Depression of the melting temperature by moisture for alpha-form crystallites in human hair keratin.

DSC thermal analysis has been carried out for human hair samples with various moisture contents to investigate the melting temperature depression behavior of alpha-form crystallites in human hair. This is achieved by adopting a novel technique using silicon oil as the thermal medium, which permits hair samples to retain a range of moisture contents in between completely dry and fully saturated. The results show that the melting temperature of the alpha-form crystallites in human hair varies with moisture content from 205 degrees C for dry hair to 155 degrees C for the hair sample with moisture content of 23%. These experimental results are particularly useful for clarification of the conceptual ambiguities associated with the molecular properties of alpha-helices and alpha-form crystallites. Furthermore, the Flory-Huggins theory was employed to determine the water-helix interaction parameter (chi = 4.5) and the alpha-form crystallinity of human hair (22%), a figure consistent with that obtained by the XRD method (21%). (c) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.