Croda’s textured hair routine formulation kit – An answer to the specific needs of people with textured hair

How is textured hair much more than a type of hair?

Embracing textured hair is about much more than aesthetics.

We recently organised a hair care focus group in Sao Paulo, Brazil, amongst consumers with different curl types. At the focus group, some women mentioned the strong social pressure they felt when they were younger to follow the established beauty standards of the time. They sometimes faced racial prejudice, especially at school, related to their natural hair being described as ugly and dirty. In the absence of role models with textured hair and adapted hair care products, most of them chemically straightened their hair. It was more convenient at every level.

The advent of social media has helped change that perception. It’s offered more diverse role models and has helped create more supportive networks of people who feel empowered for change. Natural hair was a sign of protest against ‘established’ beauty standards and racial discrimination in the 60s in the United States, but it still conveys some of the same meaning today. The rising number of consumers motivated to leave their hair natural claim to do it for several reasons: for the sake of their hair obviously, mistreated for years with straightening treatments, but also to stand against the prevailing beauty standards and as a proof of self-love and a sign of self-acceptance.

But it would be wrong to imagine that this is a simple decision, caring for textured hair is far from being a smooth ride.

What are the challenges and needs of textured hair?

It is difficult to ignore the visual differences between straight and textured hair, and it is directly linked to their inner characteristics. Textured hair grows in a follicle with a specific angle and a U- or C-shape that influence the style of the hair and the distribution of keratin along the hair, accumulating more on one side of the hair fibre because of its shape and angle, further accentuating the spiral shape. It results in an oval or flat hair shape, with unequal thickness of the hair cuticle, smaller diameter, and lower tensile properties than other hair types. This style of hair also has an impact on the sebum repartition on the hair fibre, where the nourishing oil that is naturally produced in the scalp does not readily flow down curly strands.

All these parameters have a detrimental impact on the state of textured hair state and how to take care of it:

• Textured hair tends to have more weak points within fibres and therefore can be more easily broken or damaged.
• The tight curls lead to a high number of knots, making it difficult to comb, especially when hair is dry.
• Hair moisture and hydration are lower in comparison to other hair types.
• Presence of curls makes the appearance of hair less shiny and more dull.
• Definition of curls, hair volume, baby hair and frizz are day to day issues.
• Scalp can suffer from dandruff, oiliness, or build-up because of the resulting high number of products to use to take care of textured hair.

These numerous challenges can make the list of hair care needs quite long. The non-exhaustive list would be the need for anti-frizz, anti-shrinkage, curl definition, detangling, cuticle smoothing, hydration, scalp health, hair growth and good-looking hair the day after washing. To be able to answer to a high number of these needs, people with textured hair have developed a specific and elaborate hair care routine.

What hair care routine do many people with textured hair follow?

Women involved in the Hair Care Focus Group in Brazil explained to us in detail the hair care routine they follow. In general, people with textured hair follow a series of five steps, with different purposes, all important to get healthy hair:

- Pre-wash: the idea here is to take care either of the hair fibre, or of the scalp, or both. For the fibre, it is important to protect the hair length from the effect of shampoo and prevent dryness. For the scalp, people want to prevent hair loss more and more and promote a good hair and scalp health, especially for better and quicker hair growth.

- Cleansing: The initial goal here is to clean the hair. But it is interesting to go in detail and realise this is not only about removing excess oil from the scalp but also the excess of hair products remaining on the scalp to prevent build-up and the resulting creation of flakes. The cleansing step is also very important to open the cuticles and prepare the hair to receive the treatments.

- Treatment: The need here is to provide moisturisation and nourishment to naturally dry and dehydrated hair. The objective is to impart a healthy state upon the hair and offer repair, strength, smoothness, shine and more.

- Conditioning: It most importantly helps to detangle hair. It also aids with sealing-down the hair cuticle and retaining the treatment benefits.

- Styling: The last step and final touch to get beautiful hair. Many benefits can be looked at here and it really depends on individuals’ specific needs, including the desire to remove frizz, define the curls, protect from heat and from environmental damage, and also to smooth the hair ends and impart shine.

Based on all of these challenges, needs and the usual hair care routine followed by people with textured hair, Croda has developed a dedicated formulation kit.

What formulations have Croda developed for textured hair?

The ‘Textured Hair Routine Formulation Kit’ contains 11 initial formulations, divided into the five steps we explored above.

Pre-Wash

- Transformative hair nutrition bar: Contains ingredients to provide hydration and help to protect the hair from shampoo detergency. The little extra? Its texture melts upon application and transforms into an oil.
- Scalp vitality serum: A healthy scalp appeals to those who desire long, beautiful hair as they believe that a healthy scalp will help promote faster hair growth. This is the promise of the Scalp Vitality Serum.

Cleansing

- Essential balance scalp foam: Positions itself as an alternative to shampoo, allowing consumers to avoid washing their hair too frequently, and instantly refreshes and revitalises the hair and scalp.
- Highly concentrated sulfate-free powder shampoo: Helps to deeply cleanse the hair and scalp. Its powder format allows the creation of a light foam when water is added to help get rid of residues, especially on the scalp, whilst also preserving hair.

Treatment

- Hair acidifier treatment: Balances the hair pH to decrease porosity that more likely occurs to textured hair and can leave the hair rough, dry, frizzy and vulnerable to damage, and improve hair appearance.
- Deep nutrition hair mask: Restores moisture and nourishes the hair to help bring shine, smoothness, and softness to the touch to damaged and brittle hair.

Conditioning

- Multifunctional inclusive conditioner: Helps impart exceptional conditioning whilst strengthening the hair.

Styling

- Capillary routine – day after: Designed for use between washes, giving options to treat the hair depending on what it needs and making sure the hair will look the way we want.
- Lustrous hair finishing gel-oil: With a gel that transforms into an oil when applied on hands, it helps to perfect the hair for a better look and feel.
- Curl defining sap: Perfect for the final appearance of the hair, it helps to get well-defined curls without any frizz.

The purpose of the ‘Textured Hair Routine Formulation Kit’ is really to adapt as much as possible to the routine of people with textured hair, whilst offering the benefits they are looking for in hair care products.