Abstract ▼ AI-Helper

Optical probing of hair fibres is an elegant, non-invasive method to monitor the fibre surface and its changes with various grooming protocols. In this paper, a goniophotometer with a He-Ne light source was used to study reflection profiles from single hair fibres in both the root-to-tip and tip-to-...

Optical probing of hair fibres is an elegant, non-invasive method to monitor the fibre surface and its changes with various grooming protocols. In this paper, a goniophotometer with a He-Ne light source was used to study reflection profiles from single hair fibres in both the root-to-tip and tip-to-root orientations of the fibre. The calculated scale angle (the inclination of the cuticle to the fibre axis) was used as a monitor to study combing damage in hair to demonstrate the usefulness of the method. It was shown that progressive dry combing of hair leads to cuticle thinning or abrasive damage, and wet combing results in cuticle breaking or ablative damage. Further, the use of a conditioner active like a polyquaternium-10 largely mitigates both types of damage. These findings were supported by the results of a parallel scanning electron microscopic study.