Nurul Mardhiah Abdul Rahim, Nor Aniezan Mohd Said, Rohayu Ramli Ahmad, Zuhairi Abd Rahman and Nor Atikah Husna Ahmad Nasir
Keywords: Hibiscus rosa sinensis, antibacterial, antioxidant, toxicity
Abstract: In Asia, Hibiscus rosa sinensis was known as an alternative to treat various hair and scalp problems such as baldness, itching, dandruff and frizzy hair. However, there is lack of scientific evidence proving these facts and its potentiality to be commercialised. Thus, the idea of this inovation is to produce a natural shampoo from extract of Hibiscus rosa sinensis leaves with proven scientific data such as antimicrobial (MIC Test), antioxidants (DPPH Assay) and toxicity (Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay) test. Using the antimicrobial test, five different concentrations of extract of 0.02 mg/ml, 0.2 mg/ml, 2 mg/ml, 20 mg/ml and 200 mg/ml were tested on both Gram positive (S. faecalis and S. aureus) and Gram negative bacteria (E. coli and P. aeruginosa). At both minimum and maximum concentrations, the highest inhibition is shown by P. aeruginosa which were at 88.4% and 87.65% respectively. For antioxidant properties, the capability of the samples to scavenge free radicals increased as the concentration of samples increased. The highest percentage of antioxidant activities was at 80.7% when tested at 100 mg/ml. The LC50 for the lethality assay in the Hibiscus rosa sinensis extract was greater than 1 mg/mL. Based on Meyer’s toxicity index, LC50>1 mg/mL was considered none toxic, hence it could be developed further into a safe product. In short, this innovation is believed to have transformed an alternative method into a beneficial, proven and efficient product.