Impact of Some Hair Cream Compositions on the Flora Density of Human Scalp

The study assessed the effect of some brands of hair creams coded MBB and SDR on the flora density of the human scalp in parts of Port Harcourt. Twenty volunteered persons subjected their scalp aseptically; for swap collection before and after application of the coded hair creams. Standard microbiological procedure was adopted to culture the scalp samples on prepared sterile nutrient agar, mannitol salt agar, MacConkey agar and Sabouraud destrose agar media. All the inoculated culture media plates were incubated in their respective temperature requirements and after which colonies that developed were counted. The result showed heterotrophic bacteria counts of 9.8 x 103 and 9.3 x 103CFU/ml for before and after application of SDR hair cream, while counts of 1.05 x 104 and 1.07 x 104CFU/ml were obtained from MBB hair volunteers before and after application respectively. Similarly, a Staphylococcal count of 4.5 x 103 and 3.7 x 103CFU/ml were obtained before and after application of SDR hair cream, while counts of 6.2 x 103 and 5 x 102 CFU/ml were obtained from MBB hair before and after application respectively. A total of 53 isolates were recovered from which two bacteria genera namely: Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus and a fungi genera named Candida krusei were identified. Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis were noted with a 12% and 56% occurrence respectively, in sample SDR volunteers. MBB cream volunteers, recovered 14.8 and 7.4 % frequency occurrence for Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. Thus, a negative effect of hair cream SDR on the human scalp was observed. The SDR hair cream significantly, reduced the Staphylococcal normal flora of the scalp, which can lead to the development of opportunistic infection. The study recommends that users of SDR cream to be mindful in application due to creams composition.