Hair damage is caused by several chemical and physical factors. Each kind of damage affects different parts of the hair structure (cuticle and cortex) and may be noticed differently by consumers. This work aimed to assess how trained panelists perceived several types of damage to different hair types. Therefore, we prepared wavy and tight curly tresses and submitted them to standardized chemical and physical damages. A trained panel performed sensory analyses of the damaged tresses compared to virgin hair. In the analysis, the panelists assessed eight different sensory attributes: glow, silkiness, smoothness, dryness, combability, volume, frizz, and balance. The results showed that damage from UV exposure most affected the sensory attributes of hair tresses. Hair treatments that promote fiber alignment (straightening and thermal damage) had “hidden” harmful effects and attributes were noticed as if hair had improved.
Practical Application
Consumer's hair suffers damage daily from many sources. Most previous studies have reported the results of instrumental assessments of these damages, without considering how they are perceived by people. The current study assessed how panelists noticed hair damage from different sources to better understand damage from the consumer's point of view.