Chemical- and photo-bleaching of brown and red hair
Leszek J. Wolfram , Linda Albrecht

Synopsis

The color of mammalian hairs is mainly due to the presence of melanin pigments that are introduced into the keratinized cytoplasmic protein during the process of fiber formation. The melanins fall into two chemically distinct classes: eumelanin, derived from enzyme oxidation of DOPA, and pheomelanin, formed from 5-S-cysteinyl DOPA. The eumelanin is found in black and brown hair while pheomelanin is the red hair colorant.

The changes in hair color that are attendant upon bleaching of hair with hydrogen peroxide or upon exposure to sunlight have been followed using reflectance measurements. Our data suggest that pheomelanin is more resistant than eumelanin to chemical or photo-degradation, a finding supported by a parallel series of in vitro experiments with the isolated pigments. We have also observed shifts in the hue of bleached tresses and have proposed an explanation of these in terms of changes in physical and spectral characteristics of the melanin pigment.

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