how does shampoo work?

[dondons]

how does conditioning shampoo work? It cleans hair but then leaves does something else behind. How come the detergent doesn't get rid of that too?

[Headtime]

Having read the ingredients on the back of various hair-care/bath products I came to the conclusion, that they are all pretty much of a muchness.

Biggest ingredient; Water (Aqua!), then Sodium Laureth Sulphate etc etc. If I ever run out of shampoo, I'll often use condtioner or even Radox to wash it with - and to this day have suffered no ill effects. My hair is still clean, fragrant (!) and not a massive ball of frizz.

I think the advertisers talk a lot of rubbish when it comes to hair products. It used to say on shampoo bottles, "Wash and Repeat", now it usually just says "Wash and Repeat if desired"...i.e if you want to use twice as much of their product each time you wash your hair, then please do so!

Further information can be found in my thesis, "Vosene, it's part in propagating the rise of hair fascism" �9.99 from all good bookshops.

[molly]

Can't answer your question, sorry, but I've often wondered how conditioner works (both hair and clothes conditioner).

[Miss Zippy]

Apparently the two in one shampoos work something like this: the surfactant contained in the shampoo (commonly sodium laurel/laureth sulfate) works by attracting the dirt and grease in your hair to it, which is then, of course, washed away. The conditioning agents are contained in microscopic capsules that are suspended in the shampoo and they only dissolve when a certain concentration of water is available (i.e. when you rinse your hair), thereby releasing the conditioner contained inside the capsules which coats the hair. Yes, I'm living proof of the brainwashing effects of Elle, Glamour and Vogue etc.

[incitatus]

I was avoiding answering this because i thought noone would understand it, but here goes. Surfactants work by incorporating grease into micelles, small pockets of grease surroounded by surfactant. This is the capsule in which the conditioner sits. Micelles can only be formed when the concentration of surfactant is above a figure known as the minimum micellar concentration ( or the critical M C). In the bottle this is always the case. When you first stick the stuff on your hair and rub it in there is still enough surfactant to encapsulate the conditioner as well as to clean your hair. When you add more water to rinse it the surfactant concentration drops below the critical MC and dumps the greasy stuff ( sorry, conditioner) on your hair where it sticks.

[dondons]

Thanks for the original answer Incitatus, but does this work in the same way with conditioner in the washing machine? - as my machine uses a lot of water in the actual wash (sorry to be difficult but it does bug me!!!!!!!!!)