Moisturizing vs Drying Alcohols
- G Angelee
- Aug 5, 2020
- 1 min read
There are two types alcohols used to formulate hair products: long-chain alcohols and short-chain alcohols. They are often found in conditioners, deep conditioners, leave-in conditioners, hair sprays and mousse.
Moisturizing Alcohols
Long-chain alcohols are moisturizing, fatty alcohols. Their chemical structure resembles that of fats and oils. These alcohols are derived from natural sources such as coconut oil and vegetable oil, and are key ingredients for conditioning the hair effectively.
Examples of long chain alcohols:
This alcohol is a combination of stearyl and cetyl alcohol.
Drying Alcohols
Short-chain alcohols have a low boiling point, which is why they evaporate quickly - they are equivalent to rubbing alcohol. Also, they are used to cut down the time it takes for your hair to dry. As a result, these alcohols may have an unfavourable drying effect on the hair. Short-chain alcohols have other purposes, such as adjusting pH and dissolving certain ingredients. Therefore if a product has a drying alcohol, you do not have to stop using it unless it dries your hair out.
Examples of short chain alcohols:
Table 1. Common alcohols found in hair products
Helpful video:
Comments