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Dr Paul Cornwell, Director at TRI
Dr Philippa Cranwell, Technical Content Creator at TRI
Ask any child to describe Santa and they’ll likely say that he wears a big red suit, he has a big belly that wobbles when he laughs, and he has a big gray beard. And it’s Santa’s beard, and the products that he could use on it, that we’re going to look at today in this festive article.
When looking at beard products, it’s likely that Santa uses them for a number of reasons including conditioning, softening, styling, hydration and shine. Quantifying all these outcomes using comprehensive testing will be discussed toward the end of the article, but first, let’s take a close look at beard hair and how it’s different to scalp hair.
Structural and mechanical features of beard hair
While the structural characteristics and mechanical properties of scalp hair are well- elucidated through numerous scientific studies, the same body of literature in relation to beard hair is comparatively lacking. An initial study by Tolgyesi and co-workers from Gillette in 1983 showed that beard hair has diameter approximately twice that of scalp hair, tends to be more elliptical, have more cuticle layers and a higher instance of medullation. Interestingly, beard hair was also found to have fewer disulfide bridges when compared with scalp hair, due to a lower cysteine content. This may explain the lower elastic modulus in beard hair, faster swelling behavior and a greater susceptibility to chemical treatments.
Later work by Smith, Crocombe and Thozhur confirmed these findings, and noted that: ‘[the] distal edges of cuticle scales on beard hairs were often less chipped than on the corresponding scalp hairs. This was probably due to less mechanical damage having been inflicted by grooming practices on the beard than on the scalp hair’. This is reassuring for Santa, but he might still want to use beard oils to help keep his beard hair in good condition, and nice and shiny.
An aging beard: likely comparable with aging hair
The other aspect that Santa likely must contend with when conditioning his beard is aging. Google (and other sources) suggest that Santa is just over 1750 years old, which means that he will probably suffer from age-related changes to hair such as greying, thinning, loss and decreased sebum production.
While Santa’s hair is clearly gray now, he may have been able to slow the graying process through use of Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon angustifolium) extract, which has been shown to increase melanin synthesis and a reduction in beard grayness. In addition, now that Santa’s hair is gray, both his hair and beard are likely to be vulnerable to heat and UV damage, although the fact that he lives in Lapland and wears a hat means that his hair will be protected from this, but his beard may need additional defense.
Testing beard grooming products
When developing a product for beard use, there are several tests that we can use at TRI Princeton to benchmark products or collect data in relation to claims. For example, conditioning effects are quantifiable through hair combing and hair friction tests, and hair frizz tests could be used to test the effects of products on beard bushiness. The gloss levels on white hair are difficult to measure on the tress shine test, so sensory tests (outside of TRI) would be needed to test the shine benefits of beard treatments.
Finally, while hair testing often focuses upon the impact of a product upon the tresses themselves, the impact upon scalp and skin is also important. Scalp (and chin) dryness can be evaluated through monitoring of scalp and skin-care actives. In this case, the Skin & BioSubstrates team can undertake ELISA assays, image analysis for skin scaling and sebum analysis to probe how products interact with the skin.
Contact us today to discuss your hair and scalp product testing needs.