Caring And Maintenance Products For Curly Hairs

The marketplace has a wide variety of maintenance products for perms. Among the most popular are instant moisturizing sprays and curl activators in cream or gel form.

Cleansing: Originally, there were no shampoos specifically designed for excessively curly hair. The prevailing belief was that "a shampoo is a shampoo," and general market products were used for all hair types. Over time, manufacturers have been somewhat effective in educating the marketplace that excessively curly hair must have shampoos that contain milder detergents, detangle the hair and are pH balanced in the range of 4.5 to 5.5. Shampoos formulated for other hair types often do not detangle excessively curly hair sufficiently, thereby leading to combing damage.

Conditioning: As styling trends using more chemical treatments or thermal practices--such as blow--drying coupled with thermal curling involved, conditioning treatments became much more important. Modern conditioners are designed to provide one or more of the following functions: ease of wet and dry combing; smooth, seal and realign damaged areas of the hair shaft; minimize porosity; impart sheen and a silken feel to hair; provide some protection against thermal and mechanical damage; moisturize; add volume and body; and eliminate static electricity. In general, excessively curly hair requires heavier deposits of conditioners than other hair types.

Deep penetrating conditioners: Deep penetrating conditioners that re-moisturize hair are among the most popular after-shampoo/pre-styling treatments.

Blow drying: With the advent of precision cutting techniques in the 1970s, blow drying became tremendously popular. For excessively curly hair, this meant that hair must be chemically straightened, then exposed to rather high levels of heat and mechanical manipulation. The potential for excessive damage gave conditioning an even greater importance in ethnic hair care.

Blow-drying products were designed to help protect the hair from heat and dehydration, and to reduce combing force exerted in the blow-drying process. Specifically, lotions and silicone gels called "laminates" were developed to seal hair cuticles and minimally coat the hair shaft so that styling combs and brushes would glide easily through the hair.