Heat-Styling Hair Care Products Release Billions of Nanoparticles That Can Accumulate in Lungs

janrinok writes:

https://phys.org/news/2025-08-styling-hair-products-billions-nanoparticles.html

A Purdue research team led by Nusrat Jung, an assistant professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering, and her Ph.D. student Jianghui Liu, found that a 10-20-minute heat-based hair care routine exposes a person to upward of 10 billion nanoparticles that are directly deposited into their lungs. These particles can lead to serious health risks such as respiratory stress, lung inflammation and cognitive decline.

The team's findings are published in Environmental Science & Technology.

"This is really quite concerning," Jung said. "The number of nanoparticles inhaled from using typical, store-bought hair-care products was far greater than we ever anticipated."

Until this study, Jung said, no real-time measurements on nanoparticle formation during heat-based hair styling had been conducted in full-scale residential settings. Their research addresses this gap by examining temporal changes in indoor nanoparticle number concentrations and size distributions during realistic heat-based hair styling routines.

"By providing a detailed characterization of indoor nanoparticle emissions during these personal care routines, our research lays the groundwork for future investigations into their impact on indoor atmospheric chemistry and inhalation toxicity," Jung said. "Studies of this kind have not been done before, so until now, the public has had little understanding of the potential health risks posed by their everyday hair care routines."

What makes these hair care products so harmful, Liu said, is when they are combined with large amounts of heat from styling appliances such as curling irons and straighteners. When combined with heat exceeding 300 degrees Fahrenheit, the chemicals not only rapidly release into the air but also lead to the formation of substantial numbers of new airborne nanoparticles.

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