Figure 1. Hair fibers straightened with cystine, sodium hydroxide and thioglycolate

An instrumental study was conducted where an Atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to take a 3D image of the topography of the hair fiber. Untreated hair was taken as a baseline, and hair treated with the cystine system was compared to hair treated with more traditional relaxers based on sodium hydroxide and thioglycolate.