Blonde Goes Green?

Today at the American Chemical Society meeting, scientists from Japan reported development of what could be the world's first "green" hair bleach, an environmentally friendly preparation for lightening the color of hair on the head and other parts of the body without the unwanted effects of the bleaches used by millions of people each year. Kenzo Koike, Ph.D., pointed out that traditional hair bleaches rely on hydrogen peroxide. He described isolation of an enzyme from a type of "white-rot" fungus that has also shown potential to degrade and clean up pollutants in soil and which naturally degrades melanin. Koike proposes that it could be added to traditional hair bleaches to prevent hair damage, leading to hair care products that use less hydrogen peroxide (a "greeener" product overall). Laboratory tests show that the enzyme is effective in bleaching synthetic melanin and melanin in human hair.

Image: The color changes from conventional bleach are apparent as is the corresponding damage caused to hair fibers (bottom image). (Credit: Kenzo Koike)