hair

"Hair brained" scientists from the University of Bayreuth in Germany have found a way to observe hair follicles at the microscopic level while it moves and reacts to chemicals.

Hair follicles were mounted on the cantilever tip of an atomic force microscope, allowing the scientists to closely observe for the first time how hair follicles react while they rub against each other--and respond to environmental forces like "humidity, water content of hair, and hair stickiness," Eva Max said in a study presented by herself and Claudia Wood at the American Chemical Society's 236th National Meeting on Sunday in Philadelphia.

The observations are helping the team determine what chemical cocktail can be applied to make your hair healthier.

As you probably already knew from the dozens of hair commercials with graphics, rough hair follicles have scales that project out from their shafts, whereas conditioned hair follicles have scales that lay flatter against the shaft, making it feel smoother.

These scientists have been able to observe these rough hair follicle scales rubbing against each other and exacerbating problems of frizz and entanglement. Their friction creates a negative charge that makes individual hairs repel each other like magnets.… Read more

I've seen some hair-brained (hey-ooooo) ideas in my time, but this just might take the cake. For those of you who find Bluetooth headsets or the wired headsets that come with your cell phone too pedestrian, here's something that will certainly turn heads: a wired headset that looks like a hair dryer. Trust me, I wish I were making this up.

Yes, for just $7.59, you can talk to your family and friends through a hair dryer and be the object of various onlookers' ridicule envy. The cell phone hair dryer headset comes with various adapters that … Read more

It's been more than a year since we wrote of the "HairMax LaserComb" and, shockingly, we haven't heard of a single person walking away with a full pompadour in that time. So for those still in search of that elusive growth, it may be time to consider other options. Enter the "X5 HairLaser."

This latest miracle gadget delivers "15 distinct points of coherent laser light directly to your scalp at the optimum power and wavelength," according to Dvice, though it requires a commitment of three times a week at 10 to 15 … Read more

We've all got hair, and most of us leave it sitting around on top of our heads, just flapping about in the wind. That's a great shame, because geeks can do some marvelous things with it, when they put their mighty minds to it.

All of the nerds in this list deserve credit because they've got first-rate dork hair. It's either naturally brilliant or, through clever styling and a judicious use of hair products, has become worthy of our adoration.

Of course, some of the geeks in our list have developed their excellent hair as a … Read more

Hair plugs. It's a topic no one wants to talk about. Getting hair plugs is a sign of vanity. Besides, what if, instead of using spare arm or leg hair, they plant those crinkly, thick hairs from your big toe onto your head?

Restoration Robotics can't help with that problem, but it will help with the actual planting. The company has created a robot that assists doctors in this part of the operation. Now, doctors put in the hair plugs by hand, just like rice farmers. These robots can save time, money, etc.

The company has also just … Read more

The concept of a hair-straightening vending machine didn't make a whole lot of sense to me off the bat, but perhaps that's because my hair is naturally arrow-straight and I'm always drowning it in goo in ill-fated attempts to give it a little bit of life. But my curly-haired friends assure me that--especially in these humid summer months--hair straighteners installed in the bathrooms of bars and clubs would be a godsend.

And, yes, they'd be willing to pay a bit of cash to use them.

A company called Beautiful Vending is doing just that: manufacturing hair … Read more

Not everyone hates cellulite. Venture capitalists and medical device entrepreneurs like it.

Cellutions has raised $7 million from Versant Ventures, SV Life Sciences, Accuitive Medical Ventures and Carlyle Venture Partners to help it fund human testing for a medical device that smoothes out that lumpy cellulite skin texture that some people get, according to VentureWire.

The machine produced by Cellutions costs $69,000. Doctors buy it, and patients generally have to pay for this kind of aesthetic treatment out of pocket. Paying for treatment yourself, of course, means that if a doctor says "I have a Cellu-tion for you&… Read more

We at Crave aren't just about shiny, superficial gadgets--we care about superficial issues of personal appearance as well. Recently, for example, we highlighted a zit-zapping treatment for some of the younger readers of this blog. Now, for the other end of the age spectrum, we offer another public service announcement for the "HairMax LaserComb."

This device, which looks sort of like a curling iron for an Anakin princess, is designed to regenerate and thicken your hair using laser energy. Don't laugh: Medgadget says it's even gotten FDA approval.

This is scientific stuff, people. HairMax … Read more

Ah, to be young again. Being forced to grow up, we missed the whole rave thing. Flash mobs too. But now we're ready to play catch-up big time, with this self-illuminating hair gel. Just mix the gel, apply as directed, and you're good to go for up to 8 hours (which, at our age, is way more time than needed.) You can even enhance your Halloween accoutrements with it. Now we just have to figure out how to get it past airport security.

(Photo: House of Rave)