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 TRI/Princeton
is internationally recognized as a premier center for human
hair research. For more than five decades, TRI has served
as "the other lab" for the industry, solving some
of its immediate problems and pioneering many inventive approaches
to the study of hair fibers and hair damage. A fundamental
understanding of the science behind hair grooming processes
is a prerequisite to developing successful and innovative
formulations. TRI continuously devises methodology and testing
capabilities that keep hair care on the cutting edge. Through
reproducible experiments, TRI provides quantifiable answers
to industry's questions and product claims about the many
cosmetic attributes desired by consumers.
Most of
our efforts are expended on applied research in support of
industrial clients. In addition to our client initiated research,
we have a number of programs on offer, seeking funding. What
kind of research can we do for you? Talk to us about your
interests.
Programs
on offer May 2008:
The
Appearance of Everyday Materials - Perceptually Relevant Measurements,
Coatings, Dyes, Pigments and Particles
Using a combination of optical measurements, image analysis
in combination with consumer data and an advanced understanding
of light scattering from colloidal systems there are several
opportunities to develop insight into cosmetically accessible
drivers of perception.
Application Areas: Skin Care, Color Cosmetics, Hair Care,
Hair Styling
Hair
Fiber - Screening Approaches to New Technology
Deploying methods from TRI/Princeton's consumer acceptability
toolkit in screening programs we seek evidence of unique performance
from new classes of treatment technology. These programs take
advantage of TRI/Princeton's ability to optimize both measurement
and analysis/data management to rapidly determine the viability
of new technology. Available screening assays include fiber
softness, deposition and lubricity.
Application Areas: Hair Care
UV
Protection of Hair - Developing a Hair Protection Factor
Building from relevant color fading assays applied to natural
and dyed colors, we seek funding for several concepts in the
standardization of a hair protection factor assay.
Application Areas: Hair Care, Hair Color
New
Softness Assays
Friction and compression based techniques that may correlate
well to softness/smoothness need funding to develop the relative
perceptual relevance of surface and bulk mechanical properties
to hair and skin.
Application Areas: Hair Care, Skin Care
Consumer
Technical Surveys - Clinical/Measurement Partnerships
TRI/Princeton has a great interest in executing both proprietary
and publishable assays of the real-world status of consumers.
The human studies side of these programs will be executed
in partnership with reputable clinical laboratories. TRI/Princeton
provides the technical measurements.
A few programs for which we are actively seeking funding include:
- Prevalence
of Silicone on Skin and Hair.
Screen subjects using in-vivo FTIR to detect silicone on
skin and hair to assess the actual prevalence, level of
use and longevity of silicone in the marketplace.
- Hair
Strength in the Marketplace.
Using samples collected from a range of consumers we propose
to screen for the variability of hair tensile properties,
indicators of manageability and individual variation in
the susceptibility of hair to chemical treatment.
- Real
World Hair Styles and Shine.
By capturing real world images of hair styles and correlating
these to technical measures of single fiber and tress luster
we aim to indicate the relevance of technical measures to
different market segments.
The
following facilities at TRI/Princeton are used in this research:
- TRI/Automated
Hair Comber™
- Combs hair in a consistent, reproducible manner, providing
insight into types and degrees of combing damage
- TRI/Fatigue
Tester™
- Measures strength and fatigue resistance by subjecting
hair fibers to repeated tensile deformation
- TRI/SCAN™
Surface Force Analyzer - Three-dimensionally maps the
surface energy of single hair fibers
- Diastron
- Generates stress-strain curves for wet or dry hair and
calculates parameters that characterize the mechanical properties
of hair
- Dynamic
Vapor Sorption -
Analyzes the sorption/desorption behavior of hair to evaluate
the moisturizing ability of formulations
- Fourier
Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometer (Attached to Advantage
Microscope) - Studies hair damage and presence of formulation
compounds on surfaces
- Goniophotometer
- Measures luster values of single hair fibers and tresses
- Image
Analysis Techniques
- Measures hair tress volume and product deposition and
coating uniformity
- Instron
Tensile Tester
- Measures tress compression energies to study the ability
of formulation to give body and softness to hair tresses
as well as combing force and interfiber friction
- Microfluorometer
-
Models and quantifies the diffusion of chemicals into hair;
detects and quantifies physical damage to hair fibers; and
measures surface deposits, build-up and dye diffusion
- Microspectrophotometer
(VIS and UV) - Examines the effect of UV exposure on
hair
- Scanning
Electron Microscope (FESEM)
- Maps fiber surfaces, cross-sections, and fracture behavior
- Single
Fiber Torsional Pendulum - Measures a hair fiber's resistance
to twisting and how much energy is dissipated from the fiber
- UltraScan
XE (Colorimeter) - Evaluates depth and intensity of
hair dyes and dye fading
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