[Effect of wash-active substances in hair-washing preparations]

Standardized hair washes have been carried out at weekly intervals over a period of four weeks in a total of 35 male subjects. A standard surfactant solution was applied in all subjects for the first two washes. For the third and fourth wash three different surfactant solutions were used in three groups of subjects. It was observed that the microbial splitting of the triglycerides into fatty acids can be inhibited by surfactants. We think that in this way a seborrhoea oleosa can be changed into a seborrhoea sicca. Moreover some but not all surfactants have a strong "keratolytic" action when they are used in shampoos.