Effect Of Hair Mask On Hair Mechanical And Biochemical Status Under Thermal, Chemical And Mechanical Stress.

Hair is an item of our body, which provides beauty for both men and women. Human hair is subjected to air pollution and its own additive sebum. This makes it dirty and must be washed away. Hair drier and hot flat irons are used for drying and styling or texturing of hair. If the drying temperature is high, it may cause a thermal damage. Ultra Violet (UV) radiation of sun light may cause physical and chemical damage to hair structure. Due to mechanical process during styling, texturing and combing or tensions applied to hair during a normal day, hair structure may be damaged. Usually, hair mask is used to prevent or reduce these damages. Hair fibers were collected from a young woman, and divided into 2 parts. A hair mask was applied to one part of it. Thermal, UV, dead weight and detergent damages were applied to plain and masked hair fibers, and were tested. Max load and extension at max load from mechanical properties, and ROS and TAC from biochemical properties were measured. It was concluded from the test results that application of mask reduced thermal damage (ROS), dead weight damage (max load, extension at max load, ROS, and TAC) and detergent damage of the samples (ROS and TAC). Hair mask protected hair against thermal, chemical and mechanical stresses. Measurement of tensile properties, ROS and TAC of the hair samples gave good responses for evaluation of the induced damages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]