This year's London Fashion Week will see the introduction of a new kind of hair color that changes itself according to its environment. London-based fashion artist Lauren Bowker is behind this innovation dubbed "Fire".
According to Wired, Lauren Bowker's firm "The Unseen" has come up with "Fire" as a part of their "reactive fashion" creations. Bowker, popular by the name of "The Alchemist" within the fashion circle, is known to use chemistry alongside design. The brand's color changing technology is based on material science and data to create such inks, compounds and coatings that result in clothes that change color according to changing temperature and humidity.
"Fire", the latest creation from "The Unseen", is a specially developed hair dye that is able to reveal a number of colors formerly unknown. It is formulated in order to be responsive to temperature fluctuations and is available in shades ranging from bright red to subtle pastels. "Fire" after being applied to the hair, whenever the temperature around the dyed hair drops or raises, the carbon-based molecules at the core of the hair dye react reversibly. One molecule is more stable than the other in the carbon bond above a certain temperature change, which reacts to produce a molecule with a slightly different absorption of light, thus producing a new color.
According to Forbes, the thermochromic ink used in the hair dye "Fire" is toxic in nature, which made Bowker and her team to work extra hard so that it doesn't affect the scalp skin while applying. Bowker has also applied a set of data rules, which makes the color to change even when the user is blushing.
The idea of "Fire" is not only to amuse people. Lauren Bowker and her firm "The Unseen" want to the spread the word for more female participation in the world of science. According to WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) currently, only 12.8% of the STEM workforce in the UK is women.
Bowker also looks for a commercial partner for marketing "Fire". The aim for "The Unseen" is to license it through a major hair care brand which can make the most out of it. Hopefully, the innovative hair dye "Fire" will hit the shelves by the end of 2017.
