Cosmetically induced hair beads

Abstract

An Otherwise healthy 66-year-old white woman used two different types of hair spray daily. Hair changes appeared after a permanent wave in which the frontal hairs were especially closely rolled. The patient noticed that her hair had become dry and lnsterless with a tendency to break. Examination of the frontal hairs revealed numerous white nodes and irregularities along the hair shaft. The shafts contained about 6 to 20 droplike changes and appeared to have multiple breaks (Fig. 1). Light microscopy demonstrated that the hairs were encircled by a material with a glassy appearance that seemed to splinter at severn points (Fig, 2, A). Scanning electron microscopy showed that the hairs were encased by a gluelike material, and under the lacquer normal cuticles were visible (Fig. 2, B). We were able to determine that the hair sprays contained polyvinylpyrrolidonevinyl acetate-copolymer and acrylate/acrylamid-copolymer.