How to distinguish a hair balm from a hair conditioner and a hair mask?

Hair masks, conditioners, balms and shampoos. The diversity and multitude of hair care products makes our head spin. Sometimes it is hard to find oneself surrounded with all the chemist’s shelves, without mentioning picking the most suitable cosmetic. Even more troublesome the task becomes when we do not have a clue what are the functions of a particular products, how they should be used, how they should be picked and how they differ from each other.

Obvious it is, that our ‘hunting’ should not begin with comparing prices, defining brand of a product, or assessing whether a package is durable or not. Purchasing of care products should begin with defining condition of our hair. If we diagnose the problem properly, then choosing the right cosmetic will be no longer a headache for us. So, start from defining your scalp and hair types as well as level of strand’s damage. Now, try to answer the following questions: does my scalp get greasy too frequently?, Is my hair dry and dull?, Are hair cuticles wide-open? When you finally make a general description of your hair, you can go to a chemist’s or a special shop where professional hair salon products and accessories are sold.

Hair conditioners are must-have cosmetics. They are applied right after shampooing to be rinsed off after a few minutes. Obviously, there are also some leave-in hair conditioners available. However, such products are recommended for moistening and conditioning hair ends only. Actually, hair conditioners take care of the outer structure of hair only, they are not able to interfere with the inner structure of strands. With this in mind, all we can talk about is more of an aesthetic action rather than conditioning working. All a hair conditioner provides is smoothing, gifting hair with gloss, facilitating combing and blow dying. Because of its basic, yet very important manner of working, hair conditioners should be applied to each type of hair. It is also worth pointing out that hair conditioners have plenty of forms, they can be bought as mousses, emulsions, sprays, etc.

Hair balms work from the inside and outside. They contain more nourishing substances (keratin, herbal extracts, proteins and vitamins) than hair conditioners and are characterized with rather runny consistency. This kind of hair care cosmetics should be applied a few times a week. Moreover, 15 minutes is the optimal period of time required for a hair balm to interfere with strands. Actually, such products have plenty of features. For example, they regenerate inner structure of hair, provide healthy shine, and improve level of moisture. Unfortunately, there is a bad side of applying hair balms too. If put on to frequently, hair balms may contribute to making scalp too greasy.

Hair masks contain the greatest amount of nourishing substances and their action aims at a particular problem that affects either scalp or hair. In other words, hair masks work intensively and produce the best results from all of the hair care products. The cosmetic has to be applied on shampooed hair only. After that, hair has to be coated with a towel to facilitate and accelerate absorption of all the crucial active substances included into a hair mask composition deep into strands and scalp. In short, hair masks penetrate scalp and hair deeply, rebuild split ends, and moisture dehydrated strands. The best hair masks should contain humectants, vitamins, herbal extracts, keratin and emollients (oil and proteins).