Evaluation of the Ozone Effects on Human Hair Fiber: A Preliminary In Vitro Study

ABSTRACTResearch with ozone has shown potential for applicability, including use of ozone as an environmentally friendly alternative to personal care products (PCPs). However, for hair, there are few studies indicating the safety of using ozone gas, especially when in contact with hair fiber. The aim of this study was to characterize possible physicochemical changes that may occur in hair strands exposed to ozone gas. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and profilometry for surface analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) with attenuated total reflection (ATR) for chemical analysis, Thermogravimetry, and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) for structural analysis were used. SEM and profilometry techniques showed evidence of changes in appearance of the hair fiber. While FTIR-ATR showed degradation of characteristic peaks on the hair infrared spectrum, with major changes at peaks 2920, 2851, 1633, 1235, 1075, and 1043 cm−1, also associated with the cuticle and mainly related to the cell membrane complex (CMC). Thermogravimetry and GIXRD have shown the possible effect of ozone on human hair amino acids. The results obtained indicated that ozone gas applied on human hair showed oxidative action. Therefore, additional studies are required before discussing the replacement of PCPs by gas ozone.KEYWORDS: Amino acidsHuman hairOxidationOzonePersonal care products (PCPs) AcknowledgmentsWe thank Laboratório de Plasmas e Processos from Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, Brazil, for providing the analysis on the equipment Frontier infrared spectrometer and PANalytical Empyrean.P. A. L. I. Marrafa acknowledges the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil) for the Doctorate scholarship – Financing Code 001.B. A. Kawata acknowledges the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES, Brazil) for the Post-Doctoral fellowship.A. U. Fernandes, A. B. Fernandes, and C. J. de Lima acknowl-edge the Anima Institute (AI), Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.A. B. Fernandes thanks CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) for the pro-ductivity fellowship (Process No. 310708/2021-4).Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Data availability statementThe data that support the findings are available on request from the corresponding author, Marrafa PALI. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information from doctorate thesis.