Abstract: Polluted air environment was established based upon a simulating chest that filled with cigarette smoke.Bundles of healthy virgin hair and hair that exposed many times in the cigarette smoke were tested and performance compared,including carding of dry hair and wet hair,surface contact angle,tryptophan level and surface cuticle morphology.Results show that the exposure in cigarette smoke results in significant chemical damage of the hair.Especially,after exposure in the polluted environment,the hair cuticle of the healthy hair is damaged,and its keratin is degraded,which causes the hair fibers becoming more hydrophilic and tangling for carding.This method has been applied to prove that the polymer polyimide-1 can be used for protecting hair damage caused by polluted air.

Key words: hair damage, cigarette smoke, simulation, cuticle, keratin, polyimide-1