Blowdrying. Curling. Straightening. Heat has been used to control hair for hundreds of years.
吹发、卷发、拉直。几百年来热量一直用于控制头发。
But how much is too much? If you've ever opened a very hot oven, you know that heat can burn your eyebrows off your face very quickly.
但是如何才算过量呢？如果你曾经打开过一个非常热的烤箱你就知道，热量可以迅速把你脸上的眉毛烧光。
A scientist from Purdue University in Indiana is trying to find a scientific answer on how hot is too hot when it comes to your hair.
印第安纳州普渡大学的一位科学家正试图找出弄头发时多热会过热的科学答案。
Many women and some men are very particular about their hair. Some people who have naturally curly hair prefer to have it straightened.
许多女性和部分男性对自己的头发都很讲究。一些头发自然卷曲者更喜欢把它拉直。
Others with straight hair want to have curls.
另一些直发者想要卷发。
Tahira Reid is one of those people. As an African-American woman, she is familiar with the challenges of maintaining curly, coil or tightly curled hair.
Tahira Reid就是其中之一。作为一位非洲裔妇女，她习惯了保养卷发的各种挑战。
Putting her mechanical engineering training to work, Tahira Reid and other researchers at Purdue University are studying how heat treatment interacts with different types of hair and how to prevent damage.
Tahira Reid将她的机械工程培训应用到工作中，她和普渡大学其他研究人员正在研究热处理如何作用于不同类型的头发，以及如何防止头发损伤。
"It is kind of like the way I see the world, like the lens through which I see the world and I always was wondering about how we can think about this from a mechanical engineering perspective."
Tahira Reid：“这有点像是我看世界的方式，就像是我看世界的镜头。我一直在想，我们如何从机械工程的角度来看这个问题。”
Hair irons can take many shapes but are essentially clips or rods with heated surfaces.
烫发器有多种形状，但是基本上都是表面加热的夹子或棒子。
Amy Marconnet is assistant professor of mechanical engineering. She says the team is seeing how heat and temperature relates to their research.
Amy Marconnet是机械工程助理教授。她说该小组正在了解热量和温度跟他们的研究的关系。
"If you go to the mall right now you see a whole aisle full of straightening irons, and they have terms like ion technology and tourmaline."
Amy Marconnet：“如果你现在去商场，你就能看到商场过道里都是头发拉直器，上面有着离子技术和电气石等术语。”
In a Purdue University lab, team members designed a hair straightener tool -- a flat iron with ceramic plates and temperature control. They attached it to a robotic arm that moved over pieces of hair. They monitored the temperature while the device straightened hair.
在普渡大学的一件实验室中，小组成员设计了一种直发工具，这是一种有着陶瓷板和温度控制器的直发器。他们将这个直发器连接到一个在头发上移动的机械手臂上。他们监测了该设备拉直头发时的温度。
What did they find? Their study found that the heat weakens or breaks a protein called keratin, responsible for the hair's shape, and temporarily changes it. But nobody knows exactly at what level the heat can actually cause permanent damage. Again, Tahira Reid.
他们发现了什么？他们的研究发现，热量削弱或破坏了头发塑形的角蛋白，并暂时改变了它。但是没人确切知道什么水平的热量会造成永久性伤害。以下又是Tahira Reid的发言。
"If we understand the onset at which that happens then we might be able to intervene before or give some suggestions before you get to that point."
Tahira Reid：“如果我们弄清楚何时开始发生这种情况，我们就能提前干预或在此之前给出一些建议。”
Researchers say early results are a bit inconclusive. It turns out that everyone's hair is different and that there's no exact temperature where hair straightening becomes hair damage. For example, people with naturally curly hair can suffer more damage from heat irons than those with straight hair.
研究人员表示，早期的研究结果有点不确定。事实证明，每个人的头发是不同的，拉直头发变成头发损伤没有确切的温度。例如，头发自然卷曲者比直发者更能承受烫发器热量的损伤。
Ms. Reid says they will continue their research in the hopes of finding what works best without damaging the hair.
Reid女士表示，他们将会继续研究，期望找出在不损伤头发的前提下怎么效果最好。
I'm Marsha James.
我是玛莎·詹姆斯。(51VOA.COM对本文翻译保留全部权利，未经授权请勿转载，违者必究！)