Testing Hair Combing with Sirtaki by Bossa Nova Vision

Providing cosmetic products that make hair healthier and more manageable is one of the main claims in the hair care industry. The combability of hair is directly related on how easy it is to comb through and gives us information on the alteration of hair surface and the state of cuticle. A poor combability means that fibers entangle with one another due to rough hair surface. That surface state may have been caused by external parameters (sun, humidity, pollution, etc.) but effective hair care products can counteract those adverse surface effects either by protecting the fibers from degradation or smoothing the hair surface.

To help with claims on combability and combing resistance, we are very excited at BOSSA NOVA Vision to introduce SIRTAKI. SIRTAKI is an automated combing instrument dedicated to hair swatches combing for mechanical abrasion studies. Up to 6 swatches can be combed simultaneously, at an adjustable combing rate between 1 and 2.33 Hz. SIRTAKI combs every swatch (flat or round) over a length of 6.5 inches (16.5 cm), and allows for an easy positioning (vertical and horizontal) of the swatches.

During the combing, broken fibers are collected on a back lit transparent tray with 6 individual compartments located at the bottom of the machine. This tray slides out, allowing a simple visualization of the broken fibers with a camera.

The automatic operation of SIRTAKI simplifies and expands the abilities of hair combing and mechanical abrasion.

The operator can adjust:

the total combing time
the total combing strokes
the number of tray images to be automatically acquired by the camera

For each tray image acquired, the combing stops and the tray slides out. The user can then monitor the number of broken fibers over time during the combing process. Manual or automatic processing of the tray images acquired during the combing process is easily done:

Manual processing can allow to count the number of broken fibers and their length over time
Automatic processing can be done significantly faster but reduces the measurement to the surface covered by broken fibers over time

Further development of the SIRTAKI by BOSSA NOVA Vision includes: