Medicine with natural bee products is getting more and more attention. Bee products have their activities on the skin proved by numerous studies and have been used in medical treatment and for cosmetic skin care. Each bee product possesses specific components which determine their activities. Honey contains more than 180 ingredients making each honey singular with unique properties. Beside carbohydrates, royal jelly contains among others amino acids, proteins, lipids, vitamins and is different from honey. Like skin, hair is exposed to UV and pollution causing oxidative damage such as protein carbonylation which lead to dull and brittle hair. The use of bee-products for hair care is poorly documented excepted for hair luster or conditioner. To investigate bee products hair care activities, we studied the protective and repair properties of a combination of 4 honeys from Ouessant, Corsica, Aland and Ikaria islands and a royal jelly (all with biological activities previously demonstrated) versus a stress generated by UVA exposure plus PM-10 (particle matter-10). Chinese hair shafts were stressed after or before the treatment with an aqueous solution of our bee product combination or with positive controls. After washing and drying, hair shafts were cryo-preserved, snap-frozen and cross-sectioned. Carbonylated proteins were labeled using a fluorescent probe functionalized with an aminooxy moiety. Following epi-fluorescence microscopy observations, analyses of cuticle and cortex areas were carried out with Image J software. Our bee products association allowed to protect hair shafts (cuticle by 100%, cortex by 94% versus control) and to repair them (cuticle by 99%, cortex by 82% versus control) from the aggression. For the first time with this original assay based on protein carbonylation on hair shafts, we have demonstrated the protective and repair activities of a bee products combination for hair, making this association a good candidate for hair care.

ESDR343 - A mixture of honeys and royal jelly to protect and repair Asian hair from UVA combined with environmental pollution.

50th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Dermatological Research. VIRTUAL MEETING