The aim of this work was to investigate the diffusion of Rhodamine B into bleached, photo bleached and abraded hair, treated or not with an emulsion of ceramide using two different techniques: spectrophotometry and fluorescence optical microscopy with image analysis. This comparison, combined with the Einstein-Smoluchowski equation, allowed validating a methodology that uses the apparent diffusion coefficient of a dye as an index for hair damage. Distinct behaviors of the dye were observed in the cuticle and in the cortex. For a bleached hair sample the apparent diffusion coefficient in the cuticle ranges from 8.2 x 10(-11) cm(2) s(-1) to 10 x 10(-11) cm(2) s(-1), while for the cones this value drops to 4.0 x 10(-11) cm(2) s(-1) to 4.2 x 10(-11) cm(2) s(-1). The diffusion is always faster in the cuticle than in the cortex and the apparent diffusion coefficient shows up to a seven-fold decrease when the dye penetrates the cortex. The chemical, photochemical and physical treatments applied to hair significantly change the values of the apparent diffusion coefficients in the cuticle. The data also proved eh at the penetration of Rhodamine B into hair occurs via an intercellular path. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.4011924