Investigation of the effectiveness of anthocyanins as hair dye

Throughout human history, many people have wanted to change the look of their hair. Because it was a way of differentiating social status. Hair dye has been used since Ancient Egyptian times when Ramses II used henna to change her hair color. Today, hair dyes are at an important stage of development. Great advances have been made in the discovery and application of new synthetic dyes since the Second World War. But lately there has been more concern about the toxic effects of oxidative hair dyes. Therefore, it is desirable to use natural colorants that minimize these side effects. This can be achived by natural colorants. Anthocyanins are a class of flavonoids reported as natural colorants. In addition to the use of anthocyanidins and anthocyanins as natural dyes, it has been stated in many studies that these colored pigments do not have toxicological effects. The red, purple and blue colors in fruits and vegetables are due to anthocyanins. Color and stability of anthocyanin pigments; It is affected by pH, temperature, light and their structure. Anthocyanins appear red in acidic condition but turn blue when pH increases. Anthocyanins also have also high free radical quenching antioxidant effect, UV protection, inhibition of melanin production and dermal penetration properties. In this study, when the total monomeric anthocyanin contents of the extracts obtained from black grapes, blackberry, blueberry, black elderberry, hibiscus and black bean were examined, the highest value was obtained in hibiscus (8.81±0.44 µg/L cyanidin-3-glucoside) and the lowest in blueberry (3.35±0.59 µg/L cyanidin-3-glucoside). The highest total phenolic content was found in black elderberry (534.84±9.31 µg GAE/g) and the lowest in hibiscus (45.8±4.78 µg GAE/g). The highest and lowest total flavonoid contents were found in black grapes (8.3±0.75 mg QUE/g) and blueberry (44.16±1.58 mg QUE/g), respectively. To determine the antioxidant capacity of plants, their 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical quenching activities were examined. Black beans showed the highest inhibition (91%) while elderberry showed the lowest inhibition (56%) at the same concentration. As bioactive natural colorants in hair dye formulations, extracted anthocyanins were found to effectively color hair. In order to evaluate the hair coloring properties of anthocyanins as an environmentally friendly alternative to commercially available hair dyes and to measure the fastness of the produced color under different conditions, experimental studies were conducted and it was found that the color was almost preserved for three washes. The potential of these natural hair dye formulations to offer an alternative solution to dyes containing synthetic chemicals is of great importance.