our “Pure and Proven” hair care system will give your hair an instant makeover that only gets better with time. You will notice your hair getting healthier and you will not need to use as much styling products to get the look you want. You will also notice that you don’t need as much shampoo and conditioner (which means your hair products last longer). This is because your hair will actually become healthier overtime.