Alpha Gel

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Abstract

Keratin is one of the most naturally abundant polymers. The nails, hairs, feathers of nearly all animals are composed of keratin. However, it is very hard to decompose and dispose of safely. Keratin wastes are serious pollutants and often lead to environmental hazards.

Our project was inspired by the thought of being able to remove our body hair safely and effectively. Hair wastes and residues from shaving are very hard to properly dispose of. Unlike most household wastes, it is very hard to physically separate due to its thin shape and small volume. The quantity of keratin waste (from hair or shaving) is too small to be able to differentiate as a separate category of trash. However, when it is incinerated like normal dry garbage, it creates poisonous gases and pollutants. Although we respect everyone’s personal option on hair removal, the current market does lack an environmentally friendly and effective hair removal product.

Our goal is to be able to produce a product that can safely degrade the keratin in hair while easily removing body hair, hence solving the problem of keratin waste disposal. We have found keratinases that can decompose the α-keratin in human hair. By incorporating it into a bio-gel, we can produce a product the market has never seen before. We hope that our products can help everyone, and we hope that in the future, everyone can choose our products freely.

Of course, we accept all kinds of beauty, hairless or not. As long as we like it, we should advocate social acceptance and respect the aesthetics of all people. In the future, we hope that this technology can be further applied in medical and industrial fields, such as treatment of skin keratinization diseases, treatment of poultry feathers in farms, leather pretreatment, hair treatment of household sewage pipes, etc.