HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW:  HAIR
Finding a Good Conditioner

The conditioning ingredients in a conditioner are the same ones you’ll find in a conditioning
shampoo. See SHAMPOO section for a list of those ingredients with some suggested
shampoos that contain those ingredients. If you use a conditioning shampoo, you don’t
need a conditioner. This list is the same list as in the SHAMPOO section but without the
product recommendations.


1. Proteins – amino acids, hydrolyzed proteins, keratin. (Eggs contain a protein that hair  
CANNOT absorb and adds no value to a product other than as a marketing tool.) This is
good for the hair shaft.

2. Milk – for its protein, nit its fat. Good for split ends or damaged hair.

3. Balsam – excellent when combined with proteins. Adds volume by coating the shaft. The
quantity of balsam in the shampoo should be based by the kind of hair it will be used on –
straight, wavy, curly..

4. Vitamins – Panthenol found in B5 is absorbed into the shaft and helps strengthen it.

5. Moisturizers – lactic acid, lecithin, urea. Especially helpful for dry or over-colored hair.

6. Oils and waxes – avocado oil, coconut oil, wheat-germ oil. Provide a coating to retard
water evaporation and the coat makes the hair look shiny and smooth. Beeswax and
spermaceti also protect against water evaporation but aren’t as oily as the other oils.

7. Lemon – citric juice. Good was to strip accumulated oils and dirt for oily hair.

8. Allantoin – from the comfrey root. Good conditioner, increases the shaft’s water retention,
is antidandruff, dissolves excess kerotin on the scalp or shaft.

9. Silk – coats the shaft and make it more reflective, and thus look shinier.

10. Sunscreens – will add minor protection from the sun, but don’t assume it does for your
hair what it does for your skin.

11. Polymers – almost all shampoos and conditioners have this and it’s a nice coating that
adds volume, strength to hair. But it attracts moisture in the air and makes hair feel kind of
sticky. It shouldn’t be a large measure of the ingredients in the shampoo.

Things that do not help in a conditioner:
1. Eggs contain a protein that hair CANNOT absorb and adds no value to a product other
than as a marketing tool
2. Carrot oil – used for aroma and color, not for hair health.
3. Aloe – aids healing in burns but is only effective in living skin, not hair.
4. Vitamin E – this is a nutrient. Your hair doesn’t eat.
5. Malt – appears mostly in men’s shampoos but isn’t the most effective protein option.
6. Vitamin – only B5 helps because it contains panthenol.
7. Birch and all other herbs – birch is good when dabbed directly on an oily scalp for its
astringent properties. All herbs effectiveness are totally lost when mixed in a shampoo.
8. Honey – does nothing to hair and is totally water soluble, so it gets rinsed out.
9. Jojoba – yes, it’s good while it’s on your hair, but it’s also water soluble, so it gets rinsed
out.