Application of scientific measures to demonstrate the relaxing properties of Peony fragrance in hair care products

摘要

Relaxation response is impacted by physiological and psychological considerations. This study investigates the effect of a fragrance on the relaxation response triggered by a shampoo and a serum product. Two research cells were executed in identical hotel room facilities involving female shampoo or serum users. A control sample was evaluated to provide a neutral baseline against which the test samples could be compared. A concentrated fragrance was evaluated after the test samples. Nonverbal tools were chosen to measure relaxation covering physiology (heart rate, inter beat interval [IBI] variation, blood pressure [BP], and electrodermal activity [EDA]), mental and physical tasks (reaction time and handgrip strength), and behavior measures (posture and posturer switches). Results indicated that the physiology measures were most useful in demonstrating a relaxing effect of the fragrance in the shampoo and serum products. For example, the application of the shampoo caused an increase in IBI variation, a decrease in EDA and the concentrated shampoo fragrance caused a decrease heart rate. Serum application caused a decrease in BP and a decrease in heart rate. This study enabled to claim about emotional benefits of the scent of the hair care products with strong scientific evidence to support it. Practical Applications This study demonstrated how nonverbal methods could be successfully applied to evaluate consumer response to a product based on its fragrance. The research presented adds to the growing knowledge in the use of physiological, psychological, and behavioral measures to establish consumer responses that can be linked to a desired claim, such as relaxation properties. Additionally, the methodology proposed provides an accepted approach to validate a perception claim in a highly regulated cosmetics industry.