The illumai protect leave-in spray is a finishing, leave-in spray that uses a special ingredient, Lipid Complex™. The Lipid Complex is formed when the product is shaken well and two of the active ingredients form microscopic aggregations of molecules that have a micellular-like form.

Actually, this image isn’t exactly right in that the “aggregates” in our formulation are composed of two different kinds of molecules.  They clump together in a patent-pending way, but one can think of them as like very, very small paintballs composed of the two lipids (oils) that clump together when shaken.

Interestingly, each of the paintballs has a net positive (i.e., cationic) charge.  After the bottle is shaken, the paintballs form and become distributed evenly throughout the mixture.  Eventually, the lipids will separate from the water around them and float to the surface, which is why you need to shake the product before use.  But while they are suspended in the water-oil mixture, they can move around freely.

When spritzed on the hair, these tiny, cationic paintballs will be attracted to any portion of a strand of hair which doesn’t have any sebum (the natural oils and waxes that coat your hair), and it will be especially attracted to portions where there is no sebum and the cuticle is damaged or missing (see above).  That’s because the inside of a strand of hair — the cortex — has a mild negative charge, and the positively charged “paintball” of Lipid Complex will be electrostatically attracted to areas of depletion or damage and then bind to it.  And when the hair is blown dry, the oils comprising the Lipid Complex melt onto the hair at precisely the area they are needed — covering any damage to the cuticle and supplementing the missing sebum.  The result is very smooth, soft hair, and hair that has the luster and shine you get from healthy hair which has the optimum amount of sebum covering each strand.

The illumai team has applied for a patent on the unique properties described above, and we expect it to be granted soon.