Hoover Shampooer

Shampoo may be your first defense against an environment that is continually dusty, grimy and full of particles that are harmful to your skin, eyes, especially your hair.

In the past, people used so-called proto-shampoos. Most of these proto-shampoos combined soapy herbs and fragrances. Records of these proto-soaps and shampoos can be traced back to the Egyptian empires, where commoners as well as royalty used these concoctions to make their baths more enjoyable.

The shampoo of today differs chemically and cosmetically from the Egyptian proto-soaps and shampoos, but their function remains essentially the same: to clean and to render fragrant the skin and the hair.

So, What Makes Shampoo Work?

Many people often wonder: what is it that makes shampoo so good in cleaning the hair? What makes this particular invention compatible with the thousands of hairs on our heads?

The answer to this question is of course, surfactants. Technically, surfactants are a group of chemicals that are added to commercially manufactured shampoos to perform specific duties as part of the shampoo.

If we were to compare the roles and functions of surfactants to the jobs of other chemical compounds, then we would come to the conclusion that no shampoo can even exist as shampoo without these compounds.

The Roles of Surfactants in Shampoo

The first job of surfactants is to make sure that no matter what kind of water is running through the shower or faucet, the shampoo would actually rise and bubble. This allows people with hard water to enjoy the benefits of shampoo as well.

The second role of surfactants is to do maintenance work on the hair. These compounds counter oil, dirt and grime and removes them completely, much like how soap removes surface grime from the skin. Some shampoos have vitamins added to them to make the cleansing doubly beneficial to the hair. B-vitamins are especially efficient in softening damaged hair.

The third, and perhaps most important job of surfactants is to make sure you wont have to bruise your scalp and hair before you get the dirt out. Since these chemicals were synthesized specifically to dissolve and carry away dirt particles, simple rubbing unto the hair is enough.

Another important job of surfactants concerns foaming. Foaming is the lifting action of shampoo, which allows the chemicals to carry away the dirt after rinsing. Without surfactants, rinsing would be very difficult indeed.

The Function of Surfactants as Equalizers

What stops the more active chemicals from the shampoo from going too deeply into the skin on the head? We all know that the scalp is quite sensitive because it houses dermal papillae and other important components. Again, we have surfactants to thank for this.

Surfactants act as equalizers that control the activity of other chemicals in shampoo. Surfactants also make sure that your hair does not become neither too alkaline nor too acidic. Both instances can cause undue damage to the hair.

As a rule of thumb, always pick commercial shampoos that have been formulated specifically for your hair type. You can either have normal hair, very dry hair or fine hair.