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I know I said I’d write about BTMS this morning, but there’s so much about the structure and chemistry of hair that I haven’t written about in the past…so I’ll write about BTMS tomorrow. This bit really should go in the middle of the “how conditioners work” post….Our hair is composed of a cortex –...
How does a conditioner work? Okay, a little bit of chemistry for you… A conditioning agent (like BTMS) is a cationic quaternary compound. It’s a positively charged compound that adsorbs to the surface of your hair. (Adsorption means the molecules accumulate on the surface of your hair. It’s different from absorption in that it doesn’t...
In my excitement about esters, I totally forgot about hair styling gels! I don’t use them much myself – my hair doesn’t really do “style” that well – but I do like to make them for my mom, who has really spiky hair. Gels are a perfect vehicle for conditioning agents. Sure, you can make...