(Pt 2)
Then she stated how surprised she was that my reds were still there because she knows I use nothing but my lye-based shampoo bars. She knows that because her husband, my oldest son, has a 24" beard (or longer) and uses my shampoo bars and she's seen the improvements to what once was lifeless hair. I also gift him my hair conditioner and warned him, like I really didn't need to given his wife's profession, anyway, I explained the must for lowering the pH via conditioner (or ACV/water rinse) if he chose to use my shampoo bars.
The way I look at it, the pH of hair coloring (pH of 10-11), perms (pH from 8-9.5 BUT all three bonds are broken within the cortex to create a new curly shape and then a somewhat reverse is done to establish new disulfide bonds), & chemical straighteners (also MUST break all three bonds ) are all much more alkaline than my shampoo bars that are made with 100% ACV for water or 50% reduced beer and 50% ACV so generally are around 8.75ish. Those chemicals are on hair for much longer than what it takes for me to wash and rinse my hair. I always lower the cuticle layer of my hair with my conditioner that has a 5 to 5.5 pH. I do other things to prevent normal day-to-day damage:
Water (showering, raining on us, humidity in the air) itself breaks the Hydrogen bonds in hair (though it be temporary) because water chemically is 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom, thereby it can plug itself into the hair's Hydrogen bonds. This is whey you can wrap a curler around wet hair and once dry it stays curled (for a time that is). The same goes for heat, it too is able to break (temporarily) the Disulphide bonds in the hair and is what allows curling irons and straight irons to change (temporarily) hair's shape. This is why I never blow dry my hair, never use heat on it and never ever brush/comb it while it is wet. It's good that I need no fancy hairdos that weaken my hair. I wash it, wrap a soft towel around it briefly to allow it to soak up most the moisture and then let it air dry. I also pour cold water slowly over my head and hair once I've rinsed the conditioner out. It's probably an extra step that isn't necessary but I do all I can to keep my hair healthy.....and that means no detergents that rob not only my skin of its needed natural oils but it does I'm guessing it can do the same with the natural oils that keep hair conditioned. I can't see it not removing natural oils from the hair. Though it might be an unnecessary step to use cold water (which I HATE) at the end, I do it anyway. There's a reason for hair to be rinsed in cold water after coloring or perms. The hot water lifted cuticles (though temporary since it is a Hydrogen bond disruption/breakage). Cold water doesn't lift them and my tub of water is nice warm to almost hottish so that's why I finish with cold water poured upon my heard.....once my hair is returned to a 5-5.5 pH and very warm water is used via soaking my head in my bathwater, I sit and pour cold water over it just to end my routine.
I think more is involved that causes damage when using shampoo bars than just the solid shampoo, but that's my opinion I realize. I think we do much more to hair that damages it and then when shampoo bars are used and we don't understand the bonds within hair and how to protect the cuticles which are our hair's way of protecting the fibers and bonds that bring strength and stretch to our hair and we then can cause further damage to our hair.
About 6-10 months ago I conducted another experiment: I brushed my hair as I usually do after washing it, once it was completely dry. I started with a clean brush--no hair in it--and counted the hairs (yes, one by one) by removing them and keeping track of the number. A bit over 105ish; I did this 3 times/took 2 weeks. I then did the same again but brushed my hair after it dried some but was still damp, 3 times as befor. I always started with a clean brush (NO hair in it). Guess what?! Just as I had expected, with each I counted over 250 hairs. It suffices to say, a wet scalp is like here in the county when the ground is so saturated with rain that we sometimes get for 7-10 days that huge trees just fall over on their sides because the weight of them cannot be held by the over-saturated soil.
Hair is a very complicated thing and going back centuries ago, all manner of things from shaving the head, not washing hair but using cones of perfume (worn 'on' the head), citric acid and then oils, the use of plants (like soapnuts) or in Ancient China--the use of Cedrela plant, or using dry ingredients like cornstarch and arrowroot mixed with EOs, to putting ash from burnt plants and so on and so forth, even ash being mixed with oils, Macassar oil was developed for hair which caused the need for anitmacassar to be invented (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimacassar). All through time something for hair was being used.......and yes, even lye soap....read below….well, the next post.
(Pt 3, final part)
"During the Middle Ages,….In some parts of Europe, though, it was advised that women mix burnt barley bread, salt, and bear fat together and put that on their hair…Some other women liked to make a tea with goat milk or water, and elm bark, willow root, and reed root and use that to wash their hair….Other hair-washing methods included vinegar, rosemary water, nettles, mint, thyme and several other herbs. During the Renaissance period, women in Italy washed their hair with lye soap, and then used bacon fat and licorice to condition their hair. During the 1700s and 1800s.....Most people washed their hair with lye soaps or water, and still went about their days greasing their hair up and pulling it back." https://historythings.com/people-use-shampoo/ Say it ain't so!! Lye soap!???!
Same site mentioned above and continuing: "During the Victorian Era......Washing hair with lye was still common, but a challenger appeared on the scene in the form of the humble egg. Now, about once a month (as was the recommended amount), women would crack eggs over their heads, work the gooey egg up into a lather in their hair, and then rinse it out.
Castille Soap was also a popular option, as was P&G’s “Ivory Soap”, which was first invented in 1859 by William Procter and James Gamble. “Macassar oil”, an oil made from coconut oil, palm oil, and oil from flowers called “ylang-ylang”, was used as a popular conditioner.
You see, lye soap isn't something new as far as a washing product for hair. And in case anyone is interested in all the reading material I found and read before making and using shampoo here ya go: bars: http://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/nationalcurriculum/units/2011/5/11.05.04.x.html
http://hairmomentum.com/hair-chemistry-101-quick-glance-hydrogen-bonding/
http://www.thehairgalleryuk.com/project/hair-bonds-what-why-and-how/
https://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/hair/hair_4.html
https://themestizamuse.com/blog/comprehending-hair-bonds
This isn't actually all that I've read but its a good start at what I wanted to learn and in order to not ruin my hair or the hair of family members who ask for my shampoo bars. I had a really good neighbor ask for some and I also give my conditioner to those who receive my solid shampoo. She came back loving the results and asking for some for her sister. Both a bar and conditioner was given to her for her sister. I always give a brief (if anyone can believe I can be brief.....I have a bridge to sell) anyway, I give a warning about the pH of hair and the importance of returning it to it's low pH.
Then she stated how surprised she was that my reds were still there because she knows I use nothing but my lye-based shampoo bars. She knows that because her husband, my oldest son, has a 24" beard (or longer) and uses my shampoo bars and she's seen the improvements to what once was lifeless hair. I also gift him my hair conditioner and warned him, like I really didn't need to given his wife's profession, anyway, I explained the must for lowering the pH via conditioner (or ACV/water rinse) if he chose to use my shampoo bars.
The way I look at it, the pH of hair coloring (pH of 10-11), perms (pH from 8-9.5 BUT all three bonds are broken within the cortex to create a new curly shape and then a somewhat reverse is done to establish new disulfide bonds), & chemical straighteners (also MUST break all three bonds ) are all much more alkaline than my shampoo bars that are made with 100% ACV for water or 50% reduced beer and 50% ACV so generally are around 8.75ish. Those chemicals are on hair for much longer than what it takes for me to wash and rinse my hair. I always lower the cuticle layer of my hair with my conditioner that has a 5 to 5.5 pH. I do other things to prevent normal day-to-day damage:
Water (showering, raining on us, humidity in the air) itself breaks the Hydrogen bonds in hair (though it be temporary) because water chemically is 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom, thereby it can plug itself into the hair's Hydrogen bonds. This is whey you can wrap a curler around wet hair and once dry it stays curled (for a time that is). The same goes for heat, it too is able to break (temporarily) the Disulphide bonds in the hair and is what allows curling irons and straight irons to change (temporarily) hair's shape. This is why I never blow dry my hair, never use heat on it and never ever brush/comb it while it is wet. It's good that I need no fancy hairdos that weaken my hair. I wash it, wrap a soft towel around it briefly to allow it to soak up most the moisture and then let it air dry. I also pour cold water slowly over my head and hair once I've rinsed the conditioner out. It's probably an extra step that isn't necessary but I do all I can to keep my hair healthy.....and that means no detergents that rob not only my skin of its needed natural oils but it does I'm guessing it can do the same with the natural oils that keep hair conditioned. I can't see it not removing natural oils from the hair. Though it might be an unnecessary step to use cold water (which I HATE) at the end, I do it anyway. There's a reason for hair to be rinsed in cold water after coloring or perms. The hot water lifted cuticles (though temporary since it is a Hydrogen bond disruption/breakage). Cold water doesn't lift them and my tub of water is nice warm to almost hottish so that's why I finish with cold water poured upon my heard.....once my hair is returned to a 5-5.5 pH and very warm water is used via soaking my head in my bathwater, I sit and pour cold water over it just to end my routine.
I think more is involved that causes damage when using shampoo bars than just the solid shampoo, but that's my opinion I realize. I think we do much more to hair that damages it and then when shampoo bars are used and we don't understand the bonds within hair and how to protect the cuticles which are our hair's way of protecting the fibers and bonds that bring strength and stretch to our hair and we then can cause further damage to our hair.
About 6-10 months ago I conducted another experiment: I brushed my hair as I usually do after washing it, once it was completely dry. I started with a clean brush--no hair in it--and counted the hairs (yes, one by one) by removing them and keeping track of the number. A bit over 105ish; I did this 3 times/took 2 weeks. I then did the same again but brushed my hair after it dried some but was still damp, 3 times as befor. I always started with a clean brush (NO hair in it). Guess what?! Just as I had expected, with each I counted over 250 hairs. It suffices to say, a wet scalp is like here in the county when the ground is so saturated with rain that we sometimes get for 7-10 days that huge trees just fall over on their sides because the weight of them cannot be held by the over-saturated soil.
Hair is a very complicated thing and going back centuries ago, all manner of things from shaving the head, not washing hair but using cones of perfume (worn 'on' the head), citric acid and then oils, the use of plants (like soapnuts) or in Ancient China--the use of Cedrela plant, or using dry ingredients like cornstarch and arrowroot mixed with EOs, to putting ash from burnt plants and so on and so forth, even ash being mixed with oils, Macassar oil was developed for hair which caused the need for anitmacassar to be invented (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimacassar). All through time something for hair was being used.......and yes, even lye soap....read below….well, the next post.
(Pt 3, final part)
"During the Middle Ages,….In some parts of Europe, though, it was advised that women mix burnt barley bread, salt, and bear fat together and put that on their hair…Some other women liked to make a tea with goat milk or water, and elm bark, willow root, and reed root and use that to wash their hair….Other hair-washing methods included vinegar, rosemary water, nettles, mint, thyme and several other herbs. During the Renaissance period, women in Italy washed their hair with lye soap, and then used bacon fat and licorice to condition their hair. During the 1700s and 1800s.....Most people washed their hair with lye soaps or water, and still went about their days greasing their hair up and pulling it back." https://historythings.com/people-use-shampoo/ Say it ain't so!! Lye soap!???!
Same site mentioned above and continuing: "During the Victorian Era......Washing hair with lye was still common, but a challenger appeared on the scene in the form of the humble egg. Now, about once a month (as was the recommended amount), women would crack eggs over their heads, work the gooey egg up into a lather in their hair, and then rinse it out.
Castille Soap was also a popular option, as was P&G’s “Ivory Soap”, which was first invented in 1859 by William Procter and James Gamble. “Macassar oil”, an oil made from coconut oil, palm oil, and oil from flowers called “ylang-ylang”, was used as a popular conditioner.
You see, lye soap isn't something new as far as a washing product for hair. And in case anyone is interested in all the reading material I found and read before making and using shampoo here ya go: bars: http://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/nationalcurriculum/units/2011/5/11.05.04.x.html
http://hairmomentum.com/hair-chemistry-101-quick-glance-hydrogen-bonding/
http://www.thehairgalleryuk.com/project/hair-bonds-what-why-and-how/
https://www.exploratorium.edu/exploring/hair/hair_4.html
https://themestizamuse.com/blog/comprehending-hair-bonds
This isn't actually all that I've read but its a good start at what I wanted to learn and in order to not ruin my hair or the hair of family members who ask for my shampoo bars. I had a really good neighbor ask for some and I also give my conditioner to those who receive my solid shampoo. She came back loving the results and asking for some for her sister. Both a bar and conditioner was given to her for her sister. I always give a brief (if anyone can believe I can be brief.....I have a bridge to sell) anyway, I give a warning about the pH of hair and the importance of returning it to it's low pH.
May I ask, what high-end shampoo are you speaking about that is ready to use instantly after making? Thanks.
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