Highlights

•: Graphene hair dyes can be applied by spraying, brushing, and then drying
•: Graphene hair dyes do not contain organic solvents or toxic molecular ingredients
•: Durability of graphene dyes has reached the performance of permanent hair dyes
•: Graphene dyes render hair enhanced antistatic and thermal dissipation properties

The Bigger Picture

Replacing toxic molecular ingredients with graphene-based sheets can lead to safer hair dyes. Multifunctional hair dyes that leverage graphene’s high surface area, flexibility, electrical and thermal conductivity, and antibacterial and barrier properties can be created to render tunable hair color as well as enhanced human comfort, health, and aesthetics. The waste from graphene-coated hair can be recycled and repurposed for the creation of functional materials for other electronic or energy storage devices. Other than fashion and aesthetics, graphene-based hair dyes could also potentially benefit the development of electronics interfacing with the body, as well as livestock farming and the development of humanoid robots.

Summary

Graphene-based sheets are found to be excellent hair dyes. Graphene oxide (GO) and its reduced form r-GO can be used to create water-based formulations to form smooth and continuous coatings on hair. This not only avoids the use of toxic, small molecular ingredients in common hair dyes but also renders new properties of hair for enhanced comfort, such as greatly improved antistatic performance and heat dissipation. After drying, the graphene hair dyes can form a strongly adhering coating on hair surfaces, which can resist repetitive washing with shampoo, and thus reach the performance requirement of permanent hair dyes. The color of the GO coating can be gradually darkened or patterned to create the effect of gradient dyeing, and the lightness of the resulting r-GOcoating can be adjusted through the loading level to produce different shades.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

SDG3: Good health and well-being

SDG9: Industry, innovation, and infrastructure

SDG12: Responsible consumption and production

Keywords

hair dye

graphene

graphene oxide

antistatics

thermal dissipation

ombre dyeing

black pigment

coating

functional textile

cosmetics

View Abstract

Highlights

The Bigger Picture

Summary

UN Sustainable Development Goals

Keywords

Leave a Reply Cancel reply