A mechanical model of overnight hair curling

Abstract: Based on the observation of overnight hair curling procedure, we establish a mechanical model to describe the temporary wave formation of straight hair (initial curvature is zero), which incorporates the contact between hair and hair roller. Systematic studies are carried out to explore the effects of radius ratio between hair and hair roller, hair’s average axial strain, creep time, Poisson’s ratio and gravity on the curl retention. The variation of curl retention with respect to time obtained from our numerical model is validated by a simple theoretical model and by overnight curling experiments on hair samples. The results of simulation show that overnight hair curling is suitable to create a wavy hairstyle within about 7 hours, while the combined usage with hair fixatives enables a wavy hairstyle with desired curvature that lasts for a day or more. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2015, EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.