Studying the knowledge and habits of university students about personal hair care

The aim of research is study the knowledge and habits of university students about personal hair care. In the direction of this aim, first of all, characteristics of the hair students have, their reasons for hair conditioning, sources of information about hair care, characteristics they pay attention while selecting cosmetic products and hair problems they face most frequently have been searched. Later, the habits of the students related to hair washing, hair straightening, permanent wave, hair dyeing and haircutting have been examined. Student of Gazi University constitute the population of this research. Sample consists of 450 female students attending Faculty of Vocational Education, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences and Faculty of Commerce and Tourism in 2001-2002 academic year. In the research, a questionaire has been prepared by the researcher in order to expose the knowledge and habits of university students about hair care. Percentage, frequency and chi-square analyses of the data gathered have been made. The lowest level of importance has been taken as 0.05. Related to general knowledge about personal hair care of university students, it has been found that 41.6 % of the students has fine hair, 38.4 % has medium hair and 20 % has coars hair. Again, it has been observed that 50.5 % of the hair sturucture of students according to its shape is wavy, 40.9 % is straight, and 8.7 % is curly. When the condition of students' hair skin is studied, it has been noticed that 45.6 % has medium hair skin, 28.4 % has oily hair and oily hair skin, 14.2 % has dry hair and dry hair skin. Besides, as for the natural hair color of the students, it has been established that 51.5 % has chestnut-brown hair, 27.8 % has brown hair, 15.8 % has black hair and 4 % has blond hair. It has been indicated that 42.9 % of female university students have hair care to maintain their hair contition and they get information about this subject from hairdressers at most (41.3 %), 30.2 % of them go to hairdressers once a month and mthe most important factor determining their preference is the knowledge and skill of the hairdresser. According to the frequency of the process, it has been found out that 69.3 % of the processes students have most in hairdressers is straightening, 43.6 % is cutting, 13.6 is washing, 6.3 % is dyeing and 5.7 % is permanent wave. It has been observed that 32.9 % of the problems students face most frequently is alopesia, 13.1 % is breakage and split ends. Students have explained that suiltabilty for their hair structure is the feature they pay attention at the most while selecting cosmetic products, and they have stated that they are mostly influenced by the advertisements. In the chapter where information concerning opinions and habits of university students about hair washing is given, it has been indicated that 98.2 % of female university students use shampoo to wash their hair. In the chapter where opinions and habits about temporary shaping are discussed, it has been established that 75.3 % of the students have had their hair straightened. When opinions and habits about permanant shaping are asked, it has been found that 14.7 % of the students have had their hair permed. In the chapter about opinions and habits related to hair dyeing, it has been found out that 46 % of the students dry their hair or they have their hair dyed. Related to the opinions and habits of university students concerning haircutting, it has been established that 29.4 % of the students have their hair cut once in three months, 27.1 % of them have their hair cut once in six months, 16.4 % have their hair cut once in two months and 12.4 % of them have this process once a month. It has been discovered that hair cut model which is prefered at the most is folded hair cut with the percentage of 55.8. Besides, it has been noticed that 33.1 % of the university students do not pay attention to the sterile condition of the tools used during haircutting.