Certain Oils Don't Penetrate???

**ktani** · August 1st, 2009, 02:54 PM

An oil penetrating hair is the first step but I think that all 4 points, penetrating abilities, the principle fatty acid, the molecular weight, and shape, (which increases penetration), are important.

**ktani** · August 1st, 2009, 04:31 PM

Catnip contains lauric acid.

**Silver Strands** · August 1st, 2009, 05:00 PM

Originally Posted by ll

I seem to remember that one of the Neutrogena hair care lines advertised that it used three oils: olive, meadowfoam, and a third one (that I can't recall at the moment), with the idea that one of the oils penetrated to the core, one to a middle layer of the hair shaft, and one coated the surface. I haven't tried these products, and although they often get pretty good reviews, they are chock full of silicones, so I'm unsure whether the "three oils" thing works or simply is a marketing ploy...

That's interesting as Garnier Fructis has come out with a new line called:
Triple Nutrition which contains 3 oils:
Olive- to nourish the inner core,
Avocado- which nourishes and softens the middle layer, and
Shea oil- which nourishes and smoothes the surface.
This is their claim.
The conditioner also contains palm oil while the shampoo also contains castor oil.
Obviously they believe that different oils can penetrate to different levels.
The conditioner has no silicones and the shampoo has one, amodimethicone.

**ktani** · August 1st, 2009, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by Silver Strands

That's interesting as Garnier Fructis has come out with a new line called:
Triple Nutrition which contains 3 oils:
Olive- to nourish the inner core,
Avocado- which nourishes and softens the middle layer, and
Shea oil- which nourishes and smoothes the surface.
This is their claim.
The conditioner also contains palm oil while the shampoo also contains castor oil.
Obviously they believe that different oils can penetrate to different levels.
The conditioner has no silicones and the shampoo has one, amodimethicone.

I remember that other advertising too, now that I think about it. Yes, other oils can penetrate hair, but do they have the affinity for protein coconut oil has? That to me is an important question.

Categorizing the fatty acids in an oil is only one step but a start. The following claims than monounsaturated oils "seem" to penetrate hair easily.

"Different patterns of penetration have been observed for oils of different molecular structure. .... polyunsaturated oils do not penetrate at all, or do so only sparingly into the structure of hair. ...."
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/conten...a25o.alexandra

**ktani** · August 1st, 2009, 06:57 PM

One interesting thing is that stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid with no double bonds. However, it has a high molecular weight, (molecular weight being one of the points important an oil penetrating hair).

"Stearic acid .... is the highest molecular weight saturated fatty acid occurring abundantly in fats and oils."
http://www.cyberlipid.org/fa/acid0001.htm

**ktani** · August 2nd, 2009, 04:41 PM

This is an interesting study. The data indicates that lauric acid has the potential to be used as an alternative therapy for acne. Fascinating!

**ktani** · August 3rd, 2009, 03:43 PM

I read this ages ago and forgot about it, another study on hair and oils. Capillary adhesion is hair, basically, sticking together.

".... With coconut, olive, and sunflower oils the capillary adhesion was found to decrease with time, but not with mineral oil. .... a reduction in capillary adhesion can be explained by changes in Laplace pressure and in the areas of liquid bridges formed between the fibers. .... Thick films of oil .... are known to mask the scale structure. As the oil is absorbed into the hair, the film thins with time and application of heat, and the scale structure reappears. .... the reduction in capillary adhesion between hair fibers is most likely due to thinning of oil films by absorption of oil into the hair."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...gdbfrom=pubmed

Ok, the more an oil is absorbed into hair, the less the hair fibers stick together. Of course, anyone who gets stringy hair with using oil on it, would know that. Many people here, do know that. Sunflower oil in a previous study, was not shown to penetrate the hair. If it can at all, it would be slight. Oils other than coconut oil can penetrate hair but it is a question of the degree of penetration.

**ktani** · August 3rd, 2009, 04:13 PM

This pre-dates the 2003 study on coconut oil, sunflower oil and mineral oil.

Here, they speculate on the polarity of coconut oil and its ability to penetrate hair to "connect" with protein.

" .... The difference may be due to the polarity of the coconut oil compared to the nonpolar nature of the mineral oil. The affinity of the penetrant to the protein seems to be the cause for this difference in their behavior."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...gdbfrom=pubmed

"Polarity underlies a number of physical properties including surface tension, solubility, and melting- and boiling-points."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_polarity

**Norai** · August 3rd, 2009, 04:23 PM

I think that it may not be a factor of what isn't in the oil so much as what is in the oil - I read at some point that the reason that coconut oil is so good is because it contains medium chain fatty acids, which are shorter than mono and poly unsaturated fatty acids. Something about the smaller size making it easier to penetrate into the hair - makes sense.

The medium chain fatty acids in coconut oil are capric and caprylic acid, and these are saturated fatty acids. They are 8-10 carbons long as opposed to the the much longer, bulkier unsaturated chains. There's only about 15% capric/caprylic acid in normal coconut oil, but like you posted a few pages back, fractionated coconut oil is 100% capric/caprylic fatty acids! Sooo, does this mean that it will penetrate much better? Dunno.

I ordered some fractionated coconut oil yesterday test the theory, will post when it gets here.

**ktani** · August 3rd, 2009, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by Norai

I think that it may not be a factor of what isn't in the oil so much as what is in the oil - I read at some point that the reason that coconut oil is so good is because it contains medium chain fatty acids, which are shorter than mono and poly unsaturated fatty acids. Something about the smaller size making it easier to penetrate into the hair - makes sense.

The medium chain fatty acids in coconut oil are capric and caprylic acid, and these are saturated fatty acids. They are 8-10 carbons long as opposed to the the much longer, bulkier unsaturated chains. There's only about 15% capric/caprylic acid in normal coconut oil, but like you posted a few pages back, fractionated coconut oil is 100% capric/caprylic fatty acids! Sooo, does this mean that it will penetrate much better? Dunno.

I ordered some fractionated coconut oil yesterday test the theory, will post when it gets here.

Exactly! (about the saturated fatty acids) And there is this to consider too, IMO. What I quoted I think was it having 91% saturated fatty acids. I will double check that. I was off by .2%, lol. Here is the post.