The interactions between small molecules and keratins are poorly understood. In this paper an NMR method is presented to measure changes in the 1H T1 relaxation times of small molecules in human hair keratin to quantify their interaction with the fiber. Two populations of small molecule compounds were identified with distinct relaxation times, demonstrating the partitioning of the compounds into different keratin environments. The changes in relaxation time for solvent in hair compared to bulk solvent were shown to be related to the molecular weight, MW, and the partition coefficient, LogP, of the solvent investigated. Compounds with low molecular weights and high hydrophilicities had greater reductions in their T1 relaxation times and therefore experienced increased interactions with the hair fiber. The relative population sizes were also calculated. This is a significant step toward modelling the behavior of small molecules in keratinous materials and other large insoluble fibrous proteins.