The African Pride Feel It Formula Strengthening Pre-Wash Detangler is designed to condition and detangle hair before shampooing, providing optimal slip to remove tangles without breakage. This formula incorporates a refreshing blend of peppermint, rosemary, and sage oils. Let's delve into the key ingredients that make this product effective.
Key Ingredients and Their Benefits
Water (Aqua)
Good old water, aka H2O, is the most common ingredient. The water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized, meaning that almost all the mineral ions inside it are removed. It serves as the main solvent in cosmetic products.
PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
This mildly viscous, amber-colored liquid has a fatty odor and is made from Castor Oil and polyethylene glycol (PEG). It’s agile, diligent, and multifunctional, mostly used as an emulsifier and surfactant. Often, it is used to solubilize fragrances into water-based formulas.
Phenoxyethanol
It’s pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, and it’s not a feared paraben. Introduced around 1950, it can be used up to 1% worldwide and can be found in nature in green tea, though the version used in cosmetics is synthetic.
Ethylhexylglycerin
If you have spotted ethylhexylglycerin on the ingredient list, most probably you will see there also the current IT-preservative, phenoxyethanol.
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Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera is one of today’s magic plants. It does have some very nice properties indeed. What research does confirm about Aloe is that it’s a great moisturizer and has several anti-inflammatory components, as well as some antibacterial components. It also helps wound healing and skin regeneration in general.
Peppermint Oil
The essential oil comes from steam distillation of freshly harvested, flowering peppermint sprigs. Its major component is menthol that gives the oil its well-known refreshing and cooling properties.
Rosemary Oil
The essential oil comes from the leaves of the lovely herb, rosemary. It has a nice smell, is a potent antioxidant, and it's also an antimicrobial agent. It contains several fragrant components, including potential skin irritant, camphor (around 15%).
Eucalyptus Globulus Oil
The essential oil is created by steam distilling the leaves of the Eucalyptus tree. It's a colorless, pale yellow oil with a camphoraceous aroma used traditionally in vapor rubs to treat coughs. Its name-giving main component is eucalyptol (also called 1,8-cineole, 80-91%) that has significant antibacterial and expectorant properties. Among essential oils, Eucalyptus Globulus counts as rather non-sensitising with an EU sensitizer total of 5% (due to limonene). However, if your skin is super-sensitive or you are allergic to fragrances, it is still better to avoid it.
Fragrance (Parfum)
The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it. Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics.
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Other Ingredients
- Citric Acid: An AHA that comes from citrus fruits.
- Cococin (Coconut Water): The freeze-dried, powder form of coconut water that's claimed to be loaded with all kinds of skin-nourishing things: proteins, amino acids, sugars, vitamins, minerals and growth hormones (kinetin) that support healthy cell growth and skin hydration.
- Menthol: As for skincare, menthol seems to be a mixed bag. It can be a skin irritant, so much so that it is a well-known counterirritant for muscle pains creating mild surface irritation to make things better in the deeper layers.
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