Global science challenge seeks best solution to bleach hair

700,000 of the world's greatest minds turn their attention to finding the best solution for low-damage hair bleaching

27 February 2024 – A network comprising 700,000 of the world’s greatest thinkers has been tasked with finding the best hair bleaching solutions that reduce hair damage and provide more control over the intensity of the effect.

With around one-third of women dying their hair and the global haircare market worth $84.32 billion annually, hair bleaching is as popular as ever. Yet a 2021 study revealed that 86% of women with bleached hair described it as ‘stressed out’, ‘thin’, ‘split’, or ‘dry, while 40% blamed bleach for their hair damage.

The new challenge is taking place on Wazoku Crowd, a 700,000-strong crowd of scientists, pharmacists, start-ups, entrepreneurs and more. Wazoku Crowd has delivered more than 200,000 innovations in response to challenges and problems, with a success rate of more than 80%.

“People have been bleaching their hair for centuries, and while it might come in and out of fashion, it will never disappear,” said Simon Hill, CEO, Wazoku. “So, it stands to reason that people want to reduce the damage it causes to hair and control the amount of colouring that takes place.”

Current bleaching approaches can cause scalp irritation, with people advised to apply bleaching agents correctly and leave them in only for the prescribed time. Results may differ based on the bleaching agents used and the bleaching conditions. Bleaching can often degrade the keratin structure in the hair, making it brittle, damaged and lifeless.

This challenge seeks solutions to lighten hair with less or no harm to the user, achieving controllable and more effective levels of bleaching, and providing other improvements to the process. Contributors are not limited to chemical solutions: technological, biological, or other approaches are welcomed if they meet solution requirements.

There are cash prizes of up to $20,000 in total available for bleaching solutions that meet the criteria after theoretical evaluation by R&D experts. The most promising award winners can be funded in an initial study to assess the chosen methods further and experimentally validate the solutions.

Wazoku is an innovation firm that provides its technology platform and Crowd to help companies, governments, charities and more to crowdsource and manage ideas and innovations, addressing issues and unearthing new opportunities.

“There’s a pressure on organisations of all sizes and sectors to be more innovative, and the most effective way of achieving this is using collective intelligence,” continued Simon Hill. “Our crowd has solved challenges for organisations such as NASA and AstraZeneca, and tapping into the crowd's diverse and deep expertise is a proven way of addressing global problems."

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Click here for further information about Wazoku.

Click here for further information about the hair bleaching challenge.

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