Salon CSI

Those who drink alcohol have probably labeled each other according to the kind of drink from which they derive their pleasure. They have probably devised entire profiles as to what kind of people prefer wine, single-malt whiskey, fruity cocktail drinks or those that have names that seem to be titles for some gangster film.

I do not know of any article in a science journal that has been designed to provide a link between bar drink and personality type but I have found something that could tell you where you have been with just water in your hair.

Yes, it was only a matter of time before scientists get in our hair and I do not mean that metaphorically. They are really now literally in our hair, studying it because they think it can tell us about where we have been living.

For this experiment, scientists actually swept around salons and barbershops across 65 different cities around the US, gathering clippings of hair and also samples of tap water in those places. If you think I am making this up, maybe this will help. The names of the authors of the study are James R. Ehleringer, Gabriel J. Bowen, Lesley A. Chesson, Adam G. West, David W. Podlesak, and Thure E. Cerling from institutions like the University of Utah, Purdue University, and University of California, Berkeley. Their study is entitled Hydrogen and oxygen isotope ratios in human hair are related to geography published in the Feb. 26 issue of no less than the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They hypothesized that hair can reveal where you have been by the kind of water you have been drinking which is tied to where it came from. Yes, your hair has traces of water — that wondrous molecule created when you combine two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. But the scientists are able to tell the difference since hydrogen and oxygen both come in different “isotopes” depending on where the water is from. Hydrogen atoms with different isotopes share the same chemical properties (same number of protons and electrons), but a difference in the number of neutrons. Scientists have found that tap water sources differ in isotopes and can provide general directions as to where the drinker whose hair they have studied, have been living.

If you are worried that the next time you go to your parlor, some nerd in a lab gown will collect hair samples and mail you a verification of where you live, lighten up. The researchers think that this method can be used to identify places where unidentified human victims have been, based on the hair remains. They also pointed out that this could be useful in anthropology as scientists point to the routes of human migration in history, by studying any hair that is left on the remains.

So the next time you see those weird hairdos in fashion shows or in some high-profile social event, remember that while science cannot refer you to the salon which fashioned it, it can tell you where those heads have been.

* * *

For comments, e-mail [email protected]