A lot of the attention on keratin focuses on its use as an innovative ingredient for hair care products. If you’ve read up on what keratin is and all that it can do, you may have wondered about its applications beyond cosmetics. It seems like something so revolutionary might be useful for more than hair repair, right?
Keraplast Technologies LLC is one of the leading world researchers on keratin. Replicine Functional Keratin has a number of uses beyond hair care. It might surprise you to learn that innovating ingredients for hair care products wasn’t the original intention of the company behind Replicine functional keratin. Rather, it all started with medical research.
Before anyone knew what keratin could do for hair, the research scientists at Keraplast were working with oxidized keratins to learn more about the potential benefits to human health. It was through this research that Replicine Functional Keratin was developed and the benefits to hair were discovered.
While hair repair and protection are the most common uses of keratin, it is worth noting that the benefits of functional keratin extend to skin care, wound management and even nutrition. Talk about a versatile protein!
is it safe to use keratin hair products during pregnancy?
Keratin is a very safe material. There are new medical products on the market made from keratin intended to be applied directly to wounds, which indicates just how safe keratin is. So, in general, yes, keratin hair products are safe to use during pregnancy as long as none of the other ingredients that are in the products have health concerns. The very, very important example of products with health concerns are straightening systems. Many keratin straighteners (such as those of the brazillian keratin style) contain ingredients known to be of significant health concern during pregnancy. These products, most commonly containing formaldehyde or other aldehyde chemicals, should not be used during pregnancy. Always check the label for specific health concerns for any product you use.
Breakage can be measured in seavrel ways. In this case it was a very practical and relevant method. A section of hair was treated and then combed lots of times. The actual number of fibres that were either left in the comb, or broken and fell from the hair, were counted. This was compared to a different section of the exact same hair that had not been treated with the Hair Rescue. It is a little tedious to do, as the hair is combed in the same way lots of times, but it accurately represents what happens to hair on a daily basis and when people most notice breakage.
Measurement of hair breakage and hair strength can be quite complicated, but a simple approach is most relevant for what a user of hair care products will notice. The performance of Keraplast Hair Rescue with Replicine Functional Keratin has been measured in a simple practical way, taking two “tresses” or “pony tails” of identical damaged hair and treating one with Hair Rescue. Each tress is then combed many times and the number of broken hairs recorded. This shows an 80% reduction in hair breakage when the Hair Rescue treatment is used. This means the user will see less hair in their comb, or on the floor of the shower, and the damage has been repaired.
I read a 2008 PubMed study of wool-derived hydrolyzed keratin that said it showed favorable results with regards to hydration and strengthening, and said the molecular weight was up to 1000 Daltons. Is this the same keratin as Keraplast? What is the difference between Keraplast and a popular brand of keratin conditioner currently available that has a molecular weight of 150 – 2500 MWS (Quadramine complex) with claims stating it also penetrates the hair?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18412569
Regards,
Patricia
Keraplast produces several keratin protein fractions which have different uses. Barba et al 2008 use a particular keratin component produced by Keraplast of low molecular weight and demonstrate hydration and elasticity effects in the skin. Effective repair of hair is achieved with Replicine Funcitonal Keratin produced by Keraplast in a significantly superior way to Quadramine Complex. In addition to the low MW peptides similar to Quadramine Complex, Replicine also includes higher MW proteins with amino acid integrity that bind more successfully to the hair through a “zipper” mechanism in which each amino acid in the keratin protein within the hair is matched perfectly with an amino acid on the Replicine keratin molecule, achieving more substantial repair and durable binding. Further, intact intermediate filament proteins are able to bind to the hair surface and form a sacrificial shield against further damage. The highly conserved keratin proteins with genuine amino acid integrity contained in Replicine Functional Keratin represent a significant advancement in keratin technology.
CAn any of the hair rescure products be used on African-Caribbean hair?
Not all treatments will benefit hair like the Keraplast Hair Rescue with Functional Keratin treatment
I have cuticle damaged hair, the relaxer doesn’t take well and my hair would get poofy and frizzy once I flat iron and in humid conditions, will recipline keratin actually fix this problem?
Hair Rescue with Replicine Functional Keratin will repair the damage caused by relaxers. It will help with the frizzyness in humid conditions, but it depends on how badly damaged your hair is. Where are you located? I can suggest a salon that will be able to do a Hair Rescue treatment.