Waiter! There's a Hair in My Hygrometer! Evaluating a Hair Spray's Humidity Effectiveness Claim

Overview

Objectives/Goals My objective was to determine the validity of Aussie 12-Hour Hair Spray#s humidity effectiveness claim. I hypothesized the product successfully protects hair from the adverse effects of humidity as promoted. Methods/Materials Controls were established for hair selection. Two hair hygrometers were built and calibrated together, one as a control. Differences in the instruments# construction caused their reflective disks to rotate within different ranges; calibrating both hygrometers together reconciled their scales. A digital hygrometer validated the control hygrometer#s performance. One hair hygrometer was treated with Aussie 12-Hour Hair Spray. All three hygrometers were exposed to three levels of humidity, ranging from 23% to 100%, for timed intervals. The responsiveness of the treated hygrometer determined the validity of the product#s claim. Results Hygrometer calibration failed three times. Probable causes were identified and corrected. Successful calibration was essential for experimentation, and was achieved on the fourth attempt. In four separate experiments, the control, treated and digital hygrometer readings registered similar and consistent responsiveness to changes in humidity. Conclusions/Discussion The data contradicts the hypothesis. All three hygrometers respond similarly and consistently to humidity changes. If the Aussie product worked, the treated hygrometer#s data should have clustered around 31% (the reading at the time the hair was treated) indicating the product had successfully created a barrier between hair and humidity, evident in the hair#s failure to expand. However, upon review, a procedural flaw was discovered which may have skewed the data. Proposed theory: Twenty-five minutes exposure to 100%humidity #washed# away the hair spray#s water soluble resins. Further experimentation is recommended.

Competition history

• CSEF 2002 Chemistry · Entry S0507

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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