Transforming Haircare with Peptides and Science at V&Co. Beauty

0:00Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Skinnerarchy. This is Ekta and i'm really excited about the brand we're gonna be introducing you guys to today because i feel like in the world of hair hair care. especially, we don't have enough options. And if we do have options, they're kind of limited in terms of who they're serving and the diversity is just, I feel like it's always lacking. So this is why this brand specifically stands out to me because they're really catering to everyone's hair needs. There's something here for everybody. And, you know, just in terms of understanding what your hair type truly is, I think going off of, you know, texture, like whether it's straight, wavy, curly, that helps a lot when we're making consumer decisions.

0:37So without further ado, I would love to introduce you guys to the brand ambassador, the beauty brand ambassador of V &Co, Sophia Emanuel, who is also a trichologist and a hairstylist. So welcome, Sophia. I'm so excited to be hosting you. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you. No, it's an honor to host you and I'd love to learn from you today. I can't wait to dive in, but I would love to learn about your journey first if you could share that with us. I mean, what got you involved with the brand and initially inspired you? Yeah, so I've been a hairstylist, a cosmetologist for some time.

1:09I've always had a passion for doing hair and I was able to get my cosmetology license when I went to high school. I went to a vocational high school. And then during my years of doing hair, I just started noticing different issues that my clients were having with their hair. And a lot of them I wasn't able to address until I started to do a little bit of research. And I found, you know, the science of the hair and scalp, which is trichology. And I decided to dive deeper into that topic so that I would be able to help my clients more who were experiencing, you know, different types of hair problems, scalp problems, just to give them, you know, the help that they needed.

1:50So that's how I got into the trichology space. That's pretty cool. I mean, I love that you did that because I feel like now hair is such a different conversation than it used to be. You know, it's like no longer about just a great cut. It's really about scalp health, you know, and hair health and all these different things that come up. So that's very interesting. I know that they're really a leader in peptide infused hair care. You know, what drew you to partner with them? V &Co basically, you said what drew me to the brand? Yeah. It was basically the peptide technology. That was the main thing.

2:24Because most of the times when you see peptides, you see peptides for a lot of like skin care, but you rarely see it for hair care or for scalp care. So that was what really drew me to the brand. The fact that they have like a peptide technology that basically brings nutrients to the hair and also the scalp. So when people see that word peptide, it's not just for your hair, for strengthening your hair or taking care of your hair, but it's also benefiting your scalp as well by just rebuilding the skin, by encouraging skin cells to grow healthy so that you can produce healthier strands of hair. You really don't see hair care companies focusing on peptides that way.

3:02Yeah. No, I haven't seen any either, honestly. This was the first brand that I think really put it front and center for me as well as a consumer. Sure. Yeah. It's very fascinating. And, you know, what's interesting is we learn about peptides a lot. I mean, I talk a lot about skincare on the podcast and oftentimes we talk about things like, you know, they work as signaling molecules and there's a lot of different factors that play in when you're working with peptides in terms of, you know, with hair, I think, you know, the growth cycle of a cell or a follicle, right? So I'd love to talk about that.

3:34And if you could explain the different phases of hair growth. There's three different phases of hair growth. So you have the first phase, which is the hair growth phase. That's the antigen phase, right? And that phase can last anywhere from two to seven years. Now, during this phase, that's when your hair is, your follicles are the most active. That's when they're producing the strand that you actually see with your eye that protrudes out of your skin, out of your follicle and grows as long as it can, right? Now, different things influence this phase. It can be genetics. It can also be your health.

4:07So like hormones, nutritional issues can all play a role in the length of hair or how long your hair stays in this phase. The longer your hair stays in this phase, the longer your hair grows. So at any given time, 85 to 90 % of your hair follicles are in this phase, right? And then after this phase, the antigen phase, which is like I said before, the growth phase, we go into what is the catagen phase. Now, the catagen phase is the transition phase. That's when your hair is going to be in this phase for about two to three weeks. And it's preparing to begin to fall so that new hairs can grow in.

4:45So the hair at this point, it begins to detach from the hair follicle, from the dermal papilla, and it starts to kind of like remove any like nourishment from the hair follicle as well. And it shrinks up as it prepares to go into the next phase, which is the telogen phase. Now, during the telogen phase, your hair is just kind of like resting, preparing to fall. And then that phase, that cycle starts all over again. In terms of the antigen phase, we want to be, I guess, nourishing our hair as much as possible. As much as possible. Yeah. Or nourishing our bodies as much as possible, right? Because like I said before, certain things, like I said, genetics plays a role, your health plays a role, stress plays a role.

5:27So those are the things that you want to be considering internally that can affect the antigen phase, the growth phase, right? That's the growth cycle. So if there are health issues going on, if you're taking certain medications, if you're living a very high stress life, if you're not eating properly, all those things can affect the antigen phase, right? Now, when you're speaking of like taking care of your hair, that's more on the external side. We also have to be cautious of those things as well. But really for our hair to really be healthy, we need to really focus on our internal health as well, which people tend to forget about.

6:04Yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually you know i think that this whole concept of like inside out beauty is something that we really need to focus more on you know yes yeah topical solutions only so yeah that's very fascinating so i would love for you to talk to us about some common misconceptions people might have about hair growth and the role of the scalp in maintaining hair healthy hair i think a lot of it is that because people are looking for like a fast solution when it comes to uh taking care of their hair. So I would say that's a big misconception right now on the internet. You see a lot of stuff where it's like, oh, you can get your hair to grow in seven days by taking these supplements or by, you know, using this hair oil.

6:45When the reality is that your hair growth really depends on like what we talked about earlier, the growth cycle. So just for people to understand that there's nothing that you could do to speed up your growth, but there are things that you can do to encourage healthy growth. So that means taking care of yourself, making sure that you're eating well, making sure that you're keeping your stress levels down, making sure that you do use really good hair products like Vegan Co Beauty, which has ingredients in there that really are going to, you know, promote hair health that are going to kind of like work as a supplementation, but it's not going to be like, you know, hair products, again, are not going to be like the end-all be-all solution for you to speed up hair growth or even to like recover from hair loss.

7:28There's other things that you have to do as well for your hair to just be overall healthy. I want to actually ask with V &Co, like I feel like there's so many options, you know, and I love that about the brand. I think that that is like I don't think there should be any, you know, other option at this point. You know, there should be like tailored products with different hair types. And like in terms of like just the different offerings the brand has, I mean, what are some differences? I don't know if you know off the top of your head, like, are you there with us? Yes, I do. Yes. Okay. So they have different lines depending on your hair type, which makes it very easy for you to find it when you go into like Target or Walmart where the products are sold.

8:09So basically, let's say if you have curly hair, they have a line for curly hair and that's going to focus more on like hydration as well as strengthening. So that peptide technology that you see on the bottle, that's really there to encourage your hair to be stronger, for your hair to shed less. Also, not just for your hair as well, also for your scalp as well. So rebuilding the skin, rebuilding healthy skin layers so that your hair, your follicles grow healthy hair as well. And then they have the wavy line. The wavy line is going to do the same thing. It's going to help with hydration. It's going to help to strengthen and also reduce frizz.

8:47They have the line that's for straight hair. That's going to be more for smoothing out any hair, you know, smoothing out your hair as well. It also has aloe juice, which is really good for like reducing oil. If you have like, you know, if your hair feels a little bit limp or not as, you know, as bouncy as you would like it, the aloe juice is going to help with that as well. And what I really like about the lines, all of the lines is that, like I said, they combine both strengthening the hair and hydration as well, which you need both. In order for your hair to be healthy, you need a combination of both strengthening, which is more like protein as well as hydration you when you're using vehicle beauty products you're going to be using it not only for your hair but for your scalp as well so you're getting like two for the price of one which is really great that is great yeah and i love that that there are different ingredients for different hair types because you know i won't lie the first when i first tried the brand i loved the wavy category because i was like i've never seen that You know what I mean?

9:46Like, I mean, people do curly or straight. Right. Exactly. Yeah. And the wavy hair just kind of is there. Right. Yeah. They don't really get their own line of products. And then it's true. Some of the stuff that's in other product lines can be a little bit too heavy for wavy hair. So, yeah. So every single hair type has its own product, which is really great. When you go to the store, you'll be able to identify which one is best for you based on, you know, the label on the bottle, which is really cool as well. So, you know, it takes the guesswork out of it because not everybody is a hair person.

10:19Some people just want to know what they got to go get and go get it. And you could get overwhelmed in the stores. You know, there's so many products to choose from. So I really like that this line really labels for who they are serving, you know. So whether you're curly, straight, looking for something to thicken your hair, there is a product there for you for all types, which is great. I love that. Yeah, I love that. And I love taking the guesswork out. I mean, that's something that I mean, I can't tell you how many hours I've spent literally trying to find the best shampoo and conditioner, you know, because I have that hair type.

10:53I don't know if anyone listening can relate, but it's like I have great hair, but then I have wavy hair and I write different textures. Yeah, it's just like a mix kind of. I'm always looking for options. Yes, I understand. And what's good about that is that what's good about the V &Co Beauty lines of products is that, let's say you have, like you said, you have a mixture. You can use any one of those products and it will still give you great results. Because like I said before, they really focus on porosity. They focus on hydration. They focus on both strengthening and hydration. So your hair is never going to, it's always going to be a nice balance.

11:28You're never going to get too much of anything with the products, which is really good. Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. I think they're phenomenal products. I mean, I've used them and I've tried quite a few of the options, you know, the wavy hair and straight hair. I've definitely tried, you know, and they're really great. And I think at the end of the day, you know, when you look at just the hair care from, from my standpoint as a consumer, I feel like the category is, it is growing, but it's, there's still a lot lacking here in terms of sensitivity, you know, and feeling, like you can find what you need and you know at first sight so that thing is really the brand is adding great value to the industry overall in that way yes and one thing about minimizing frizz i would add too is that a lot of products say that but they really don't do that with v &co the minute that you put one of the conditioners on your hair it really does minimize the frizz once you rinse the product off you notice a total difference with the frizz reduction which is really great too as well.

12:25And people don't realize that a lot of times when your hair is frizzy, it's a problem with the porosity. And that goes back to, again, balancing the protein, the peptides, all of those nutrients, as well as hydration. Yeah. That's really nice to have that in your initial shampoo conditioning steps so that you don't have to overload. I mean, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there some sort of a link between using too many styling products and just having more hair fall or something? Yeah. Oh, well, it could be more clogged follicles. So like more clogged skin, you know? So like, even if you were to like our face, we wouldn't want to put too much skincare products on our skin or oils because that would cause a lot of buildup.

13:05So it's the same concept with our hair, with our scalp, is that if you overload it with too many styling products, it definitely can cause issues with the scalp. Some of that being itching, some clogged follicles, And then that could also impact hair growth as well because the hair is not able to absorb the nutrients from the conditioners when you do wash your hair because it's overloaded with product. And congested. It's congested. Yes, it's congested. That's the right word. Yes, exactly. In terms of hair falling out, I mean, I think this is a pretty important topic, you know, alopecia, you know, especially traction alopecia.

13:39It's a very growing concern. um if you could share with us you know some early warning signs to watch out for um something that you know maybe even some hairstyles that might be affecting people who are prone to developing the condition yes so yeah so first we could talk about the hairstyles because i think that's important a lot of hairstyles like that people don't even consider that can cause traction let's let's first talk about what traction alopecia is just in case some people don't know so traction alopecia is basically hair loss that is caused by tight hairstyles or tension of the scalp.

14:11So some of these styles can include like braids, wearing extensions, you know, ponytails, buns, any kind of hairstyle that puts a lot of tension on the scalp and pulls the scalp will cause at some point traction alopecia. Now, some warning signs would include pimples around the hairline, right? Right. Sometimes pain. Sometimes your skin might be a little bit red. So you might see some inflammation present on the skin. And then as we go further along after some time of wearing that hairstyle and maybe not taking that tight hairstyle out or wearing that same hairstyle for too long, you'll start to notice a receding hairline.

14:51Your hairline looks a little bit thinner. It doesn't look as full in the hair in the front area. Those are some warning signs that you need to look out for. But a lot of it is how your scalp feels. A lot of times you'll know that the style is too tight because you'll feel it. And anytime you feel that a hairstyle is tight or pulling, that's a sign that you need to take that style out immediately because it will cause some type of hair loss. And sometimes that hair loss is not reversible. It's so crazy to think about how over time we've evolved as humans. We used to always have our hair down. Men used to have longer hair.

15:25And now we've come into a society where everyone's trying to put it up or slick it back or just kind of add that tension to it. Right. Like protect it. There's a lot of there's a lot of that word protective hairstyles now when a lot of these styles are not really protecting, you know, they're causing more harm than good. A lot of times and I understand where it comes from. I understand the concept of protective styling, which is more like you put your hair away for a period of time so that you don't mess with it. You don't comb it or brush it too much in an effort to not damage it. But that can also cause the adverse effect by putting your hair away sometimes or using hairstyles that are supposed to be protective.

16:02Let's say it's a braided hairstyle or it's extensions. If those styles are too tight, they can do, you know, more damage. Just curious. So if you, for example, if you get hairstyle, you know, that you know can cause traction alopecia or it is bad for your hair for the long term. I mean, what are some rules that we can kind of abide by in terms of like timing? Like, okay, only have your braids in for this long or only wear a ponytail for, you know, however amount of time. Anything you can recommend there? Yeah, I like that question a lot. Yeah, so I would say first thing is that if you're experiencing any kind of hairstyle, then you're not a candidate for braids.

16:40But in terms of preventing further hair loss, if you're already experiencing any kind of hair loss, then you should not be braiding or wearing any kind of hairstyle that's going to put any kind of tension on your scalp. So that would be extensions, that would be braids, that would be twists. You need to stay away from those hairstyles altogether. Now, if you're a person who doesn't have any hair loss and you want to wear these types of hairstyles, four weeks is max. After four weeks, the style starts to get a little bit, it gets loose and it starts to put more tension on your scalp because the style starts to like pull at the roots, at the new growth area.

17:17And that's when tension starts to take place as well. So after that four week mark, you want to be able to take that hairstyle out and just wear your own hair and give your follicles a chance to rest. Right. So any protective hairstyle or any hairstyle with added hair, you want to wear that for about four weeks and then you want to take it out. So that's the best thing to do. Now, with ponytails, a lot of times people wear ponytails every day. I would say you want to wear your hair down sometimes, too, in between the week. So maybe instead of wearing a ponytail every day, you wear it twice a week instead.

17:49And not back to back. Maybe you split it up. So every other day or something like that, where the ponytail is not the main hairstyle that you're wearing all the time or the bun. Because again, that starts to cause that thinning around the hairline or that breakage. Sometimes you won't get thinning, but you'll just notice some hair breakage all around the perimeter of your head. And that's a sign that you've been wearing that ponytail for too long. we i mean ponytails especially i feel like everyone's always convenient yes convenient it is yeah yeah and they can be what one but in moderation kind of like letting your scalp breathe too for a minute you know yes worry about you know speaking about the scalp um i would love to get you know your insight in this because i know that you know we i mentioned this earlier in the episode where the hair space has grown a lot what are some of the significant changes or innovations that you've observed, you know, in the hair care industry, especially around scalp focused treatments?

18:44So right now, a really big one is going to be stem cells. So the use of stem cells to help with like repairing tissue damage is really big right now. So some of the ways that stem cells have been able to help with hair growth or encourage hair growth is by basically what stem cells do is that they are responsible for tissue repair, tissue damage. So many types of hair loss, there is going to be some inflammation present in the hair follicle. And whenever there's inflammation present in the hair follicle, what can happen to the hair follicle is that it can close up for good. Now, when the hair follicle closes up for good, hair can no longer grow.

19:24So the purpose of the stem cells is to prevent that from happening. So we want to prevent scar tissue from developing on the scalp. And one of the ways that that can be done is by using stem cells. So stem cells, they may come in the form of like a scalp serum that you can rub on your scalp, or you can have something called PRP done through a dermatologist. And PRP uses actual stem cells from your plasma, from your blood plasma. And that is also used or injected into the skin, into the scalp to also help as well. Just heal the tissue, repair the tissue to prevent inflammation so that the hair can grow healthily.

20:06That's a big one right now. So stem cell technology is really big. Peptides, that's a big thing right now as well. I feel like we're going to start to see that more. Peptides for scalp care as well, just like we have it for skincare. I feel like we're going to start to see it more in like serums and different types of scalp treatments. The last one would be bond builders. So bond builders, although they're not really catered to the scalp, they are very popular right now for the hair. Those are designed more for strengthening the hair as well. Similar to peptides, their hair, they're there to help with the structure of the hair, help, you know, fortify the structure of the hair.

20:44So those are the main things that are very, you know, prominent right now in the hair world. I mean, technology is really catching up, you know, with these options. That's great. I mean, I think that, you know, in terms of at home care though i really love vn co's you know the whole peptide driven approach and i would love to just you know get a clearer understanding if you could explain how peptides and amino acids also proteins how they all work together to really transform hair health first with amino acids they are like the building blocks of proteins right so our hair is made up of protein which is keratin so the amino acids they basically are the building blocks of that so when you think of amino acids you're going to think of keratin.

21:30So amino acids create keratin. Now peptides, peptides are like the messengers of the hair follicles. So what peptides do is they send messages to other cells telling them what to do. So like that will be like, it'll tell a cell like, you know, build more collagen or reduce inflammation. So peptides like in the V and Co products, what they're going to do is they're going to like reduce inflammation. They're going to also bring blood flow to the scalp. So those are all important things for growing healthy hair. 95 % of our hair is made up of keratin, right? So products should have some sort of keratin in them, some type of protein in them.

22:09And again, that's what going back to what I said earlier about with V and Co, what they have is a balance of both. So also with peptides, like I said before, what they're going to do, they're going to bring, they're going to slow down inflammation and they're also going to create a nice blood flow to the scalp, which is very important as well. Making sure that all of the cells of the follicle are receiving nutrients, right? And that's important as well for healthy hair. V-Inco thickening line, what it can do is also enhance the volume of your hair as well as make sure, even if you have thick hair, it will also help with thicker hair as well.

22:46So it does both. One thing that it does is it can help with clients who have thicker hair, enhance their thickness or if you're looking for a line to just boost volume boost strength it will help with that as well that the vn co thickening line so that's a very good line that you could use if you're looking to like just rebuild the structure of your hair strengthen your hair as well as add volume you will you will use the vn co beauty thickening line to do that also because i'm just curious sophia because i you know i know growing up like i couldn't use certain brands and one of them i'll to be honest i've said it before on the show is was pantene you know i couldn't use it because one for me my skin would react to it you know so i couldn't use that their products but also because my hairstylist i remember i was in high school at the time and she told me she said you know there are just some products that add this buildup you know on your hair strands and a lot of them at that time were like protein you know just straight protein and i would love to understand you know like what just so our listeners know like what is the difference here from because what you're explaining is very like it's very innovative you know this is like much better technology compared to like the older solutions that would add these proteins in the products you know that would coat your hair strands and then you know cause I guess I don't know damage or whatever they did could you explain that a little bit maybe yeah I think I think a lot of it is also too.

24:11Some of it could, I'm not sure of all the ingredients that's in the Pantene product you was using, but a lot of that is also silicon based too. So the other good thing about the proteins that are in the V and colon are the proteins that are basically just going to go in wherever there is any structural damage, they're going to go in there and they're just going to kind of like heal that damage or kind of like almost like a top coat. Like when you put on a top coat for nail polish. It's just going to go in there and fill in the cracks, but it doesn't weigh the hair down. Kinko is also like paraben-free, sulfate-free.

24:45It doesn't have all of those heavy duty ingredients that sometimes can build up on the hair strand, which is also important as well. So now going back to the protein though, the protein is not a protein that is going to wear your hair down. And like I said before, a lot of that is silicone that does that. The silicones found in a lot of the products is what really causes the hair to lay down flat and not have that body that it's supposed to have. The protein is not the problem. It's really the silicones that's the problem when it comes to weighing your hair down. As long as you have a product that has that balance, you don't need to worry so much about using protein.

25:24Because I know there's a lot of people who are afraid to use protein or peptides, but you don't have to be afraid because they don't leave that heavy weight down um you know residue on your hair so it's fine exactly yeah that's what i was really wondering that residue is what i was wondering about exactly yeah because then you have to go in because i remember like my hairstylist at the time she had recommended well you need a great clarifying shampoo you know because it'll help get all that off and i was like oh god i wish it wouldn't even exist you know right yeah right Right. And another good thing about the V &Co shampoos is that they all cleanse the hair really well.

26:01So you won't have to worry about that buildup because when you shampoo your hair, your hair is going to feel clean, but it won't feel stripped, which is also great as well. Yeah, I've noticed that actually. I love it. You know, I love the products because I have very thick hair. It's very heavy. And, you know, right now I'm really growing it out because in the winter I like longer hair and it's always a struggle because I end up using half a shampoo bottle. The key to that is just making sure that the products, that the conditioners that you're using have that nice balance, you know, so that you're not having to worry about that way down effect that you're talking about.