The 3rd Multi-Ethnic Hair and Scalp Care Symposium will take place live and on-line (in a hybrid format), on Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th June, 2023. This year, in-line with TRI’s charitable mission to support education & training in our industry, we are offering new discounts on registrations for students who wish to join the Symposium (details below). For general details about the scientific programme, click here. For registrations, click here.
TRI is a not-for-profit organisation, set-up over 90 years ago, to support industry through innovative research, education, and testing services. TRI supports education by delivering on-line courses, on-line seminars (TRI Talks), conferences and symposia, and through curation and sharing of all this knowledge in the TRI Library. TRI staff also provide lectures to university students in the UK and US, support for Masters’ projects, and training in laboratory skills through our internship programme. In addition to all this, in the future, TRI has plans to return to supporting PhD projects in partnership with universities.
This year, for the Symposium, we would like to offer students discounts on registration. Standard registration costs $400 per head, however, for students, this will be reduced to $200. We can also offer group registrations for students that will go as follows: 1-5 students ($600), 1-10 students ($1,120) and unlimited students from one institution ($2,240). For more information about these offers and how they can be applied-for, contact us at events@triprinceton.org
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The three-point-bending test is, at present, a very seldom-used measurement in the hair category. Dr. Xuzi Kang, at TRI Princeton, has taken this method out of the drawer and looked at it afresh. Her studies have shown that the three-point bending test can measure the effects of damage on hair softness, and open new opportunities for damage repair claims. Her work has also shown that the technique can measure the degree of set delivered by different styling products and their resistance to humidity.
Test description
The 3-point cantilever bending technique is a test used to measure the strength and flexibility of the hair. It involves applying a force at a specific point between two supports and measuring the amount of deflection at the middle point. The amount of deflection measured can be used to calculate various properties of the hair, such as its stiffness, toughness, etc. [1].
Pre-treated hair tresses are mounted to the 3-point cantilever bending machine, and the probe goes 1 cm into each hair tress to form the bending. The peak force of the 1st cycle (F1) is used to determine the stiffness of the tress. The area under the curve (AUC) evaluates the toughness.
Effects of hair damage.
Recent work, using the three-point bending technique, has revealed that bleach damage makes bundles of hair less easy to bend when gently pressed. These experimental data match what consumers say about their damaged hair feeling stiffer and drier. The question now is, can we make damaged hair softer again with cosmetic treatments? Watch this space!
Degree of styling hold and effects of humidity
The degree of hold from styling polymers is often measured using the curl drop test, however recent studies suggest that the three-point bending test might be equally effective. The degree of hold measured by the three-point bending is also sensitive to moisture, opening opportunities for humidity resistance claims.
Conclusions
The 3-point cantilever bending technique is a powerful tool specifically for testing hair care products such as conditioners, fixatives (spray, gel, mousse, etc.), and bleaching products. By providing an objective assessment of the mechanical properties of hair, this technique enables researchers to test claims about the performance of their hair products under different humidity mimicking real life. With its ability to measure multiple parameters, the 3-point bending technique is a sensitive method for hair care product developers to make claims about the benefits of their products.
For more information about these and other test methods, contact us.
Reference
1. Development of a three-point cantilever bending technique to study the mechanical properties of hair styling ingredients. RogerL.McMullen, TimGillece. DOI:10.1111/srt.13256.
This year, for the first time, TRI will be awarding certificates for those successfully completing the course on Fundamentals of Hair Science and Hair Claims. An on-line test will be offered to all attendees at the end of the course, and certificates for ‘Successful Completion’ of the course will be awarded to those passing the test. We hope this will help attendees by providing hard evidence of their training and continuous professional development (CPD). Register for the course by clicking here.
The annual on-line TRI hair training course usually attracts over 100 attendees from around the world and is often seen as a rite of passage for many people coming into the hair category. The course this year will be split into two main parts. On Day 1 there will be an introduction to hair structure and biology and to hair product technologies. On Days 2 and 3 the course will focus on the various techniques used for hair product testing and how these are used to support marketing claims. All the training material will be given by TRI scientists with in-depth experience in the fields they will be speaking on. Presentations, updated each year, will give the latest technical developments in all of the subjects covered.
Each day will finish with a light-hearted Kahoot! quiz to help remind attendees of key learning points from the day. Winners of the quiz will be world hair science stars for one day!
The course costs $250 to join, but, as usual, there are free places for TRI Member Companies, Academic Discounts and Group Discounts. Contact us for more details.