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Does Your Shampoo Have the New "It" Ingredients?

Discover the new crop of hair care products with cutting-edge ingredients
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Antioxidants, copper peptides, stem cells … you're familiar with them, right? Wrinkle creams and serums are packed with these active ingredients to plump fine lines, erase dark spots, and keep your skin looking forever young (that's the hope, at least).

So why -- you might ask -- are these skin care ingredients suddenly appearing in hair care products like shampoo and pomade? At first, we assumed it was a sly marketing trick, but it turns out these ingredients are actually doing something for your hair.

"You want a hair care line with anti-aging benefits," says New York City dermatologist Dennis Gross, MD. "You have to treat the scalp -- it's where the root and hair follicle are in the skin. By reverting this skin back to a younger state, you produce better hair." With this in mind, Dr. Gross created an anti-aging complex for the scalp, and put it into his Root Resilience hair care line.

A handful of hair care brands are following Gross' lead, infusing products with high-tech ingredients formerly reserved for our faces. We took a closer look at the skin care ingredients making a name for themselves in the hair care world -- and the products that contain them. (Because we don't recommend dabbing La Mer on your head.)

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Copper Peptides
Dr. Gross waxes poetic about copper peptides, and the Cleveland Clinic calls it, "one of the most effective skin regeneration products." It can be found in food sources like shellfish and dark leafy greens, and when used in skin care products, it stimulates the production of collagen and elastic.

It turns out that all of the good stuff copper peptides do for your face, they also do for your scalp. Increased collagen and elastin production helps your hair follicles function better and produces thicker, healthier hair.

Check it out in Dr. Gross Root Resilience Anti-Aging Shampoo, Conditioner, and Scalp Serum, $38-$54. Not only do Dr. Gross's patients love the stuff, in an unbiased study more than 80 percent of participants felt their hair texture had improved and their hair had more volume after only two weeks. Tricomin Revitalizing Shampoo, $25, is another copper peptide-rich option.

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Hyaluronic Acid
Hyaluronic acid is a moisturizing workhorse. The molecules hold onto water better than just about everything else, and they help keep your skin moisturized for hours. In addition to finding them in creams, lotions, and serums, hyaluronic acid is also used in injectable fillers like Restylane. The FDA determined it was safe largely because we all have it in our bodies anyway (think: areas that need a lot of lubrication, like joints).

If you have a dry scalp or dry hair, hyaluronic acid adds moisture and it helps your hair hold onto moisture until you wash it again. John Masters Organics Bare Shampoo, $14.50, contains hydrating jojoba oil, as well as hyaluronic acid. To protect your hair from heat styling, try Phytokeratine Repairing Thermal Protection Spray, $32. And if you're looking for more volume, check out Oscar Blandi Hair Lift Instant Thickening and Strengthening Serum, $30, which also contains rice starch powder to make your hair look fuller.

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Stem Cells
First things first: there are two types of stem cells. Human-derived and plant-derived. Human stem cells carry a host of ethical questions, plant-derived stem cells may not do much at all (depending on which expert you talk to). However, if they're doing what they're supposed to do, both varieties of stem cells trigger your skin cells to regenerate more quickly and act like younger cells.

According to biologist Paul Knoepfler at the Univeristy of California Davis School of Medicine, eventually stem cells will be used to cure baldness. "Research on specialized stem cells that can grow hair has been advancing at a rapid clip," he says. But we're not there yet.

In the meantime, products like Julien Farel Restore, $33, contain plant stem cells, hyaluronic acid, and antioxidants to protect and hydrate the scalp and help you grow healthier hair.

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Salicylic Acid
Good old salicylic acid -- you probably know it well. It's one of the two over-the-counter ingredients approved by the FDA to treat acne (the other is benzoyl peroxide), which means it's in half the breakout-fighters on the market. What you might not realize is that it comes from a natural source -- willow bark extract -- and that's it's a fantastic exfoliator.

In hair care products, it works in a similar way. It removes built up product that sits on your hair (making it look dull), as well as your scalp (making it itchy, and hindering your hair growth).

Look for it in Yes To Carrots Scalp Relief Shampoo, $7.99, Jason Thin to Thick Revitalizing Scalp Elixir, $9, and (no surprise here) Dr. Gross Root Resilience.

BY DAWN DAVIS | SEP 18, 2013 | SHARES
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