Abstract
Human hairs from Asian female were irradiated with gamma rays up to 25 kGy and the damage to the hairs was investigated. The aspect of hair was unchanged. The moisture adsorption behavior as well as tensile properties for the hairs was also hardly modified within the gamma irradiation level used in this study although the tensile properties for cotton fabrics were seriously degraded. These results suggest that some amino-acid residues in hairs work as radical scavengers. This feature for the keratin protein may be convenient for designing a new functional materials for medical, cosmetic fields which can be sterilized with the gamma irradiation treatment.
