van Orden, 1998 This unpublished report was written to disprove that hair grasped
by an electric tweezer can conduct electricity through its center
in amounts strong enough to kill a hair's root. Electric tweezers
have made unsubstantiated claims that this is how their devices
can remove hair permanently.
Mr. Mark van Orden is an engineer at R.A. Fischer, a manufacturer
of needle electrolysis machines. R.A. Fischer staff conducted
several in-house experiments under controlled conditions to determine
the conductivity of human hair. They tested both direct and alternating
current and measured results at levels of 100 to 5000 volts. Both
dry hairs and hairs soaked in a salt water solution were tested.
Results indicate that hair is an extremely poor conductor of
electricity, casting further doubt on claims by electric tweezer
makers.
This report was submitted to third-party review by Dr. Max Feughelman,
cited by electric tweezer maker GHR as an authority on hair conductivity.
Dr. Feughelman found the R.A. Fischer results to be accurate and
consistent with expected results (see  Feughelman 1982).
See also:
LeMaster, 1990: also shows a minuscule
amount of current travels on the outside of a hair shaft.
Schuster, 1992: shows this tiny amount
of electricity dissipates upon contact with a more conductive
surface like skin.
The full text of van Orden's hair conductivity
test is available at the R.A. Fischer website: http://www.rafischer.com/hairtest.htm
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