Does the hair influence heat extraction from the head during head cooling under heat stress?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of head hair on thermoregulatory responses when cooling the head under heat stress. Eight young males participated in six experimental conditions: normal hair (100-130 mm length) and cropped hair (5 mm length) with three water inlet temperatures of 10, 15, and 20°C. The head and neck of subjects were cooled by a liquid perfused hood while immersing legs at 42°C water for 60 min in a sitting position at the air temperature of 28°C with 30% RH. The results showed that heat removal from the normal hair condition was not significantly different from the cropped hair condition. Rectal and mean skin temperatures, and sweat rate showed no significant differences between the normal and cropped hair conditions. Heat extraction from the head was significantly greater in 10°C than in 15 or 20°C cooling (p<0.05) for both normal and cropped hair, whereas subjects preferred the 15°C more than the 10 or 20°C cooling regimen. These results indicate that the selection of effective cooling temperature is more crucial than the length of workers’ hair during head cooling under heat stress, and such selection should be under the consideration of subjective perceptions with physiological responses.