Quantification of dandruff adherence to hair.

Dandruff adherence to hair shafts is a visible annoying phenomenon. The aspect can be recorded by different means including the ultraviolet light-enhanced visualization (ULEV) method and microscopy. We present another quantitative method. Hairs were clipped from the parietal scalp area of 25 volunteers complaining of dandruff. They were firmly applied onto cyanoacrylate-coated microscopic slides. Hairs were lifted up after 15-20 s leaving a cast in the adhesive coat. Dandruff were thus harvested from the hair shafts and remained attached to the cyanoacrylate coat. After staining, the material was submitted to image analysis to derive the dandruff density per unit length of hairs. In 11/25 subjects, a correlation was found between the width of the hair casts and the dandruff density. This method does not collect all dandruff along hair shafts, but data are likely representative of the whole corneocyte load.