Are Egg Proteins Too Big?
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Printed Date: June 06 2024 at 11:35am
Topic: Are Egg Proteins Too Big?
Posted By: Unregistered Guest
Subject: Are Egg Proteins Too Big?
Date Posted: January 12 2000 at 1:34am
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Hi,I have been "lurking" through the conversations about the home hair care recipes. Some of them call for eggs and supposedly the eggs are good because of the protein they add.However, I read somewhere that the protein molecules in eggs are too big to penetrate the hair shaft. Does anyone know if this is true or not?Carol V San Diego
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Replies:
Posted By: KAREN
Date Posted: January 12 2000 at 1:34am
Hi,Laura Jane is the resident expert for questions like this. I have never personally heard this before so hopefully she can shed some light on this.I am also interested to know the answer to this one. :-)Karen> Hi,> I have been "lurking" through the> conversations about the home hair care recipes.> Some of them call for eggs and supposedly the> eggs are good because of the protein they add.>> However, I read somewhere that the protein> molecules in eggs are too big to penetrate the> hair shaft. Does anyone know if this is true or> not?> Carol V San Diego
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TAKE CARE WITH YOUR HAIR!
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Posted By: Laura
Date Posted: January 12 2000 at 1:34am
Ok, I'll give it a shot. I don't think that the size of the protein molecules really has all that much to do with their effectiveness in this case. The real question is, do the eggs work? I haven't tried them myself, although I think I will in the near future so that I can comment personally on effectiveness. However, I can think of several potential benefits that do not require the proteins to penetrate the shaft at all. So the short answer is that I bet the eggs do the job. Now for the long, complex discussion of possible reasons why.For example, proteins sometimes have an emulsifying effect - that is, they help oily things and water to mix. This means that the fats and cholesterol found in eggs (in the yolk) can be distributed better, and the excess rinsed away more easily when you are finished.It may not even be the proteins themselves that are helpful to the hair - I don't think this has ever been well studied. The pH of egg white is not neutral - in fact, there is a very good reason for that. It helps to prevent bacteria from getting to the developing chick, which is near the yolk. It also protects the yolk, which provides nourishment to the embryo. The pH may contribute to the egg's benefits to hair.The egg yolk is rich in fats and cholesterol, which are an imortant energy source for a developing chick. These can be beneficial to the hair, just as oil treatments can. In fact, they're probably better than the typical oil treatment. Most oils used on the hair are from plants, and these can be very different from the fatty molecules produced by animals (such as chickens and humans). I don't know the details of the make-up of the fats in eggs, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were significantly better for the hair for that reason. Cholesterol, by the way, gets a very bad rap right now in medicine. Excess is extremely dangerous, true, but some cholesterol is essential for life because it helps the membranes around our cells to maintain the right consistency.The other thing to remember is that eggs are not composed of only one type of protein. There are a large number of proteins in eggs, and they vary widely both in size and in their other chararcteristics. For example, there are small proteins whose primary purpose is to nourish the developing embryo and provide it with the building blocks that will make up its body; there are proteins that help to make egg white a hostile environment for bacteria; there are proteins that help to maintain the other proteins, which may even help your hair proteins to maintain their structure as well! (This has not been studied at all as far as I know, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did work.)Anyway, those are my thoughts on eggs. I actually spent two years doing research in a lab that worked on egg proteins when I was an undergraduate, so I know quite a bit about what's available. Proteins are amazing - they do all sorts of wonderful things. I hope this has helped someone out there and not bored anyone too much - I tried not to get too technical. (If you want technical, email me!)I've been wanting to try one of the recipes with eggs - I guess now I have a really good reason to find the time!
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