Differential wetting characterization of hair fibers

Surface wetting is one of the key properties of human hair used to indicate the extent of chemical/mechanical damage and the outcome of conditioning treatment. Characterization of hair wetting property is a challenging task due to the non-homogeneous nature of hair fibers and the requirement for sensitive equipment. Motivated by these considerations, we developed a new methodology, termed a differential wetting characterization (DWC), which would allow rapid and reliable characterization of the wetting property of hair fibers. This method is based on observation of a number of droplets suspended on a pair of parallel fibers stretched in a horizontal plane. The wetting behavior of the fibers can be deduced from the shape assumed by the droplets. When the wetting properties of the two hair fibers are identical, the droplets suspended between the fibers assume a symmetric configuration. In contrast, on the fibers with dissimilar wetting characteristics, the droplets will assume a skewed configuration towards a more hydrophilic fiber. This makes it possible to differentiate the hydrophobicities of the tested fibers. In this paper it is demonstrated that the proposed DWC method is capable of differentiating the changes in wetting property of hair surfaces in response to either chemical or physical treatment. Results of the paper indicate that the DWC method is applicable for broad wetting differentiation of various fibers.