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A woman smiles while holding and looking at various samples of hair.
A Teachers as Scholars workshop at the Princeton Center for Complex Materials focused on the science of hair as an introduction to the wide-ranging field of materials science. Photos by Sameer A. Khan/Fotobuddy

Teachers explore material complexities of hair in Princeton workshop

By

Molly Sharlach

on

Hair dyes and relaxants change the chemical bonds between hair’s keratin protein fibers and break the hair’s protective cuticle, transforming glossy tresses intro dry, brittle strands.

But the good news is that pairing these treatments with the right conditioners can strengthen the bonds that make hair strong and smooth. And students in a science lab can examine the chemical changes in dyed hair with or without conditioner, or hair that’s been blow-dried or immersed in chlorinated water — an accessible introduction to the world of materials science.

A group of K-12 teachers explored possibilities for these experiments and other lessons in a daylong workshop last December at the Princeton Center for Complex Materials. The teachers came to Princeton as part of the Teachers as Scholars program, which is in its 26th year of offering enrichment opportunities for teachers in the Princeton area.

Led by Janine Nunes, director of education outreach at the Princeton Center for Complex Materials, the workshop introduced teachers to the wide-ranging field of materials science and to National Science Foundation-supported materials research at Princeton, which focuses on new ways to harness materials’ quantum properties and on tunable materials that use biological molecules.

A woman uses a laboratory pipette to place a drop of water onto a hair sample, which is illuminated by the light of a magnifying camera.
Nunes demonstrated how teachers could use hair extensions or students’ own hair to conduct a wetting experiment with a pipette and an inexpensive magnifying camera that connects to a computer. Measuring the contact angle of a water droplet on hair can reveal information about the integrity of the hair’s structure and the effects of different treatments such as bleach and conditioner.

Crucially, Nunes and her fellow instructors shared ideas to help teachers conduct experiments on hair with their students, providing an accessible entrée into the world of materials science. Nunes emphasized that materials scientists combine knowledge from physics, chemistry, biology and engineering to fabricate new materials and study their structures and properties. She said even simple experiments can provide a window into careers in materials science, which is at the forefront of technologies to improve electronics, medicine and the environment.

A woman stands at the front of a classroom, with a magnified image of a water droplet on a hair sample visible on a screen next to her.
The group watched as the water droplet settled on the hair sample.

The workshop is one of 14 Teachers as Scholars seminars offered this academic year on topics ranging from mental health in the classroom to an exploration of the life and art of Claude Monet. All are taught by Princeton faculty members or professional specialists, sometimes in conjunction with graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and guest experts.

For the “Hairy Materials Science” workshop, Nunes invited Ernesta Malinauskyte, director of hair research at TRI Princeton, a research institute that tests commercial and medical products for hair and skin. Malinauskyte’s presentation detailed the life cycle of hair and the differences in hair follicle shape that produce straight, wavy and curly hair.

Five people standing around a seated woman operating a microscope, with a magnified image visible on the screen above her.
Guest instructor Ernesta Malinauskyte showed a strand of her own hair under a scanning electron microscope at the Princeton Materials Institute. She did not treat her hair properly when bleaching it, she said, so the hair’s outermost layer, or cuticle, appeared ripped and uneven.

Hair is primarily made of a protein called keratin (which also makes up skin and nails). Malinauskyte outlined an experiment that teachers could bring to their labs: Soak hair in acid to separate keratin proteins into their component amino acids, and then do paper chromatography to examine the hair’s amino acid content, which differs among hair types and in hair treated with various products.

Nunes first developed materials science lessons focused on hair for the 2024 Princeton University Materials Academy, a three-week high school summer program hosted by the Princeton Center for Complex Materials.

A woman delivers a presentation in front of a blackboard. She is smiling and gesturing with her hands.
Ananya Chakravarti, a Ph.D. student in chemical and biological engineering at Princeton, gave a presentation on tools for visualizing data and on teaching students to tell the story of their experiments.

“What was fascinating for me is that we allowed the students to ask the questions themselves, because everybody has some reference point when it comes to hair,” Nunes told the teachers. “A lot of the students wanted to know about the effect of heat on their hair and of various products. For me it was a very interesting, very rewarding experience.”

The Teachers as Scholars program began at Harvard University in 1996, and has extended to include colleges and universities across the country. Now in its 26th year, the TAS program at Princeton University was originally launched with support from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Since 2001-02, the program has been sponsored jointly by area schools and districts working together with Princeton’s Program in Teacher Preparation. The program is registered as a Professional Development Provider for the State of New Jersey.