Ionizing Hair Brushes

Factual Questions
1

Hi all -

What’s the deal with the “Ionic Hair Brush”, as sold by Sharper Image, or Brookstone, where we obtained our specimen. My wife claims the brush does improve her hair, while I’m concerned with the possible side effects or other risks associated with using this gadget. Apparently it puts out a quantity of ozone, which I understand is unhealthy. Any input on this?

Thanks,
Oliver

2

This question was asked yesterday:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=57365

3

so sorry - this board needs a search function :wink:

Cheers,

Oliver

4

Don’t be sorry. I took a look at that older thread posted above, and I did not find the replies satisfactory at all. In fact, I found the general attitude of the replies to be somewhat disturbing in the context of fighting ignorance. So after doing some web searches, here are my findings:

Hair is composed of the cortex and the cuticle. The cortex makes up the bulk of the hair, and consists of long strands of proteins called keratin. The cuticle is a layer of protective dead cells covering the cortex. When placed in contact with acids, cuticle cells will shrink and harden. This has the effect of making your hair stronger, shinier, bouncier, less likely to tangle, and more efficient at retaining moisture within the cortex.

In the field of chemistry, acids are often considered oxidizing agents, and vice versa. Ozone is a fairly good oxidizing agent. Based on the information presented above, the claim that ozone is good for your hair cannot be dismissed off hand without further study. The same reasoning also applies to the ambiguous claim that positive ions are good for your hair. Many acids and oxidizing agents are in fact positive ions, and they may very well be good for your hair. The choice of wording is inadequate, but I would not be surprised to find a company advertising its hair products as containing positive ions instead of acids.

You can visit one of the better non-commercial websites I came across here. This message board does have a search function by the way. You can find it at the upper right hand corner of each page.

5

Please feel free to post comments in the other active thread. Since this is a duplicate, I’m closing this copy.