tonight on "nightline" -- hair wars. americans spend $6.7 billion a year on hair care to keep it up or down or straight or long. in a fiercely competitive industry, we go inside the lab where scientists torture and tease in a quest to end the bad hair day. the fattest place on earth. this tiny island paradise now has the highest obesity rate on the planet. we find out why and why we should be really worried here. and scandal at sea. breaking news tonight on navy commander temporary relieved of dult after a series of lewd videos he made comes to light. we've got the very latest.

good evening. i'm terry moran. we're going to begin tonight with a big number. $6.7 billion. that's the amount americans spend each year on hair care products. shampoos and conditioners gels and sprays to help people feel better about what they see in the mirror. so much at stake, you can bet that hair care products companies are working overtime to get a leg up on the competition. but you might be surprised at the degree to which they have looking good down to a science. here's sharyn alfonsi. >> reporter: i didn't hate her. i just wanted to scalp her. those commercials of long flowing shiny hair taunt women like me. in the business they have a name for it. for that shot right there.

when they do this with their hair. >> we call that hair gymnastics. >> reporter: bob mcdonald is the ceo of pantene. they sell some $3 billion of hair products every year. part of a $48 billion global industry. >> every woman in the world believes rightfully she has damaged hair. >> nappy. nasty. the curls just kind of fall out. >> the side is like up here. this side is down here. >> frumpy would be a good word for me. i just feel frumpy. >> reporter: last year, u.s. sales of pantene dropped 9%. women traded down to low priced rivals like suave. pantene is hoping to win back those thrifty women and those who are willing to pay anything for good hair. >> anything from a straw to a paint brush -- >> reporter: women, in fact like me. my bad hair days have been captured on camera for 15 years. to deal with my big hair in mississippi, i used a big scarf.

big mistake. at khog tv the arkansas humidity was not my friend. my hair was so big it concealed the weather map. eventually, got so frustrated i chopped it all off and bleached it in seattle. i was going for sharon stone but ended up more dennis the menace. there is even a website run by a total stranger dedicated to tracking the trials and tribulations of my hair. every company with a hair care line wants a piece of women like us. hair care is a $6.7 billion business in the u.s. >> this most recent formula we used analytical equipment and knowledge we gained from nasa. >> reporter: that's right. he said nasa. but is it really a breakthrough or just another marketing gimmick? after all, this will be pan dean teen's third makeover since 1999. but the company squares they've changed more than the bottle. >> in our research and development department, we have over 1,000 scientists and

technical staff and they cover at least 17 disciplines. we have more ph.d.s in the combined m.i.t. berkeley and stanford staff. >> reporter: senior scientist jenny thomas showed us around their research and development center. >> we've had to introduce a lot of new instruments to learn more and more. for example an atonemic force microscope is one that nasa was putting on to their phoenix lander to study the surface of mars and soon after that we brought it in to study how hair interacts with ingredients. >> reporter: what they were using to study mars you're using to study hair? >> yes. this image here of your hair -- >> reporter: this is my hair? >> this is 800 times magnification. >> reporter: okay. >> and it -- >> reporter: how does my hair look? >> it's not bad. >> reporter: in every lap, rows and rows of hair. procter & gamble is the largest purchaser of hair in the world. they use it to test how products

work. >> this is high quality virgin hair. and so we'll buy -- this is a pound of it. we'll buy this hair -- >> reporter: this is a pound of hair? >> this is hair from probably 600 women. >> reporter: where does all that hair come from? chris rocks documentary "good hair" showed the lengths hair hunters will go to. >> this is where we process human hair. >> weave paradise. >> reporter: at p & g, they bleach, color and damage that perfect hair to find out how it will react to certain products. then they hang it up in these temperature controlled labs to see how it will do in different climates. it is hot. these poor hair samples are confined to a humidity room to test how pantene's latest product will stand up to frizz. is this like -- the final step of approval? if you can get past 80 degrees and 80% humidity? >> yes especially for an anti-frizz or smoothing product, this is a torture test. and your hair can stay looking

good after 48 hours in this room, you know you're on to something good. >> reporter: that's a miracle product. they even conduct studies in hotel rooms, watching women, knowing participants in the shower. >> feels very smooth. like that it is a moisturizer. >> reporter: to observe how different people use their products. so many focus groups to figure out what women want. >> raise your hand. how many people are having a bad hair day at least once a week? >> that's great, hold right there. >> reporter: and so much research to determine if they can deliver. i had to test out that new nasa inspired formula myself. i feel like a new woman. with a little slow mo i performed a little bit of hair gymnastics alone. it's the moment every woman wants and the one every product claims it can deliver. with billions of dollars up for grabs, it's a race to perfect the science and products that go

straight t a woman's head. i'm sharyn alfonsi for "nightline" in new york. >> hair gymnastics. sharyn alfonsi, thanks very much for that report. when we come back this is the fattest place on earth. a secluded island nation whose residents have developed a giant public health problem. host: could switching to geico really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance? do woodchucks chuck wood? (high-pitched laughter) man: hey you dang woodchucks quitchucking my wood! vo: geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. [ male announcer ] learn about a free trial offer from abilify. if you're taking an antidepressant and still feel depressed

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it's one of the most popular exports around the world. but on the tiny south pacific island we visit tonight, western food has given rise to an epidemic of obesity so severe that it's created a population of giants. the people of nauru love to eat the way many of us do. but the consequences may well give us pause. here's nick watt with our report. >> reporter: at first glance it looks like a picture postcard palm fringed south seas paradise. laid back. slow paced. sun kissed. but this is a tiny island of great extremes. first of all, its location. it lies somewhere between hawaii and australia. a tiny potato shaped speck in the pacific ocean.

this counts as a very busy day on nauru. the police force on pair raid for parade for the visit of a spanish diplomat. we're going to drive around the whole country. let's see how long it takes. we hired a car and drove around the entire island. all 8.1 square miles of it. nauru is the smallest independent republic on earth. the nearest neighbor, kyrair kirabas is 400 miles of empty ocean away. population of nauru, barely 10,000 souls. okay. that was it. that was the whole country. we hit some traffic because the schools were letting out. and it took us 17 1/2 minutes. the small island but her people are big, very big. nauru is the fattest country on

earth. 95% of adults are officially overweight. 85% of men are clinically obese. but it wasn't always this way. it wasn't this way until nauru began importing western food. half of adult nauruns suffer type 2 diabetes. and all the problems that can cause. >> they lose limbs. they have heart failures. liver, renal failures. they lose their eyesight. and it's a terrible debilitating disease. >> reporter: nauru has the highest prevalence of diabetes on this planet. there are, quite literally, eating themselves to death. we came to nauru to find out what has happened to this once healthy nation. >> if you look at the old pictures, you see some very athletic people.

very slim. healthy people. >> reporter: they're living off the land. much more physical activity. because they had to go out and gather and hunt and grow the food in order to survive. >> so they've gone from hunter gatherer lifestyle to western lifestyle and not a very healthy one at that. >> reporter: the roots of this spectacular decline lie here in naurus phosphate strip mines. fossilized marine life going out to the world as a fertilizer. nauru had the second highest per capita income in the world. and that's when they started importing fatty processed western food. that's when their first love of fast food was born. that's when diabetes took hold. but this was not the problem before westerners arrived here. >> oh no. they just had mainly fish.

that's sort of the healthier -- and they didn't have frying pans and fat then oil to fry it in. so it was either raw or cooked on the fire you know. >> reporter: which is about as healthy as you can get. >> yeah. >> reporter: they stopped eating so much grilled fish and started eating more fries. this is what happens when you gorge on all the food money can buy. in the u.s. right now, 1 in 10 adults suffers from diabetes. but that number will soar to an astounding 1 in 3 over the next 40 years if current trends continue. diabetes in the u.s. will become as big a problem as it is in nauru right now. the average age to die is 50? >> it is bleelow 50 right now. the statistics. >> reporter: that's fallen from what? >> from about 55 56. to about, now, 48 49. >> reporter: and that's in the past -- >> i think in the past probably last five six years.

>> reporter: wow. nauru, as is plain to see, is now poor again. the mining has slowed down. and the money has dried up. wasted on bad investments, lost to corruption stolen by foreign conmen. but the love of unhealthy food remains. >> frying food tastes nice. it really does taste nice. rather than your boiling. >> reporter: salty snacks and sugary sodas are very popular and this thick concoction has become a national drink. it's just iced coffee with -- >> sugar. milk. everyone drink it with the sugar. it's popular. >> reporter: with the sugar it's popular? >> yes. >> reporter: without the sugar? >> it's not popular. >> reporter: fruit and vegetables aren't popular either. they're too expensive to import. places like this the pick n save, are a huge part of the problem. they do not sell any fruit, any fresh vegetables no fresh produce whatsoever. but they've got shelves stacked

with stuff like this. imported lunch meat. and that is 23.2% fat. type 2 diabetes a preventable disease, is spreading across the world with the spread of convenience foods. and it's crippling nauru. >> the world need tossing know that we are trying to do something about it. we're not just sitting and sulking. >> reporter: nauru is now fighting the fat. fighting this epidemic. there's now a weekly aerobics class. low attendance today because there's a fuel shortage on the island. there's aussie rules football played on this rocky wasteland which is the only sports field on nauru. everyone's encouraged to walk around the air strip. it's safe. there's only two planes land here every week. where once big was thought beautiful, a sign of affluence, there are now national weight loss competitions. >> i participated in as well.

>> reporter: how did you do? >> we won actually, our team our team won. >> reporter: focusing the exercise and healthy eating message on school kids because, for many older people with more engrained unhealthy habits for many older people who are now already suffering, well it just might be too late. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in nauru. >> an island that's a real harbinger of a real genuine world public health crisis. thanks to nick watt for that. when we come back they don't make them like "when harry met sally" anymore. [ coughing ] [ male announcer ] got a cold? [ sniffles ] [ male announcer ] not sure what to take? now click on the robitussin relief finder

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try it today. classic romantic comedies from "it happened one night" to "when harry met sally" reel us in with tales of unlikely love unfolding in unlikely circumstances. a nocturnal city adventure. or cross country road trip. whose fault is it if audiences these days don't fall in love as easily as they used to? for david wright that is a "sign of the times." >> condoms, yes, condoms! i have sex! >> reporter: if you had any doubt that the golden age of romantic comedies was over just go to the movies. you could see "sex and the city 2."

>> louis vuitton. >> reporter: "leap year." >> i'm going out to propose to my boyfriend. >> reporter: or "life as we know it." >> you have poo on your face. >> reporter: ask yourself, do any of these movies deserve an oscar? do they even deserve your money? movie buff and author sam watson doesn't think so. so you believe the romantic comedy is dead? >> certainly within hollywood. i can't remember the last time i went to see a new hollywood romantic comedy and had the feeling that i have when i saw one of the great romantic comedies. >> reporter: we invited him to the disney screening room to discuss. popcorn. a kleenex just in case. >> in case the movies are that bad. >> reporter: together we watched examples, good and bad. >> are you comfortable? >> sure. >> reporter: this was truly a great romantic comedy. >> yeah this is "when harry met sally." >> reporter: part of what makes this movie great is just meg

ryan. >> yeah. >> reporter: she's just so lovely. i had such a huge crush on her. >> well i -- how could you not? >> reporter: hard to imagine any hollywood casting agent now hiring billy crystal to be the leading man. for one thing, you wouldn't want to see him shirtless. next up "the backup plan." >> this guy's got his shirt off. >> reporter: that's just gratuitous, isn't it? >> i don't mean to say we can't have a good time enjoying flesh. it's a great part of going to the movies. but i don't think there are any other virtues here. >> reporter: okay. how about "the bounty hunter." >> you're crazy. >> maybe i am. >> reporter: my wife likes to joke kids growing up on the upper east side of new york who will have real trouble understanding emotional content because their mom's faces are just frozen. i wonder if there's that same truth in that hollywood acting. they don't have the -- >> that's right. >> reporter: because everything's perfect.

>> yes. where there's no texture, there's really no emotion. >> reporter: contrast that with "it happened one night." >> there. >> reporter: i read that this -- what is it 1935? >> '34 i think, yeah. >> reporter: won all five of the top oscars, best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, best screenplay. >> one of the great perks of living through the depression is you saw some of the greatest american comedies hollywood has ever produced. >> reporter: because people needed to laugh. >> people needed to laugh, of course. >> reporter: here is matthew mcconaughey move. >> then the tie -- >> reporter: they may not make them like they used to. >> this gets an homage in "sex and the city 2." >> oh that's -- that's a disgrace. >> reporter: it's enough to make you nostalgic. pretty woman, where did you go? eat, pray love more seriously. shakespeare in love where for

art thou? >> you complete me. >> reporter: "jerry maguire" you had us at hello. >> you had me at hello. >> reporter: instead of tracy and hepburn. instead of cary grant and whomever. we've got jennifer aniston or lopez, take your pick. >> i got my jennifers confused. >> reporter: and what's his name with his shirt off. >> you're tell meg that you're pregnant with some stranger's child? >> reporter: date night just ain't what it used to be. i'm david write for "nightline" in hollywood. >> all right, it will come back i'm sure. thanks to david wright for that report. when we come back well we'll tell you about a raunchy navy scandal. that's the subject of tonight's "closing argument." first, here's jimmy. >> jimmy: tonight, patricia heaton is here the bachelor brad womack is back for another tv round of love and josh groban.

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