Hair care, by definition, is a generalized overall term for the hygiene and cosmetology of hair of the head, face, & well, elsewhere. For the purposes of this book we are focusing on the head (insert winky face). You’ve got three basic components for daily care. There are shampoos, conditioners, & stylers. Sure there are treatments & chemicals to alter the structure of hair, but I want to focus on the products that are repetitively used to maintain the appearance of your hair, daily.
Hair care is a system that requires several categories of ingredients to work in harmony to provide the desired results you are looking for. These categories of ingredients have specific jobs in the formulation: Shampoos contain surfactants (cleansers or detergents), foam boosters or sudsing agents, emollients, stabilizers, opacifiers, sequestering agents, skin & hair conditioning agents, fragrance, and preservatives. Conditioners contain surfactants to help other ingredients adhere to the strand, humectants, conditioning agents, film formers, polymers, oils, proteins, emulsifiers, opacifiers, & emollients. Stylers typically contain film formers, polymers, alcohols, conditioning agents, anti-static agents, surfactants, viscosity agents, emulsifiers, emollients, propellants, & fragrance.