Morphological study on the effect of a) chemical depilatory products and b) hair discoloration products on skin and hair follicles in mice

Abstract

The removal of unwanted hair from the human body can be achieved by special chemical products which act on keratin, the protein giving rise to the coherent hair structure. The active substances of these chemical products break disulfide bonds, mainly those of cysteine and act on hair keratin, destroying its structure. Hair color is due to melanin pigment, so discoloration of the hair improves the appearance by changing its color. Discoloration (bleaching) products consist of strong oxidizing agents that act in granules of melanin and change hair color in lighter, through chemical oxidation of melanin. However, as both hair and keratin layer of epidermis consist largely of keratin, these methods often cause unwanted damage to the skin. In the present study were investigated the histological differences after the application of different formulations of chemical depilatory and bleaching products on the mice skin, which were recorded in connection with the substance and parameters of application.