womensnet: Mr. Bartels, why is hair care—consisting of shampoo, conditioner, and treatment—so important for healthy and beautiful hair?

Holger Bartels: Hair is constantly exposed to major stresses. You could almost compare it to a basic commodity like a car. If you want to keep your car’s nice, shiny varnish, than you cannot simply tak0e it to car wash every once in a while. The varnish will fade with time. In fact, after washing it you should apply an intensive treatment using special products. With a car it is the polish that removes unevenness from the varnish and seals the surface protectively. With hair this is the conditioner and treatment. With a treatment you are primarily strengthening the hair’s structure and giving it a protective layer.

womensnet: What places the most stress upon hair in every day life?

Holger Bartels: Most definitely UV exposure. It continuously assaults the hair and has a very damaging effect. Here too I would like to use the car analogy: When you always leave your car parked in the sun, its color will inevitably fade with time. You can prevent this only by applying a protective coating to it—and one through which those damaging light particles cannot permeate. Normally these are certain pigments in the treatment that are made for a specific varnish. And comparable pigments also exist in a hair treatment. They coat the hair and protect it from radiation.

womensnet: What about other factors, such as daily shampooing and blow drying?

Holger Bartels: The structure of hair can be compared to fine wool. If you wash your favorite sweater on too high of a heat setting and iron it year after year, you can be pretty sure that it will wear out. And that is exactly the reason why systematic hair care is so important. Washing alone does not do the trick; rather, you must follow a hair care regime that is precisely tailored according to the needs of your hair. When hairstyling, make sure to also use products that are gentle to hair. Our styling products even protect the hair in part from blow dryer heat and wash out easily. Also, make sure that your styling implements are not the cheapest. Ideally, use rubber-toothed or wooden combs—definitely not the synthetic ones with sharp edges. After all, you certainly would not have a go at handling high quality fixtures in your bathroom with a rusty screwdriver…

womensnet: Hair should be washed daily. But how often should one apply a treatment?

Holger Bartels: There are no hard and fast rules. All hair types have differing needs, and various hair treatments can also be applied at different intervals. The rich moisturizers in particular work very intensively and therefore do not need to be applied as often. On the other hand, you can principally use spray on treatments every day. In the end, it just depends upon your hair: It is definitely about time if the hair looks dull through the length and on the ends. Basically, it is better to do too much rather than too little with in terms of your hair care. This also applies to quantity; longer, fuller hair requires more product than shorter hair.

womensnet: Which treatment is ideal for which hair type?

Holger Bartels: Here too it wouldn’t be wise to give a definitive answer. There are people with very fine hair (.03 to .04 mm in diameter). Understandably, these types need another kind of care than those with thicker hair. This hair can be up to 0.1 mm thick, and with Asians even up to 0.13 mm. Some have problems with greasy hair, while others have tight curls. All of these hair types have the very different needs. It is for this reason that our products are tested so extensively. We need hundreds of models with different hair lengths and structures. The specific problems of each hair type must be understood and the products adjusted accordingly. This is why, meanwhile, there are so many different products on the market, which meet ever more specific needs. You see, the answer to your question depends on the individual person. Generalizations are not useful.

womensnet: How exactly does a treatment work?

Holger Bartels: The most important characteristic is that they strengthen hair from within. Panthenol does this, for example, as well as Provitamin B5. On the other hand, a treatment tightens the surface of the hair and fills holes in the cuticle layer that encircles the hair. The important thing is that this occurs in exactly the places where it is needed; in places where the hair is not damaged, the active ingredient runs off and avoids unnecessarily weighing down the hair. womensnet: Mr. Bartels, thank you for talking with us.

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