August 04, 2021
Dimethicone
Neil Naturopathic uses a very small amount (1.8%) of a specific dimethicone to provide lubricity and slip to the product’s ingredients through the hair. It is also used to provide stability to the other more volatile ingredients from nature, which are in a continuous process of expanding and contracting. The dimethicone is extremely stable and resistant to heat and oxidation and therefore allows the natural plant-based ingredients to remain stable and potent despite the high heat and resultant oxidation caused by production. There are over 500 dimethicone derivatives on the CoIng listing of the EU. These ingredients vary in structure, function and properties. All silicones have one thing in common which is: Si-O (silicone-oxygen) atoms in the backbone of the molecules attached together in a polymeric chain with methyl groups dangling from the silicone atoms. The base of silicone derivatives is Si (Silicon or Silicium) metal. (In the Chinese method of 5 element healing, metal is considered the fifth element.) The main source of silicon is found in nature in the form of sand (quartz). In order to gain the silicon that’s available in the quartz, it must be heated until it is molten hot and then reacted to methylene chloride (CH3CI) which converts it. It is then simply a series of polymerization and other reactions to attain the desired functional groups to create tailor-made ingredients. Extracting the silicon from the quartz to make it bio-available and usable in another form, depending on one’s needs, intentionally making the right dimethicone for every single purpose, by varying the polymeric chain length of the molecule. Neil Naturopathic uses a dimethicone from a group, which is known as silicone esters, it is a rinse-off dimethicone (as opposed to leave-on), which will not coat the hair or scalp. The dimethicone used in Neil Naturopathic products when it touches the skin allows the scalp’s enzymes and natural biome to hydrolyze it into silicylic acid (known as water glass) and methanol. The silicylic acid dissolves old dead skin cells and provides silicon (most humans are deficient in silicon), which is a major structural component for skin and hair as well as bones, connective tissue and many other structural components. Methanol occurs naturally in humans, animals, and plants and is a natural constituent in blood, urine, saliva, and expired air, and is excreted by the kidneys without being converted into the very toxic metabolites formaldehyde and formic acid.
