How does Water damage your Hair? and should I hydrate my hair
Although the hair is hygroscopic, which means that it does absorb water, the outermost layer or the surface of our hair is hydrophobic which means that it hates water and is designed to repel water. The interior fibres of the hair contain amino acids which attract water, but the outermost surface is a layer of fatty material (which repels water). This water repellent surface is of importance because it facilitates the drying of the hair and it reduces friction between hair fibers so that the hair doesn’t have a dried-out feeling and it’s easy to comb. This is also why oils are beneficial to hair because they also contribute to this…
Why should I use coconut oil for my hair and how is it different from other oils?
You should always make sure to use an oil to protect your hair from damage due to (combing, brushing, etc). Mineral/silicone/sunflower (other vegetable) oils can also be used to reduce damage and protect your hair. Most oils only work on the outermost layer of the hair, which is already great and by sticking to the outermost layer, oils can reduce friction and smoothen the cuticles. This helps to comb your hair easily. If an oil wants to penetrate into the hair shaft or hair core, it needs to have enough affinity with the inner surface and the molecular weight or size also needs to be small enough to penetrate/diffuse inside…
Does the pH of your shampoo affect your hair?
First of all, what does pH mean? The pH indicates the acidity, alkalinity, or neutrality of a given medium. The pH scales range from 1 to 14. Solutions and substances with a pH below 7 are considered as acidic and above 7 alkaline. Your hair is a protein that carries a charge. Your hair can be positive, negative, or neutrally charged. The hair is neutrally charged when the pH is around 3.76. It will be slightly lower for bleached or damaged hair. The scalp has a pH somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5. So most shampoos are pH balanced and have a pH between 4 and 7. This will not lead…
How does a Brazilian keratin treatment make your hair so shiny and can it damage your hair?
Your hair consists of strands of the protein keratin. These keratin strands are held together by several types of bonds i.e. disulphide bonds, and hydrogen bonds). When heat styling, the hydrogen bonds are temporarily broken down and this effect gets lost when the hair gets wet. When chemical straightening, the stronger disulphide are being broken down and reformed (this is permanent). When doing a Brazilian keratin treatment, the disulphide bonds are not being broken and therefore are not a permanent treatment. BKT is based on crosslinking or binding amino acids in the hair fibre. Amino acids are the building blocks of keratin protein. In order to do so, formaldehyde is…
Is Sarilumab effective for COVID-19-associated Cytokine Release Syndrome?
Let’s look at a study and see how sarilumab can be effective in treating modulate mild to severe COVID-19-associated CRS. This study consists of 5 SARS-CoV-2 elderly patients (3 men and 2 women) with good quality of life. Previous to the outbreak, when first admitted to the hospital, they received hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. They were considered candidates for sarilumab when they presented increased oxygen needs radiological progression, and worsening of biological parameters. Four of them were on noninvasive ventilation and 1 was on invasive mechanical ventilation. The decrease in lymphocyte count significantly improved after a single dose of sarilumab 200 mg. Two patients died 1 with (previous chronic obstructive pulmonary disease…
Sarilumab for Rheumatoid Arthritis
What is Sarilumab? Sarilumab or Kevzara is an injectable prescription medicine used to treat moderate to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in adult patients. It can be used only after at least one other medicine called DMARD has been used and did not work well. How does Sarilumab work? It works by inhibiting interleukin-6 (IL-6). How do you take Sarilumab? Sarilumab comes in a pre-filled pen or syringe that you self-inject once every 2 weeks. Depending on your doctor, it can be taken with or without methotrexate. Do not try to inject your sarilumab prefilled syringe until you have been shown the right way to give sarilumab injections by a healthcare…
Lomitapide for Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia
Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia is a rare genetic disorder in which the individual is unable to remove LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) from their blood Lomitapide (Juxtapid) capsules are a prescription medicine used along with diet and other low-density lipoproteins (LDL) lowering medicines in adults with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH) to reduce LDL (“bad”) cholesterol from the blood. Lomitapide may cause serious side effects, including: Liver Problems Before you start Lomitapide, your healthcare provider would do blood tests to check your liver because Lomitapide can cause liver problems (such as increased liver enzymes or increased fat in the liver). If your tests show signs of liver problems, your doctor may stop the…
Evinacumab for Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia
Homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia is a rare disorder in which individuals are genetically unable to remove LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) from their blood. This disease The disease approximately affects 1 in 250,000 people in the United States and many are not diagnosed (people with homozygous FH are not diagnosed until adulthood, delaying proper management and treatment). Evinacumab (EVKEEZA, an injectable prescription medicine) is a fully human monoclonal antibody that inhibits ANGPTL3 and is used along with other low-density lipoproteins (LDL) lowering medicines in people 12 years of age and older to reduce the bad cholesterol or HoFH from the blood. Who shouldn’t use Evinacumab? You shouldn’t use evinacumab if you are allergic…
Should I air-dry or blow-dry my hair?
You might think that it’s better to avoid blow-drying because heat is damaging to the hair. That’s true, but wet is more fragile than dry hair and is prone to breakage. So, there should be a balance between the two. Water can make the hair swell up. The inner cuticles swell up when the hair is wet, but the outer cuticles remain rigid and do not swell up. This leads to the cuticle (damage to the cuticle) lifting off. This happens when a strain (like brushing, touching, moving) is applied to wet hair. All types of hair are vulnerable to breakage when wet. The problem with heat styling is that…
Should you go to bed with wet hair?
Weak hair is weaker than dry hair and is more likely to break. Every type of hair is weaker when it’s wet (from straight hair to curly hair to African hair). How is wet hair weaker to dry hair? So, water makes the hair wet. When the hair is wet, the inner cuticles (hair surface) swell up, but the outer cuticles do not swell up. This leads to cuticle lifting (damage to the cuticle and this leads to a coarse and rigid feeling of the hair). This cuticle lifting can become more induced when the hair is stretched or moved ( this is what happens with your hair while you’re…