Can you melt hair? [Answered: NO]

[the guy]

is it possible to melt hair in, like, a pan or an oven or something?

[insane_alien]

possibly if you used an inert atmosphere(nitrogen) otherwise it'll just catch fire.

 

although i suspect it will still decompose rather than melt

[the guy]

would it work if you melted it in a vacuum?

[insane_alien]

that would be more technically involved than an inert atmosphere for the same result.

[the guy]

wouldn't helium be a better atmosphere than nitrogen since it's less reactive?

[insane_alien]

in theory yes, in practice, nitrogen is cheaper and its not going to react with anything in hair unless under extreme conditions.

[padren]

Out of curiosity, wouldn't melting it in a vacuum result in some elements evaporating?

[YT2095]

no it`s not possible to melt it (with heat) but you can dissolve it.

[CaptainPanic]

Hair is made of keratin (a polymer of amino acids).

These will decompose, not melt. You'll most likely end up with, Piperidine, or Diketopiperazine... or compounds that look like that. In fact, you'll probably end up with both, and a lot more. Hair consists of many amino acids, and they'll fall apart and form many different compounds.

 

I suggest heating in presence of nitrogen. There is already so much nitrogen bonded to the hair, that the little bit that might react from the nitrogen-gas will not make a huge difference. Don't bother with any other (more expensive) gas.

[the guy]

could you grow keratin in a lab? if so how? could you grow it in a mould or somehow get it to grow in a certain shape?

btw when i say grow its just a generalisation if theres another method please speak up.

[CaptainPanic]

I'd polymerize it, or indeed grow it (but not in a lab, but simply on your head, then cut it ).

 

Did you read the wikipedia website (I already provided the link)?

 

Keratin is, as mentioned before, a polymer is amino acids. You have to make the peptide bonds to polymerize that. It is an amino acid condensation. I found this website that has a nice little animation of the reaction.

 

The big trick is:

1. to get the amino acids to polymerize in the right order (it is not just 1 amino acid, but several types).

2. to get the keratin polymers to interact in the right way to become a real hair... although... this second step might not be the most important if you want to melt it anyway (which is not possible).

 

Synthetic keratin exists. Just google for it until you find how to make it.

[gosubotic]

Hello...

 

I know that this is not a scientific question, but science could maybe help me here...

 

Please tell me how could I decompose hair...

Some human hair and hair from carpets (synthetic) stuck around the wheels of my boy's walker, so the wheels cannot spin. How could I decompose that hair, without damaging the plastic wheels.

Are they any chemicals that I can find easily in a store, that could solve my problem?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Phi for All]

Hello...

 

I know that this is not a scientific question, but science could maybe help me here...

 

Please tell me how could I decompose hair...

Some human hair and hair from carpets (synthetic) stuck around the wheels of my boy's walker, so the wheels cannot spin. How could I decompose that hair, without damaging the plastic wheels.

Are they any chemicals that I can find easily in a store, that could solve my problem?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Doubtful. Tweezers and an Xacto knife are your best bet, if I'm accurate on the scale here.

[StringJunky]

 

Doubtful. Tweezers and an Xacto knife are your best bet, if I'm accurate on the scale here.

Bleach, apparently. Also, Hair removal cream.

Edited December 13, 2016 by StringJunky

[Phi for All]

Bleach, apparently. Also, Hair removal cream.

 

I wouldn't have thought either would work on synthetic carpet fibers.

[StringJunky]

 

I wouldn't have thought either would work on synthetic carpet fibers.

I didn't see the synthetic part of the question. I tried a sample of my hair and didn't work; it must be synthetic. I tried 36% HCL and didn't work either.

[Phi for All]

I can appreciate the chemistry route, it would certainly be the coolest and most scientific. But I know there are also people out there (you know who you are -- that's right, I'm talking to you now) who LOVE doing this sort of thing physically. These are the people who always peel the warning labels from lighters, love untangling piles of yarn or holiday lights, twitch uncontrollably when they see a peeling sunburn, and don't suffer sweater pills lightly. Going after fibers in a caster with tweezers and a scalpel is their version of neurosurgery; they're removing something extraneous that's impairing brain function, mostly because now they know it's there it'll drive them crazy until they remove it.

[StringJunky]

I can appreciate the chemistry route, it would certainly be the coolest and most scientific. But I know there are also people out there (you know who you are -- that's right, I'm talking to you now) who LOVE doing this sort of thing physically. These are the people who always peel the warning labels from lighters, love untangling piles of yarn or holiday lights, twitch uncontrollably when they see a peeling sunburn, and don't suffer sweater pills lightly. Going after fibers in a caster with tweezers and a scalpel is their version of neurosurgery; they're removing something extraneous that's impairing brain function, mostly because now they know it's there it'll drive them crazy until they remove it.

My mother would stress about something like this. I asked for some rags once to clean something oily. She presented me with a carrier-bag of cloths, perfectly square-cut cloths, perfectly folded and smelling of conditioner. A friend of mine said to another friend, in my presence: " His mother could serve my dinner on her kitchen floor, give me a knife and fork and I'll eat it." Perfectionism is a mental illness.

[Phi for All]

Perfectionism is a mental illness.

 

So is relating everything to extremes. I prefer to think of those folks as fantastic administrators. We need them as editors so typos aren't missed. We need them as merchandisers to keep shelves stocked label out. We need these folks for mass mailings, so our holiday cards don't go out with crooked stamps and labels. A bit of OCD is practically required in some jobs.

 

And you have to admit, it's nice having a bag of clean cloths around for the oil and grease. My wife does that for me with old towels.