There are a few concepts that enter the pet grooming field from hair dressing which cause me to pause. The notion of Close-Open-Close is one such concept. Here are my thoughts:
Close-Open-Close originated in the human hair care industry in relation to permanent hair coloring. It refers to the hair cuticle and guides the beautician to treat the hair before and after coloring. It has been adopted by the pet grooming industry and re-invented to become a protocol for shampooing. It translates to “condition-shampoo-condition”.
• The hair cuticle does not actually OPEN. It lifts or becomes slightly raised or lifted.
• Opening or lifting of the hair cuticle is not a good thing. It is not designed to be forcibly lifted. It does not open and close like a door.
• The cuticle layers are held in place by lipids and proteins. Repeated lifting by chemical or mechanical means erodes the “mortar” that holds the structure together.
• When we shampoo hair, the water breaks the hydrogen bonds and swells the hair shafts. This slightly raises the hair cuticle.
• Also contributing to lifting of the cuticle are the anionic surfactants in the shampoo. Hair naturally carries a negative charge. When the negatively charged anionic cleansers meet the negatively charged hair, it can pull on the surface causing lifting.
• A lifted hair cuticle does not necessarily allow beneficial ingredients to penetrate into the cortex or body of the hair shaft. Penetration is determined more by the chemistry and molecular size of the ingredients. We do not just open the door and put good stuff inside the hair shaft.
• Also, the most recent hair science suggests that penetration substances into the cortex of the hair does not happen through the cuticle, but through the mortar that holds the cuticle layers in place.
** "Shampoos and hair conditioners have generally been perceived as products that do not damage hair. However, there is increasing evidence that these products, particularly shampoos can contribute to hair damage through abrasive/ erosive actions combined with cyclic actions involving bending, compression and extension, both during and after the shampoo process. These actions produce degradation of both the keratin and the important non-keratin components of the hair surface, the cell membrane complex and the cuticle layers." Robbins. pg 330
Okay. So here's my take-away from my reading on this subject: It seems to me that the issue is the lifting of the hair cuticle that causes damage not the smoothing. Not all shampoos are potentially damaging. A shampoo is much more than a single surfactant, or single cleansing agent. In a well-formulated product, the secondary, co-surfactants (foam builders, emulsifiers, thickeners) team up with the primary detergent(s) to form a complex matrix that is the shampoo. One important effect of the co-surfactants is to reduce the irritancy of the primary cleanser, e.g., a sulfate. We still have a powerful cleanser, but it is more friendly to hair and skin. Another formulation practice that makes for less lifting of the hair cuticle is the use of cationic polymer conditioners in the shampoo. Polyquats, such as Polyquaternium 10 and Polyquaternium 44, play well with anionic surfactants and neutralize the negative charge of the detergent(s) and smooth the hair cuticle during the shampoo process. Polyquaternium 10 is ubiquitous in human hair shampoos (it's everywhere) and we are seeing more and more in pet shampoos.
When to Condition Before Shampoo
While I don't believe that all professional pet groomers should condition before every bath, there are some situations where this protocol can be helpful.
Badly damaged coat that is not to be clipped. An example is the 10-year old Bearded Collie in full coat that we groom every 2 weeks that has accumulated considerable damage throughout the coat from constant de-matting. She is always very dirty because her owner doesn't care and lets her wander into any dirt or undergrowth that she wants to. Conditioning before the shampoo with a product with plenty of hydrolyzed protein (Chris Christensen Thick n' Thicker Foaming Protein is great but expensive. From the human hair aisle, Neutral Protein Filler is less costly.)
Funky old dog skin. I have been amazed at how a protein treatment will bring the skin of old dogs to a healthier appearance. I am not talking about treating a skin disease, with broken skin.
Fine, non-porous hair. In this case you might want to simply condition before the bath and not after. Less porous hair and fine non-porous hair do not absorb conditioning ingredients in the same thirsty way as do porous and/or damaged.
When to Condition Before Shampoo
While I don't believe that all professional pet groomers should condition before every bath, there are some situations where this protocol can be helpful.
Badly damaged coat that is not to be clipped. An example is the 10-year old Bearded Collie in full coat that we groom every 2 weeks that has accumulated considerable damage throughout the coat from constant de-matting. She is always very dirty because her owner doesn't care and lets her wander into any dirt or undergrowth that she wants to. Conditioning before the shampoo with a product with plenty of hydrolyzed protein (Chris Christensen Thick n' Thicker Foaming Protein is great but expensive. From the human hair aisle, Neutral Protein Filler is less costly.)
Funky old dog skin. I have been amazed at how a protein treatment will bring the skin of old dogs to a healthier appearance. I am not talking about treating a skin disease, with broken skin.
Fine, non-porous hair. In this case you might want to simply condition before the bath and not after. Less porous hair and fine non-porous hair do not absorb conditioning ingredients in the same thirsty way as do porous and/or damaged.
Is "Closed-Open-Closed" a Good Thing?
Groomers have been doing pre-bath treatments for years. COC is is another option in your toolbox. One can choose to treat the hair and skin with an oil, a mineral soak, or a cationic conditioner. Some groomers like to simply reverse the traditional order and condition before the bathe and that's it. Reverse conditioning has its place, especially with non-porous hair or when you do not want to soften the coat. Conditioning before the bathe as well as after gives us a means to protect skin and coat from the aggressiveness of the shampoo.
Here is another quote from a hair scientist: ““For many, the fact that simple shampooing can damage the hair is still a difficult one to accept. Nevertheless, it’s true. A shampoo with a pH level higher than 5.5 will cause a pH imbalance and ‘rough-up’ the cuticle layer. It will also strip much, if not all, of the natural oils from the hair. This sets the stage for mechanical damage because a stripped, rough cuticle layer sets the stage for considerable combing and styling damage.
“Additionally, the natural intercellular cement, (which tightly binds the fibers of the cortex layer and accounts for much of the hair’s strength) can be dissolved by shampoo detergents to some extent. With repeated shampoos with a high pH, strong detergent formula, the breakdown of the intercellular cement progresses. Under these circumstances, the cortex may be damaged and the hair is weakened.”***
However, not all shampoos are damaging. Let me say that again, please: not all shampoos are damaging. Many modern shampoos contain a cationic surfactant,which does some cuticle smoothing during the shampoo, such as Polyquaternium 10. And there are some shampoos, such as iGroom Charcoal+Keratin, that contain hydrolyzed protein along with a mild surfactant, and are much less likely to cause damage to hair than traditional shampoos.
What I don't like about Closed-Open-Closed is that the concept oversimplifies the nature of the hair cuticle. The cuticle scales that protect the hairshaft cannot be repeatedly open and closed like a cupboard door. What the pre-bath treatment often does is to prevent the lifting of the cuticle scales during the shampoo or cleansing process. The desirable process is one that minimizes the lifting of the hair cuticle.
A cautionary note: Not all conditioners are suited for pre-bath treatment. As per a conversation with Perry Romanowski, a cosmetic chemist, Some cationic conditioning agents might interact poorly with shampoo detergents to form an icky residue. You need to know the ingredients of both your shampoo and your conditioner before using them with Close-Open-Close protocol. Hello grooming industry, we are grown up now and we need to know our ingredients.
REFERENCES:
http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2013/03/junk-science-opening-hairs-cuticle-for.html
*C.R. Robbins, Chemical and Physical Behavior of Human Hair, 329 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642- -Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012
Chapter Six, Interactions of Shampoo and Conditioner Ingredients with Hair.
***
No comments:
Post a Comment