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MILAN -- To motivate image-conscious Milanese to abandon their cars, Italian authorities are offering free smog tests -- for their hair.
Milan is one of Europe's most polluted cities -- and one of the most fashionable.
In a city where levels of particulate matter regularly exceed EU limits, officials have unsuccessfully tried car-free Sundays, smog-eating cement and may adopt London's car tax.
But on a hunch that impending trichological doom may more effectively persuade people to abandon their cars, Milanese officials are testing the levels of smog trapped in their hair.
For a week -- to be repeated in the fall and March 2008 -- dermatologists from the International Hair Research Foundation will split hairs at a community center founded by city councilor Milly Moratti.
The 15-minute check-ups use digital epiluminescence microscopy, normally employed by dermatologists to monitor moles, which allows a high-res look of the surface and sub-surface layers of skin.
I booked a test immediately, because the toxic effects of pollution on what should be a woman's crowning glory have not escaped my attention. Since moving to Milan, my wavy mop has been decidedly more Roseanne Roseannadanna than Botticelli. And, unfortunately, there is no Italian expression for "bad hair day."
My hairdresser Franca, who used to iron my unruly locks into submission almost daily, believes that lo smog is a major contributor to hair woes. Naturally, warding off the grime from a legion of belching Fiats requires a long list of products; I scribble them down for the smog test.
Tress tests take place at a cheerful rec center where two elderly gents play chess and a woman uses public internet as I walk in. Up a flight of stairs on a darkened mezzanine, a young, white-coated dermatologist who introduces herself as Alessandra sits behind a makeshift desk.
A dermatologist uses digital epiluminescence microscopy to check hair and scalp for pollution damage.
Photo: Courtesy of Nicole MartinelliShe asks my hair history -- any hereditary baldness (no), any hair or scalp problems (no), do I smoke (no) and how many hours I spend outside per day (about three), mostly on foot or bike. I hand over the product list and she nods, tucking her short, wavy hair behind an ear in sympathy.
Then she offers a wooden folding chair and uses a gun-like scanner to take quick shots from the temples and middle of my head. Thirty times magnified, even a healthy scalp looks gross: several hairs burst from each follicle, the hair shafts have the same meaty consistency and the scalp is a pink, fleshy pincushion.
Exactly as it should be, the dermatologist says. Smog can leave visible ridges on hair and sinister dirt shadows on scalp, mostly on heavy smokers or people who work outdoors in traffic -- police officers, taxi drivers, construction workers. Still, she advises wearing hats and saves the scans for a November check-up.
Although hair testing for nutrition is generally considered useless, this kind of scalp testing has some validity.
Testers say some 60 percent of hair-testees in Italy's style capital were women, most of whom spend an average of about two hours a day outside, but just 20 percent use hats for protection. While short exposure times may help avoid hard-core pollution damage, exposure still often results in signs of sun damage. Skin damage like solar lentigo and actinic keratoses turned up in about a third of the heads examined, testers say.
"We know that pollution leaves traces on skin and hair and can produce allergic effects -- it goes beyond gimmicks to sell shampoo," said Dr. Gennaro Spera, a dermatologist at Italy's National Research Council. "I firmly believe in self-monitoring, people should watch their hair and skin to note differences, but this technology can be a useful diagnostic tool."
Time to investigate chic headgear.
