The fact that a person has problems with the scalp, he usually learns after the unsuccessful use of some hellish shampoo, with which he first tried to relieve the itching, and then remove the snowfall of dandruff. Hairdressers rarely talk about this. As a result, either the patient finds himself at the trichologist already beginning to go bald, or he still guesses that the two-day itching that does not go away if you wash your hair is not without reason.
Men endure longer than women, so they usually come with a history of “I'm balding something, can't I smear something?”. In general, you can. But it was better to smear something, and then wash it off, when the head just started to itch like hell.
Using the example of the development of an abrasive for cleaning the scalp by our cozy laboratory, it will be convenient to figure out how hair grows and what they generally need from you. Let's talk about the importance of combs, hair growing inside the skin, damn shampoo marketers and all kinds of idiots. As usual, as soon as it comes to at least some kind of treatment, idiots will be. I promise.
How did it begin
Usually we develop something new and incomprehensible, where there is a lot of science, and, let's be honest, in the early years such tools have quite a few sales. We have lines that are sold in tons (these are gels with special sound conductivity for ultrasound, electrical conductivity for ECG, Blefarogel-1 for dry eyes). But on all new developments, we try to be the first in some area, making the most of our technological base. That is, the buyer does not understand at all what we have done and why.
With this tool, the story is a little different: trichologists asked us to do "exactly the same, only different." In their understanding, “other” is safer than what they usually work with.
Where did trichologists come from? During the development and alpha stages, we consult with doctors, and during the beta stages of testing, we distribute samples for research. Well, in fact, they talked about the problems of scalp care.
What's wrong with scalp care
The main problem is that until the hair falls out, it is not visible.
The main remedy for scalp care is, oddly enough, a scrub. I know that for many it sounds somewhat paradoxical, but there is no particular choice. Yes, marketers happily sell you nourishing shampoos, but this is a distribution, because the exposure of the shampoo rarely exceeds 30 seconds, and during this time only surfactants have time to work out there. The whole story with vitamins is traceable and only for the sake of the inscription on the label.
Hair balms and other things that are applied after shampooing are more interesting: they stay for a long time. The purpose of the balm and other products after shampoo is quite simple: the hair should be protected with a thin layer of sebum. This fat is taken from the scalp in the root area and gradually spreads through the hair. The longer the hair, the more often it needs to be combed, because otherwise it will begin to dry and break due to the lack of just protective lipids on the surface. This is the reason why you need a hair balm after a shampoo that washed everything away and the balm or conditioner added the fat back.
To work with hair growth, you need to do three important things:
- Protect existing hair.
- Nourish the scalp.
- Improve trophism in the scalp.
If you do not wash your hair every day, but you comb your hair every day, then, most likely, the point about protecting your hair is being fulfilled at a normal level. The next question is in the skin, because it is in it that the hair follicles sit. Various chronic ailments, stress, age and the ecology of a big city (hello Moscow!) Worsen skin nutrition.
Therefore, even the best of us begin to go bald at some point. This process is gradual. Such that you took off your hat, and the hair remained on it, perhaps, almost never happens (except for radiation damage). Finding a curl in the morning next to the pillow is more common, but still, usually a little earlier, the head begins to itch and itch. There are quite a few reasons for alopecia (baldness), ranging from genetic factors to a not very correct diet.
Hair works like a garden bed: it pulls as many resources “from the ground” as it gets. And if resources run out, they do not sprout. This means that at about 35 - 40 years, you have a lot of "sleeping" bulbs that sit in the scalp and do not spike, because they lack minerals.
Dermatologists and trichologists know this very well, therefore they propose to improve hair growth by "awakening" these bulbs and strengthening the existing ones, so that hair grows faster than it falls. And yes it works great. And then the need for a scrub once a week comes into play.
The second feature is hyperkeratosis. This is when the corneous scales of the epidermis grow more than normal. On the face, this is seen as thick skin with enlarged pores. On the scalp, if you make a parting, you will see pores, dull, sometimes not very white skin. I must say right away that all those who tried to make such a diagnosis on their own found hyperkeratosis. This is the very situation when only a dermatologist or trichologist can evaluate the question. Hyperkeratosis is associated with oily hair: if there is too much fat, then for some reason there is a tendency to it. Hyperkeratosis further leads to profuse, coarse dandruff and aggravated skin problems. Treatment, oddly enough, is also scalp care, and also a scrub. And better - a massage with a scrub. And this is not a treatment, but the maintenance of a more or less stable state, because hyperkeratosis must be treated for the cause,rather than symptomatically.
It looks pretty funny: you may have had it that you sometime after shaving noticed irritation from small new hairs. They sometimes turn sideways and begin to grow inside the skin. Often we are talking about hair removal of the lower leg and groin area, in the same armpits this happens extremely rarely. In the case of hyperkeratosis, the same effect is formed: the hair cannot wade through the layer of horny scales and curls to the side. A mini-tubercle is formed that itches. Inflammation appears. If you scratch it and hit the center with your fingernail, you can peel off a few scales, and the hair will pull through. In the case of the head, you usually do not hit, so the hair with hyperkeratosis begins to curl into a ball.
So why do you need an abrasive?
You usually cleanse your scalp chemically - shampoo. Neither shampoo nor soap does anything other than rinsing off the grease and removing small particles that have fallen off and stuck in this grease.
The main purpose of the scrub is mechanical cleaning of the skin and removal of keratinized excess skin particles. It won't work just to clean your head with sandpaper, but you still need solid particles that will remove all unnecessary dirt. Once they are solid, they can provide some massage to the skin. Once they are applied to the scalp and exposed for a long time, you can add various nutrients there with vehicles on site.
A face scrub is not suitable for the scalp because there is hair. If it is very easy to wash off all the components from the face, then it will not work from the hair. Therefore, you need to make a separate formula that will be sufficiently safe for the hair itself. Washability is the most important limitation of the technical specification for the development of a formula.
Basic particles
Usually scrubs are made on the basis of particles of sand, pumice, apricot or raspberry seeds, even coffee beans. All this did not suit us, so we decided to make a scrub from salt or sugar. In general, if you want to make a simple scrub, then mix salt, sugar and a little water: this is great for a home massage, for example.
In our case, salt was the main active ingredient and preservative at once. Because she's salt! Everything else that we put in the tool is in it.
The first plan is to make a safe scrub (which makes it more expensive). We would be tired of explaining to clients how a safe scrub differs from a regular one: this is taking into account that first we would have to explain why a scrub is needed. But when it came to us that, apart from salt, there were no special options for an abrasive, we decided to make ECOLOGICAL cosmetics. Regarding environmental friendliness, I have something to say and has been boiling for a long time. But this is me somehow separately.
So, the second limitation for the formula is no oil derivatives. Fortunately, these are usually preservatives.
Now - about idiots
Before moving on to the composition, I want to tell you about how not to do it. The modern medical paradigm is that first the patient undergoes treatment and then dies. But for some reason, there are a lot of immortals in the country who go to the doctor only after they finally get sick. That is, the tendency is shifting to the fact that the patient first dies and then heals. If you think that the scalp is somehow different, then no. True, dying from baldness is very, very difficult.
If something itches atypically, then it would be good to get to the trichologist. If dandruff falls and a lot - too. If the dandruff has become larger, yellowish-dirty and slightly oily in appearance, you definitely need to go to the doctor. But the average person never does that, and instead starts reading advice on the Internet.
Tips on the Internet tell you to buy some kind of special shampoo. A person buys such a shampoo and washes his hair. This washes the sebum from the hair and scalp. After three to four repetitions, the skin begins to respond to such a stimulus, often pathological. The person does not associate the situation with shampoo, but for some reason begins to wash his hair more often. Or even better - buys a scrub for 100 rubles at the nearest grocery store and starts using it every shampoo. On the tenth such procedure, he still comes to the trichologist with complaints of early baldness.
Surfactants and acids dry the skin. Dry skin means itching and dandruff. Many days of dry skin means weakened hair. Further - baldness. Read the damn composition and instructions!The instructions usually prescribe intervals of 10 days between procedures, and in the composition, all aggressive surfactants and acids are cunningly, but precisely indicated.
The second feature is that there are a lot of cosmetics in Russia, on which not the smartest people write instructions for use. On the makeup remover milk you can read "do not rinse". Not a single scrub, even for the most sensitive skin (even ours), can be used more than once a week. If the skin is sensitive - even less often. The scrub already contains surfactants, that is, the use of shampoo is optional. After the scrub, if you use, you can apply a conditioner balm. If the scalp is oily and in everyday life you soap yourself twice with shampoo, then first use the shampoo, and then the scrub.
Do not use scrubs and other aggressive substances on skin with moles and other protruding formations such as plaques. Feel your head and look in the mirror, parting 15 times in different places. If there is a mole there, then its stimulation can cause many very interesting effects, and if as a result it increases fivefold and is shaped like the peak of Communism, then this is far from the worst thing. All protruding formations from the head should be removed. Bulky moles should be removed in almost all places after adulthood, but in the compulsory medical insurance - only monitoring them in anticipation of degeneration into malignant formations, and the electrocoagulation itself may not even be included in the voluntary medical insurance, so this is rarely done.
Fine dandruff can mean the wrong shampoo and dry skin. Large oily can be a sign of psoriasis or dermatitis. The diagnosis is made by a doctor. For example, in psoriasis, this is the poking of the skin to bloody dew.
And, well, yes, if you suddenly go bald with "nests", then check for syphilis. This is another very common reason.
I continue about the development of a scrub: composition and tests
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As you can see, we here very well used the idea of "eco-rulers" thanks to the main preservative (which is why it is supplied in a jar, not in a dispenser) and immediately applied a complex for both hair and skin, and to relieve inflammation. And all this is safe enough, which was the main request of trichologists.
Alpha tests were done with trichologists and dermatologists. Then there was a big beta test, we did it remotely by sending samples. Each recipient was required to have a confirmed medical examination before and after the test (so as not to misuse). If a trichologist participated in the test, then another specialist, and not himself, made sure to diagnose him: this is the same principle why the surgeon does not cut relatives.
We lost two cans in the mail.
This is how the reviews in our CRM look like:
An increase in hair density can be seen in three to four months, what is described is simply the best nutrition and the best coverage with a protective shell. In tests, we do not look at this, because we did not claim acceleration of hair growth. We also do not promise in documents that there will be more of them. In fact, even injection technology cannot promise. We prove the improvement of the skin after the course, the reduction of itching after the first application.
It turned out to be an "eco-product", but here I would also like to tell you that it is not really important for ecology whether the grass for the extract is grown by hands or by a machine, but how much water was used in the process. And if we consider the environmental impact of the entire chain from water purification to goods on the shelf, then it is very important to understand how much of a useful natural resource you have spent for the production of a particular type of product.
If you are interested in how we create new funds, visit our telegram channel (@geltek_cosmetics). There we tell interesting things about the chronicles of our cozy laboratory.