A Study on the Pre-Treatment Effects of Taraxacum platycarpum Extract Based Hair Mist in Heat Perming: Focusing on the Reduction of Physical Hair Damage

This study investigated the protective effects of a hair mist containing Taraxacum platycarpum (dandelion) extract applied prior to heat perm treatment. Key metrics included wave efficiency, tensile strength, cuticle morphology, fine structure observation, and damage assessed via methylene blue (MB) staining. Wave efficiency followed the order H3 (dandelion mist treatment) > H2 (base mist) > H1 (no pretreatment), with H3 achieving the highest wave curling efficacy at 39.51% (length: 102.83 ± 0.39 mm), compared to 33.65% (112.78 ± 0.33 mm) for H2 and 15.07% (144.36 ± 0.15 mm) for H1. Tensile strength ranking was H3 > V (untreated control) > H2 > H1; H1 exhibited the lowest strength (78.3 gf/mm<sup>2</sup>), while H3 demonstrated a significant recovery at 114.72 ± 18.10 gf/mm<sup>2</sup>— a 31.74% increase over H1 and nearly equivalent to V (114.03 ± 15.36 gf/mm<sup>2</sup>). Cuticle observations revealed severe damage and blurring in H1, moderate detachment and irregular spacing in H2, and a smooth, well-defined surface in H3 akin to that of V. Cuticle thickness measurements aligned with these findings: V at 373.33 ± 16.93 nm, H1 at 330.92 ± 32.02 nm, H2 at 378.42 ± 19.61 nm, and H3 at 357.19 ± 10.44 nm. MB staining showed OD values of 0.106 ± 0.0012 for V, 0.429 ± 0.0021 for H1, 0.202 ± 0.0089 for H2, and the lowest at 0.184 ± 0.0016 for H3. These results underline the practical utility of using a natural antioxidant-based pretreatment, which not only maintains wave formation and tensile properties but also significantly reduces damage, thereby supporting both healthy hair maintenance and enhanced styling outcomes.