Microscopic high-resolution digital volumetric imaging of human hair fibers

Methods for examining cationic polymer deposition on hair are well known and polymers such as Polyquaternium-10 have enjoyed a significant commercial impact on shampoos and body washes as unique conditioning materials. It was recently reported that hair can be examined using a new microscopic called Digital Volumetric Imaging or DVI (10). By employing fluorescent dyes, deposition of cationic oligosaccharides onto damaged blond hair fibers was discussed. Because hair auto-fluorescences, the microscope allows for examination of hair fibers directly including viewing of the cuticle, cortex and melanin within the cortex and careful imaging even distinguishes the medulla of the hair fiber. In this paper, examination of six virgin hair types including: 1) Afro-American, 2) Asian, 3) European brown, 4) red, 5) blond and 6) gray was conducted looking for differences that each hair type brings to the visualizing technique. Digital manipulation of the fluorescent data allows for examination of interior hair fiber structures as well as the development of animated movies of three dimensional hair fiber structures.