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- Ben Fuchs
Hair is dead! By the time the skin appendage has left its hidden home and birthplace in the follicle, and becomes a visible strand of substance, it is nothing more than a hard shell. Because this shell is largely composed only of dead cells filled with protein, the same stuff that makes up human fingernails as well a horse hoofs and rhino horns, trying to enhance hair’s appearance and texture with topical products is like putting lipstick on a corpse. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try!
Throughout history luxurious locks have been honored as a sign of fertility, virility, overall vigor and well-being. Men and women around the world have used a wide range of materials to improve its appearance. From ingredients, like the olive oil infused dead lizards or boiled bulls blood (!) used by ancient Egyptians and Greeks, to the more sophisticated high tech chemicals with difficult to pronounce monikers, like “quaternary ammonium complexes” and “polysiloxanes”, all manner of substances synthetic, natural, benign and toxic have been applied to the tresses to encourage growth, shine, thickness and bounce among other desirable characteristics.
Hair is mostly made up of protein. That’s why the more popular hair care ingredients found in modern shampoos and conditioners are the chemically modified extracts of protein-rich grain and seeds. These derivatives purport to enter into the surface of the nonliving hair shaft to provide support and protection by filling in gaps and repairing microscopic defects. Most include an amino acid called “cysteine”. Cysteine contains a little piece of sulfur, the element that is responsible for hair’s resilience and strength. From a quantum chemistry perspective the electronic nature of sulfur makes it very magnetic. It holds on to things and doesn’t let them go, like a really powerful heavy duty magnet. This micro-magnetic grip creates hardness on the macro level. Thus defining cysteine’s role in strengthening the hair shaft (as well as bone, joints and cartilage).
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- Ben Fuchs
I’ve been doing "multi-level marketing" (MLM) my whole adult life. While some folks consider MLM to be a scam, based on my experience, that’s just plain unfortunate. In many ways MLM is the ultimate egalitarian business. It's person to person, extremely accountable and a great way to connect with our fellow human beings.
I remember when MLM first came on my radar back when it first dawned on me that I was going to need to figure my money thing out. I was about 22 years old, married with a kid on the way, and unemployed. I was doing all kinds of odd jobs and barely making ends meet, while borrowing from Peter to pay Paul where Peter was my parents and Paul was the IRS. I had student loans and dozens of other financial obligations I had to settle up.
Then one day, my upstairs neighbor Cynthia invited me to a dinner event. It was there that I was introduced to multi-level marketing for the first time and I was blown away. The stories seemed unbelievable, but everyone was so inspired that I signed up and paid my enrollment fee. While it took me a few years to really take advantage of everything MLM had to offer, I eventually found out the promises were legit. Today, nearly 35 years later, I’m a believer and I can report that MLM is the most user-friendly, elegant and egalitarian business model you could ever participate in.
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- Ben Fuchs
It may be hard to believe for the average 21st century citizen living in an environment saturated with synthetically derived chemical products -- including pesticides, plastics and pretty much portable anything -- but a mere 200 years ago there weren't any! It wasn't until the early 19th century that scientists really got a handle on exactly how chemical structures could be "engineered" and then mass produced.
The first chemical to be synthesized was a minuscule little molecule called "urea" and, as teeny as it was, the little structure was stupendously significant. It marked a milestone in human achievement; for the first time a chemical only found in the human body, and one with active biological properties, was man-made in a laboratory, developed de novo from a distinct "parent" chemical structure.
That was in 1828. From those humble beginnings, by the middle of the century, millions of chemicals were being produced around the world. It wasn't long before chemists started to turn their attention to substances that could be used to manipulate human metabolism and, come the end of the 1800s, the first manufactured synthetic drugs were being marketed. The race was on to discover more and more ways to make more and more biologically active chemicals.
In 1912, the European drug company Merck, whose American subsidiary had only opened 20 years prior, filed for a patent for a drug called "methylsafrylamin" that was to be used to control bleeding. The patent was granted in 1914 and, although there were periodic attempts to develop the drug as a blood clotting agent, that was pretty much the last anyone ever heard of "methylsafrylamin" until the late 1950s, an exciting and propitious period for pill producers. The promise of miracle drugs elicited great admiration from the medical community. With the culture in awe as well, and the drug industry had matured to become a multibillion dollar business.
