Ever since the beginning of its involvement in hair research, TRI/Princeton had been asked frequently by the cosmetic industry to organize conferences on hair science on a regular basis. We hesitated because of our desire not to compete with the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, with which we enjoy a healthy professional association. However, in 2003, the SCC agreed that we could arrange a meeting that would not conflict with either their Scientific Seminars in May or their annual event in December. The result was the First Conference on Applied Hair Science, held June 9–10, 2004. We decided to hold it biennially in even‐numbered years, not to conflict with the Hair Science Symposium organized by the German Wool Research Institute (DWI), which is held in Europe in odd‐numbered years. Ever since the beginning of my involvement in hair research, nearly two decades ago, there has been a feeling that cosmetic research is ‘soft’ on science. This view has been changed radically by the industry, with capital investment in R&D and by attracting highly qualified professionals, as evidenced by excellent papers in the SCC's Journal of Cosmetic Science. We thought this conference would further affirm to the world the high quality of research conducted in the cosmetic industry today. This has been borne out by the quality of the papers presented in the oral and the poster sessions, and also by the large attendance of professionals from different countries of the globe. Being the first conference on applied hair science, and being uncertain as to the number and the subject matter of the presentations, we could not restrict papers to specific areas of research. This made the organization of the papers in these proceedings difficult. I have tried to arrange them as best I could in a simple order. The first half of the proceedings covers physical and surface chemistry, microscopy, theoretical modeling, and fiber science, and the second half covers photodamage, sun protection, and the chemistry of shampoos and conditioners and other haircare products. I hope these proceedings, now and in the future, will be a good indicator of the quality of research conducted in the cosmetics industry. I also hope that this conference will encourage more innovative research, leading to better products. We thank the SCC for its support and its agreement to publish the papers in a supplement to the Journal of Cosmetic Science. We thank our colleagues in the industry for their effort in making this conference a success, a number of cosmetics companies, and Cosmetics & Toiletries magazine for its sponsorship of this conference. We thank Eleanor Lehman and her team for organizing the conference and the members of the TRI staff for their help during the conference. Yash K. Kamath Conference Chair Research Director TRI/Princeton