Fun Science Projects about Hair

Walt Aldridge had a clue when he wrote My Love is Chemical:
When I see the way you paint your lips
and I smell your perfume
when I see the brand new color
that you’ve dyed your hair, too
I know, you know, it’s more than physical
My love, my love, my love, love is chemical

Follow me into the local beauty shop and day spa, and I believe we’ll find a dozen fun science projects in progress.

Take hair removal for instance. You could simply have a hair cut if you’re in a vanilla non-fun science project sort of mood that day. Snip, snip, clip, clip…that’ll be $40, please. Why stop there? Have you noticed that fuzz on your upper lip, my dear? You have a plethora of choices, daaahling. What’s least painful? What lasts the longest? What’s best for your skin in the long run? A good scientist needs to know.

There’s laser…there’s waxing….and for the more traditional and possibly for the ones with the highest threshold for pain, there’s threading. I speak from experience. I have approached the age where facial hair is a concern. If I were born a raven-haired beauty, I would’ve solved this dilemma years ago. If that were the case, I could wax nostalgic over such a fun science project right now, with a distant look on my face and a slight smile on my lips. Alas, this is not the case, for my experience in the name of science is all too current. For nearly half a century, my fair coloring allowed me to sashay through life with nary a thought of asking myself if facial depilatories were the way to go.

I would like to point out that I’m not a sissy. Do the words “natural child birth” mean anything to you? I have pushed out three babies employing no pain medication or epidurals. More to the point, I have had bikini waxes, leg waxes and arm pit waxes……but none of that was as painful as having my eyebrow hair pulled out by the roots by a tiny Thai woman with a spool of thread. I cried. I could be more stoic and tell you that my eyes watered – but I know the truth: I cried.

My friends tell me the pain is worth it. (People who participate in the same fun science project tend to share their findings.) The hair grows back slower and seems softer when it does. Waxing tends to make the hair coarser as it grows out. Now you know.

If you would like to find a fun science project, let me be the first to tell you that it doesn’t have to be painful. Take a look at the guides at Middle School Science Projects.com. Pay particular attention to “Hair Today – Gone Tomorrow.” Painless fun with hair. We promise.

For example, we had a heck of a time getting the hair the exact length we needed it. I mean, hair is little, tiny, and hard to grasp. We figured out a way – quite by accident – to get each strand the perfect length. Our other discovery is finding out what sort of stuff is in cosmetology products. We have boys, and they don’t exactly use anything on their hair other than shampoo – and sometimes I have to remind them to use that! Anyhow, I didn’t know about peroxide and lemon juice and the difference between highlighting and stripping color. Thanks to some interviews with real cosmetologists, I’m much better informed.

Of course, we have more fun middle school projects up our sleeve. Right now my kitchen has a slight smell of sour milk and our cabinets are splattered with purple cabbage juice. I’ve got orange pulp in my fingernails, and the taste of club soda in my mouth. (I know, you’re not supposed to taste any of the experiments!)

But we’re sailing toward getting this package of products done! I can’t wait.

PS If you need a science project now, get our free Parent’s Guide to a Science Project at 24 Hour Science Projects.com!

So then we thought about tape. First, I used medical tape, because it’s white and you can write on it. (It’s important to label your variables.) But the medical tape didn’t hold the hair; it just slipped out. Regular cellophane tape wasn’t successful either. But finally, we found a great solution. But you’ll have to get the middle school guide to find out!

Designing an experiment often involves experimenting with the experiment. It can take a long time to find out what works and what doesn’t. When you have a due date looming, you don’t have time on your side. But don’t worry. We’ll have all the kinks worked out of the hair project (pun intended!) when it is published. Our goal is to take the guesswork out for your family, so that you’ll have a step by step list for a science project that works!

PS Right now we’re kicking around titles for our science project about hair – “Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow”, “Splitting Hairs”, “Hair Conditioning”, and other less catchy attempts. Leave a comment below if you have any ideas!