
Shampoo and Hair Tensile Strength
Medium
Does the shampoo you use change how strong your hair is? You soak strands of hair in three different shampoos and then pull each strand until it snaps. A spring scale measures the force it takes to break the hair.
You wash groups of five strands in Pantene Pro-V, Thermasilk, and Pert Plus. After rinsing and drying, you attach each strand to the scale and pull. The reading at the moment the hair breaks is its tensile strength (the maximum force it can handle).
The results show clear differences between brands. Pert Plus produced the strongest hair in seven out of ten trials.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that Pantene Pro-V will give the hair the greatest tensile strength.
Method & Materials
You will gather strands of hair, mix shampoo with water, swish the hair in the mixture, rinse the hair, dry the hair, and measure the pressure until the hair breaks.
You will need a spring scale gauge, 10ml of Pantene Pro-V, 10ml of Thermisilk, 10ml of Pert Plus, 250ml liter beaker, 75 strands of regular hair, 4 sheets of paper, 1 pencil, and 1 white cotton towel.
Tinker Crate — science & engineering build kits for ages 9–12 — real tools, real experiments, delivered monthly. (Affiliate link)
See what’s includedResults
The results of the experiment showed that Pert Plus worked the best on seven of the trials, Thermisilk worked best on one, and Pantene Pro-V on two. This suggests that Pert Plus worked the best out of the three shampoos.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it helps people know which shampoo will make their hair stronger so it won’t break off easily.
Also Consider
Variations to consider include testing different types of hair, using different amounts of shampoo, and using different types of shampoos.
Full project details
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