Best Emollients for Each Type of Hair

Many hair care products are a combination of light and heavy emollients, that is why it is important for consumers to find the right leave-on for their type of hair. It takes some trial and error to find the one they love, but in the process many consumers will find themselves disappointed by what they initially thought was good for their hair.

When looking for hair smoothness, consumers often turn to emollients in order to get the results they expect, but emollients for hair can be tricky: if they are too heavy they will weigh down consumer’s hair, if they are too light the hair will end up all frizzy. In this article we will make clear what emollient each consumer needs according to their hair type.

What Consumers Should Know

The importance of using the right emollients in people’s hair is essential to make the product perform as intended, just like in skin care products. In order to get the right emollients for hair, consumers should be familiar with or at least know what is their strand thickness, which basically means hair width. Here we find two main categories:

• Fine to medium
• Medium to thick

But make no mistake, these terms do not refer to the amount of hair an individual consumer has, what it means is the thickness of each strand in that consumer’s head.

How to Know One’s Strand Thickness?

The most reliable way to find it out is to go to a trichologist, or to a dermatologist, who has the special microscopes needed to measure the strand size. But if that is not possible, then a quicker way is to look at the consumer’s hair tips. If they are thin-looking then the hair width is probably fine to medium, if they are thick-looking then it will most likely fit into the other category.

What Else Consumers Should Know About Strand Thickness?

When referring to hair width, consumers should keep in mind the following at all times:

• Strand thickness is not predisposed by ethnicity.
• The terms “coarse” and “thick” one may see in hair care products usually refer to the size of each strand of hair.
• People may have similar looking hair, but the strands in one person’s head can be twice the size of another person’s strands.

What Consumers with Fine to Medium Strand Thickness Should Know

The diameter of fine hairs is more or less 60 micrometers. The main indicative of this strand type is that its roots are usually thick and they normally look nice, but when the hair grows long the strand thinness is quite evident. Also, people with fine hair tend to have lots of strands. The best products for fine to medium strands are those with lightweight emollients, which include natural emollients (usually the oils) and others, namely:

• Soybean oil
• Argan oil
• Sunflower oil
• Grapeseed oil
• Sweet almond oil
• Dimethicone
• C12-15 alkyl bbenzoate
• Phenyl trimethicone
• Mango butte 

What Consumers with Medium to Thick Strand Thickness Should Know

The diameter of thick hairs is usually around 100 micrometers. People with this strand type tend to have greasy-looking hair, so consumers need to distribute the hair care product in an even way, from roots to tips, when trying to smooth this type of strands. The best products for this type also include natural emollients, among others, but the important thing to remember is that these emollients need to be heavier; examples of heavy emollients include:

• Jojoba oil
• Olive oil
• Coconut oil
• Mineral oil
• Avocado oil
• Castor oil
• Cetyl esters
• Cocoa butter
• Shea butter
• Sorbitol esters 

In Blue Sun International, our Phytoleo line features different oil blends, which have excellent properties for skin and hair care applications. It is based on soybean oil, pomace olive oil and wheat germ oil, with vitamins E and B. It provides consumers with high moisture retention for an ideal hair care.