TRI Princeton is an independent research institute focused on testing everyday consumer items for the Cosmetic and Personal Care sectors, such as hair, skin, scalp or nail products.  We are proud to have companies all around the world who support our work, and our research has long been held in high regard in the Personal Care Sector.  As our workload continues to grow, TRI is looking this year for a part-time laboratory assistant to support our team.

TRI is proud to partner with Brian Ecclefield, Jane Tervooren and the rest of the team at Validated Claim Support, LLC, a clinical research organization based close-by to us in New Jersey.  TRI and Validated Claim Support work together to provide cutting-edge skin measurement solutions and clinical testing services for our clients. Validated Claim Support is one of several CRO’s that TRI partners with to offer our clients in vivo skin measurements for cosmetic and dermatologi

TRI is proud to partner with the Consumer Product Testing℠ Company (CPT), an independent contract testing laboratory headquartered in Fairfield, New Jersey.  TRI and CPT will work together to provide product testing services to our clients, as well as complement our existing capabilities within analytical chemistry, clinical safety, efficacy, claims validation, photobiology, microbiology and in-vitro toxicology testing.

TRI is proud to partner with the team at Eurofins CRL, an organisation that provides customized safety and efficacy testing programs for cosmetic, beauty, personal care, and pharmaceutical products. In particular, they will enable TRI Princeton to design clinical trials and support our clients with their claims substantiation needs.

This fifth and final TRI Talk of 2025/26 was given by Dr. Samuel Gourion-Arsiquaud, and outlined the work that he has been undertaking with his team to use vibrational spectroscopy (which includes IR and Raman) to investigate the behavior of sunscreen formulations on the skin in a warming climate.

During the final months of 2025, the Hair Research Team participated in three complementary scientific events that reflected the full spectrum of modern hair science, from analytical chemistry and laboratory research, to clinical insight and consumer education.

The TRI annual hair conference is held on alternate years and is known to showcase the scientific advances made in the fields of hair biology, hair structure and properties, hair damage and new methods and technologies. This year is no exception, with several keynote speakers already announced.

Registrations for the popular ‘Fundamentals of Hair Science and Hair Claims’ course are now open. The course will take place on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th April 2026 and will be live streamed online. There are also limited places for attendance on-site at TRI.

This fourth TRI Talk of 2025/26 was given by Dr. Ernesta Malinauskyte and was a whistle-stop tour of the work that TRI has recently undertaken into the world of hair lipids. While Ernesta is greatly interested in this area, it’s also receiving a great deal of attention from the haircare industry, and the more that we learn about hair lipids, the more it’s becoming clear that they are a vital part of hair and scalp health.

TRI continued its tradition of excellence at the 79th Annual Scientific Meeting & Showcase of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC) in New York. Our booth was a vibrant hub of activity, where we reconnected with longtime collaborators and welcomed back former interns who are now thriving in their professional journeys. With over 45 expert speakers and 125+ posters, the meeting was a powerhouse of scientific exchange.

We are excited to announce our third keynote speaker for the 12th TRI International Conference on Applied Hair Science! Gabriela Daniels will give a presentation titled ‘Human hair diversity: Integrating science and consumer realities’. Our Conference will take place on Tuesday 2nd to Thursday 4th June 2026, at the Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank, New Jersey.

In recent years, beauty and biology have become increasingly intertwined, with products being developed for the market that contain ingredients specifically intended to have a particular outcome, for example brightening and firming the skin, reducing swelling, increasing hydration, and boosting elasticity.

After a brief introduction to the molecular structure of the hair fiber, including how the adjacent peptide chains with hair structure interact with each other, Larry gave an overview of vibrational spectroscopic techniques, including when to use IR or Raman to probe samples and a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each, with examples.

We are excited to announce our second keynote speaker for the 12th TRI International Conference on Applied Hair Science. Bernd Noecker, Director of Basic Research & Technology Development at KAO Germany will give a presentation titled ‘The molecular structure of Keratin Intermediate Filaments and its impact on Hookean and Yield regions of the stress-strain curve’. Our Conference will take place on Tuesday 2nd to Thursday 4th June 2026, at the Oyster Point Hotel, Red Bank, New

The TRI talks are 60-minute on-line seminars on a wide range of topics designed to both inform and inspire new ways of thinking.  The fourth talk in the series is by Dr. Ernesta Malinauskyte, Director of Hair Research at TRI, and will give insights into the hidden world of hair and scalp lipids.  

2025 was a busy one for the TRI team, with members attending several conferences worldwide, including NYSCC Suppliers Day in New York, Hair’S 2025 in Augsberg and IFSCC Cannes. We also hosted our annual TRI Talks, the 2025 Hair Course and our inaugural Fatigue Symposium and set-up the TRI Academy.

The third talk in the series is by Dr. Larry Senak, a Principal Scientist at TRI, and will consider the use of confocal Raman spectroscopy to determine the alterations to disulfides bonds in hair structure after chemical treatments (such as bleaching or relaxing), or thermal treatments (e.g. blow-drying and flat ironing). 

Martin gave an overview of the reasons for studying essential oil composition within plants, as well as the importance of identifying secondary metabolites formed as part of natural processes within the plant’s life cycle. Understanding the chemical structure was also touched upon, as a means for derivatization in later research for improving potency if necessary.

Analysis of wild polar bear sebum content was completed through the use of GC-MS, LC-MS/MS and NMR, all of which are also available as testing techniques at TRI Princeton. Overall, it was shown that waxes and glycerol species constituted the bulk of the lipids in the sebum.

TRI has shown that there is a lower friction force between silk and hair than cotton and hair. In medicine, silk is known to have smooth fibers that don’t irritate the skin and silk clothing can be an effective treatment for AD. Overall, evidence suggests that silk may help avoid friction-based damage of hair and skin.