Could science put an end to bad hair days?
Research reveals new insights into culprits behind damaged hair follicles
Courtesy of Procter & Gamble |
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After persuading hundreds of American and British women to endure a half-head of dye-damaged hair for the sake of progress, researchers at Cincinnati’s Procter & Gamble say they’ve made big gains in improving the smelly, time-consuming and split end-inducing process of hiding all those grays with, say, a medium champagne blonde.
The story of better coiffures through chemistry ends with a product, of course: Perfect 10 by Nice 'N Easy. But the countless hours spent experimenting with clumps of human hair in the lab also have helped scientists get a better handle on what damages our follicles in the first place. In particular, the chemical sleuthing has yielded some new insights into the behavior of the chief culprits, hyper-reactive molecules called hydroxyl radicals that figure prominently in everything from the formation of smog to the aging process.
A good deal more research will be needed to show whether delivering hair color with less frizz may yield dividends for weightier scientific challenges. But for now, company scientists say the patented new technology should provide clear benefits to the rinse and set crowd.
A smelly, damaging process
With the normal permanent dyeing process, “you don’t like that you have to lock yourself in the bathroom and open the windows so the horrible smell doesn’t permeate the house,” said Frauke Neuser, a United Kingdom-based senior scientist at Procter & Gamble who worked on the project to create a less onerous alternative. Even the resulting dye isn’t entirely benign, though greatly magnified before-and-after photos suggest the cumulative effect is significantly more gentle after repeated use.
Humans were likely dyeing their hair well before the ancient Egyptians discovered that the leaves of the henna shrub could restore a youthful black or red to their locks, even for those being mummified. In his 1986 book, “The Science of Hair Care,” former L’Oreal Chairman and CEO Charles Zviak writes that bottle blondes officially debuted in the 1860s, when Napoleon III’s mistress, Cora Pearl, bleached her hair with hydrogen peroxide. In 1867, a London chemist and Parisian hairdresser popularized the method with a peroxide lotion with a French name that means “Golden water from the fountain of youth.”
Procter & Gamble senior scientist Jennifer Marsh, who led the new project, said the basic chemistry behind hair coloring has changed little within the last half-century, however. “It still takes you half an hour for the process to occur. It still does damage your hair, especially if you color on a regular basis,” said Marsh, who presented her research earlier this year at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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After just one use, dye can begin to wear away hair’s outermost f-layer, the same fatty and water repellent covering that allows a dog to clamber out of a lake and shake off most of the droplets. Without this thin outer coating, hair can feel drier and coarser, appear duller, and allow water to soak in more easily.
Flat overlapping cells form the next layer, called the cuticle, which protects the hair’s central cortex much like a shingled roof. Within that cortex, coiled protein fibers give hair its strength and granules of melanin pigment govern its natural color. For a permanent dye to be effective, hydrogen peroxide must squeeze between the cuticle cells and bleach the central melanin, with ammonia serving as the catalyst. With the melanin’s own color drained away, the hydrogen peroxide sets off a reaction that causes dye precursors to link up and show their true colors, whether a light auburn or a medium brown.
But there’s a problem.
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