News Releases

December 2006

"Nano-objects" in Greco-Roman hair

What subject of study could bring together a team associating the French museum research and restoration center, in the person of Philippe Walter, l'Oréal; and a CNRS research director, Patrick Veyssière, of the Microstructures laboratory (LEM), in a combined CNRS-Onera research unit? "A preparation of the Greco-Roman era based on lead oxide and lime, for blackening grey or white hair," answered the LEM researcher.

Section of hair seen in the electron microscope perpendicular to the nano-crystal alignments of PbS.With the electron microscope, the favorite tool of this specialist in the plasticity of materials and which he can use to study how materials deform, he was able this time to observe how nano-particles of 5 nm distribute extremely regularly in each hair, making perfect alignments that give the hair its black color. "It is the very structure of the hair that causes these spectacular alignments. When this preparation is applied, the lead sheds its oxide and combines with the sulfur present in the amorphous sheath of the hair, which causes the formation of the nano-particles," said Patrick Veyssière, who emphasized that this research is of interest to cosmetology specialists. "It is important for the industries in the sector to know how a capillary product acts at the level of the intimate structure of the hair when it is applied."

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