Shine

When I see my hair shiny (Not oily shiny. I mean ACTUALLY shiny), I know my hair is healthy. Shine, along with smoothness, is actually a very strong indicator of the health of your hair.

In this experiment, shine was measured two ways: pictures and ratings. Participants rated the shine of their hair every time they measured data. But what if they forget how shiny their hair was last time? To avoid any confusion, participants were asked to take pictures of their hair every time they measured shine. They used to same lighting, same room, same angle, same distance in every picture to avoid error.

Below are the results from the ratings participants gave in the control group and the experimental group. On the graphs, you will notice random words and numbers clumped together on the horizontal "Participant" axis, as well as "B[number] and A[number]."

Each participant is represented on the graph. Since I can't give away the participants' names and reveal their identities, I decided to create a code for each participant.

"F17IndMW" represents a participant who is F (female) 17 (years old) Ind (Indian ethnicity) M(medium hair length) and W(wavy hair texture). Similarly, F18ChiMS applies to the participant who is female, 18 years old, Chinese, medium hair length, and straight hair type.

"B[number] and A[number]" represent each of the four weeks, and two data points from each week. B1 means week 1, before hair wash, and A1 means week 1, after hair wash. You can follow along with this points through the graph to understand the context behind each data point in these data models.

VS.

Similar to self expression, shine seemed to be quite random for participants in the control group. Over the four weeks, they randomly had shiny hair one day and the next, their hair was reported to be dry and brittle. This could be explained from external factors that are outside the scope of control for this experiment. However, only 20% of the control group experienced an increase in shine after the four week, compared to 70% of participants in the experimental group.

Shine could defer based on ethnicity, as we all have different hair types that can be largely influenced by our genetics and ethnicity. Thus, I compared shine based on ethnicity in both groups.

In the control group, participants of all ethnicities experienced a decrease, minimal increase, or constant change in shine ratings. It seems like on average, shine didn't drastically change, but the changes were mostly a decrease in shine. This is relatively normal, we all have our days when our hair is greasy or unhealthy. However, in the experimental group, we see shine either staying constant or increasing, but mostly increasing.

Many participants using the Ayurvedic oil mentioned that their hair wasn't necessarily shinier, but it was softer. Compared to the other factors we tested in this experiment for indications of healthy hair, shine seemed to not be as effective as the other factors, such as hair loss, self expression, and confidence.