Testing rig evaluates hair care compatibility

The Hair Combing Rig is used in conjunction with the company's TA.XTPlus texture analyzer, giving it a mechanical function that allows continuous combing in order to replicate consumer action. "The results produced can be used to substantiate claims of improved manageability' and reduced breakage," the company claims. The technology will be a great boost for company's wanting to substantiate claims that there hair care products can help eliminated tangle and other hair-styling associated problems - providing concrete evidence to back such claims up. Part of a stable of products produced by the company to determine the efficacy of hair care products, the technology can also perform 'before and after' tests that definitively assess the effectiveness of the products, allowing them to be developed to their optimum. The principle for the technology is simple, the Hair Combing Rig is positioned on the texture analyser and the length of hair is held vertically, allowing the comb to be run through the hair and recording the necessary force it takes to de-tangle the hair. This process can be repeated many times. According to the company, both wet and dry samples can be tested and an automated data analysis macro can be added to the equipment as a means of providing additional properties such as tangle location and fixative 'brush-out'. Likewise the company says it can also develop the technology around specific key hair care testing requirements, to suit the needs of highly niche products, such as frizz control.