Abstract

Shaving the hair from cattle hides exposes the internal structure of the hair shaft. When hair burning is conducted in the presence of proteolytic enzyme, the central portion of the hair, the medulla, is dissolved, causing the collapse of the hair. The opening of the hair centre allows access by the unhairing agents down the inside of the hair to the base of the follicle, causing the hair to be degraded at the bulb and pre-keratinised zone, and so it is detached from the root. Detaching and collapsing of the shaft allows the residual hair to be completely removed from the follicle by mechanical action.

The unhairing effect is total hair removal, but by hair burning chemistry.