(Link) This means something is positively charged. Hair conditioners are positively charged because our hair and skin are negatively charged, so the cationic ingredient adsorbs to the hair strand in a process called substantivity. We use cationic polymers or positively charged ingredients like Honeyquat or various polyquaterniums in hair and skin care products to condition our skin.
The home of SwiftCraftyMonkey Formulating Inc.! Join Susan as she obsesses about cosmetic chemistry and other things (some possibly related to monkeys). Often strange, occasionally useful, and always worth a stop as a point of interest on your journey through the Intertron.
