Conditioned research: Scientists root out cause of bad hair days

THE bane of a “bad hair day” could soon be over as scientists believe they have got to the root of a problem that vexes millions of self-conscious women and men on a daily basis.

So is there an end to the split end? Will perms frizzle out of fashion? A team of German researchers believe that stress with one’s tresses may shortly be a thing of the past due to their pioneering work in the microscopic examination of human hair.

The recipe for how to avoid a follicular faux-pas could also prove lucrative as more than €30 billion is spent annually on haircare products.

Scientists have just completed the first microscopic analysis of how individual hair fibres interact together in an attempt to develop the next generation of shampoos, conditioners and gels that could authentically carry an “improved formula” label.

A team from the University of Bayreuth in Germany believe the findings of the new research will provide insight into how and why hair feels different to the touch.

In a presentation to the American Chemical Society, one of the scientists, Eva Max, said it was the first time that physical and chemical changes which occur when single hairs touch each other were measured.

Ms Max explained that the use of a highly sensitive microscope provided a major advance over conventional methods which test haircare products by measuring the force required to comb hair under standardised laboratory tests and subjective measurements of touch.

The equipment allowed scientists to examine the atoms in each strand of hair using a microscope capable of measuring items to a billionth of a metre.

“The findings will help to provide clear strategies for optimising hair care products,” said Ms Max. “Everybody has experienced the effect of hair conditioners which make hair smooth, pleasant to touch and easy to comb. Still the reasons for the ‘silky touch’ that is achieved by hair conditioning are still not well understood.”

The researchers also examined why bleached hair feels rough and is more difficult to comb. The study highlighted how any damage to a hair cuticle can create a scaly projection which juts out at rights angles to the main shaft of the hair.

It also discovered that negative charges built up on the surface of cuticles that causes friction between hairs.

The key to solving the problem lies in the development of new haircare products which would contain positively charged molecules to neutralise negatively charged surfaces.

However, a pharmacist with BASF who funded the research, said many other factors, including humidity and water content of cuticles, all affected the silkiness of hair.

So, it appears that bad hair today may not necessarily be gone tomorrow.