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Water has a considerable effect on human keratin fibres, such as nails, and is therefore crucial for their cosmetic performance. Wool proteins are mild, natural, biodegradable and are sustainably produced with multiple functionalities. They have a potential for use in the cosmetic and detergent markets. The effectiveness of two wool keratin ingredients in restoring the water sorption characteristics of nails was determined. Acetone treatment modified nail water sorption, resulting in an increase in water sorption capacity and in nail permeability. The application of keratin peptides and proteins to healthy and damaged nails improved water sorption properties, reducing permeability, especially in the case of wool keratin protein treatment.

Most beauty care products and treatments primarily affect the cuticle layers of hair fibers. The resulting damage has an adverse effect on hair water absorption. Water changes a wide variety of properties of human hair and is therefore of fundamental interest. Wool proteins are mild, natural, biodegradable, and sustainably produced with multiple functionalities and potential for use in the personal care and detergent market. In this study, the effect on hair water sorption of two types of keratin samples obtained from wool is investigated. Modifications of hair water sorption due to a bleaching treatment have been demonstrated, with lower values of water sorption capacity and an increase of the fibers permeability. Applications of keratin peptides and proteins to bleached hair improved the water sorption properties of the fibers and reduced their permeability.

Polyamide 6.6 multifilament yarns are converted to crimped fibres by texturing in order to simulate the properties of natural staple fibre yarns for textile applications. Texturing is carried out by mechanical stresses (turbulences or twisting) in different atmospheres which affect crystallinity and thermal stability of yarns. Two polyamide yarns with the same linear density but consisting of filaments of different fineness were textured by the air-jet and the false-twist procedures. The influence of texturing conditions and filament fineness on crystallinity and thermomechanical behaviour and dimensional stability were studied by TMA and DSC. The air-jet texturing procedure leads to a slight increase in crystallinity of yarns whereas the false-twist texturing procedure was more effective especially when thicker filaments were textured. The inflection point of the shrinkage curve before melting was a good estimator of the effective temperature of yarn texturing.