How to Choose the Best Styling Cream

Texturizing creams or liniments are unique styling products which offer a nice medium hold while keeping the hair soft and moisturized.  Some of these products have come in creams or pastes historically, but those tend to have the problem of leaving the hair greasy or clumpy.  Newer high tech liniments come out thick like pomades, but go in very smooth and are very easy to style.  Below are some ingredients to make sure are included in your liniment.

PEG-8 Beeswax: This is a unique “self emulsifying” wax, meaning it is water soluble (washes out with water) and forms tiny wax particles that can hold the hair without being a globular solid.

VP/VA Copolymer: This is an interesting combination that acts as a free flowing powder which clearly coats the hairs shafts to seal in moisture. 

Additionally, why settle on these great active ingredients used in just a shampoo or conditioner? They’re actually even more effective as a leave in product.

Ketoconazole: well known to increase hair growth

Saw Palmetto: a natural plant based blocker of DHT (the metabolite that is most well known to cause hair miniaturization and pattern hair loss) it can keep hairs strong and growing.

Hair peptides such as Hentapeptides, Tripeptides, and Copper Peptides have been shown to fight local inflammation and promote hair growth.

Vitamins such as Vitamin B7 (Biotin), Vitamin B3 (Niacin), and Vitamin E (Tocopherol) have all been shown to increase hair growth and keep hair healthy and strong.

Caffeine: While we all associate caffeine with our morning coffee, it has some other very interesting effects.  Caffeine is a vasodilator meaning it increases blood flow.  For this reason it is seen in many headache medicines as increased blood flow to the brain is well known to reduce headache.  Every wonder why that morning coffee can cure a headache?  Hair follicles are very metabolically active requiring a lot of blood flow to produce thick and healthy hair, which is why some high end hair growth shampoos are seen to include caffeine and coffee seed extract in their formulations.

Antioxidants:  These are key to promote health of the hairs by reducing local inflammation by naturally occurring oxidants which can cause damage.  Ingredients such as Apigenin Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants.

Olive leaf (Olea Europaea Leaf Extract) and olive oil (Copolymer Oleanolic Acid) extracts:  These natural ingredients are known to  activate the Wnt/β-catenin pathway which is well established to positively regulate the anagen phase of hair growth cycle.

Sesame Seed (Sesamum Indicum Oil): This natural source of calcium and magnesium has been shown to promote hair growth.

Parsley Extract (Carum Petroselinum):  With all the vitamins, electrolytes, and beta-carotene found in this extract, it has been shown to promote hair growth and prevent shedding.

Coconut Oil (Cocos Nucifera): This ingredient increases hair growth and strength by being a natural antibacterial, increasing blood circulation, and by preventing hair breakage.

Butylene Glycol: Unlike the other ingredients mentioned in this section, this one is not itself an active ingredient to promote hair growth.  Instead it allows for all the other active ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin thereby increasing their effect.  Without this ingredient, topically applied actives would have less of an effect.

Anti dandruff prevention

Some shampoos are made just for the purpose of fighting dandruff, but why not have a shampoo that just prevents it all the time?  The simple answer here is that quality ingredients to prevent dandruff are costly and therefore not added to all products.  Typical anti-dandruff ingredients such as coal tar or zinc pyrithione can be harsh on the skin and hair and cause excessive dryness.  On the other hand the medical ingredient Ketoconazole is a true antifungal medicine which can kill the organisms that like to live on the scalp which produce the dandruff in the first place.  Interestingly, Ketoconazole has been shown over and over again to have the independent and very interesting “side effect” of promoting hair growth, which is possibly related to treating “subclinical” or inapparent dandruff.  Thus using a shampoo with Ketoconazole daily will not only treat and prevent dandruff, but also will keep hairs thick and growing strong

No harsh preservatives and chemicals such as parabens or sulfates.  These sort of ingredients are common in many cheaply made products, however can leave the skin irritated and can hurt the hair.

Made locally

Made in USA products must undergo extensive quality control and and stability testing before coming to market.  Also they help promote jobs in the US.

Scent

While this category does not make a conditioner any more or less effective, it is very important since the scent of the product will remain on your hair after your shower.  Many conditioners have very floral, or high tone scents, others play it safe and keep them unscented, whereas quality products treat their conditioners as luxury colognes and take their time to create magnificent scents with musk, lavender, and other profiles.

BSG Original Edition #1 Texture liniment left nothing off the table. It includes all of the ingredients mentioned above to properly create great hold while keeping the hair soft and having the added benefit of preventing dandruff and promoting hair growth, all without using any harsh chemicals or preservatives while being made locally and having a scent you would be proud to wear. This texture liniment was formulated by doctors and stylists together to have the best of everything so there is no need to use multiple conditioners which serve independent functions.