Hair Dyes and Chemical Relaxers: Use With Caution!
In addition to paying for trims and haircuts, Americans spend millions of dollars each year to get hair that's different from what nature intended -- whether it's to tame tight curls, give flat hair a boost, or get rid of the gray. According to the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Cosmetics and Colors, hair straighteners and hair dyes are among its top consumer complaint areas. Complaints range from hair breakage to symptoms warranting an emergency room visit.
Hair Straighteners
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received complaints about scalp irritation and hair breakage related to both lye and "no lye" hair relaxers. Some people assume (falsely) that compared to lye relaxers, "no lye" relaxers take all the worry out of straightening. But both types of relaxers contain ingredients that work by breaking chemical bonds of the hair, and both can burn the scalp if used incorrectly. Lye relaxers contain sodium hydroxide as the active ingredient. With "no lye" relaxers, calcium hydroxide and guanidine carbonate are mixed to produce guanidine hydroxide.
Research has shown that this combination in "no lye" relaxers results in less scalp irritation than lye relaxers, but the same safety rules apply for both. They should be used properly, left on no longer than the prescribed time, carefully washed out with neutralizing shampoo, and followed up with regular conditioning. For those who opt to straighten their own hair, it's wise to enlist help simply because not being able to see and reach the top and back of the head makes proper application of the chemical and thorough rinsing more of a challenge.
Some stylists recommend applying a layer of petroleum jelly to the scalp before applying a relaxer because it creates a protective barrier between the chemical and the skin. Scratching, brushing, and combing can make the scalp more susceptible to chemical damage and should be avoided right before using a relaxer. Parents should be especially cautious when applying chemicals to children's hair and should keep relaxers out of children's reach. There have been reports of small children ingesting straightening chemicals and suffering injuries that include burns to the face, tongue, and esophagus.
How often to relax hair is a personal decision that depends in part on the rate of a person's hair growth. Using hair relaxers every six to eight weeks is common, but this may be too often. Relaxers can cause hair breakage in the long term, he says, and blow drying and curling can do more damage. Applying more than one type of chemical treatment, such as coloring hair one week and then relaxing it the next, can increase the risk of hair damage. For those who use relaxers, semi-permanent color is a better choice since these have no ammonia and less peroxide than permanent color products.
Hair Dye
As with hair relaxers, some people have reported hair loss, burning, redness, and irritation from hair dyes. Allergic reactions to dyes include itching, swelling of the face, and even difficulty breathing.
Coal tar hair dye ingredients cause allergic reactions in some people. Synthetic organic chemicals, including hair dyes and other color additives, were originally manufactured from coal tar, but today manufacturers primarily use materials derived from petroleum. The use of the term "coal tar" continues because historically that language has been incorporated into the law and regulations.
The law does not require that coal tar hair dyes be approved by the FDA, as is required for other uses of color additives. In addition, the law does not allow the FDA to take action against coal tar hair dyes that are shown to be harmful, if the product is labeled with the prescribed caution statement indicating that the product may cause irritation in certain individuals, that a patch test for skin sensitivity should be done, and that the product must not be used for dyeing the eyelashes or eyebrows.
The patch test involves putting a dab of hair dye behind the ear or inside the elbow, leaving it there for two days, and looking for itching, burning, redness, or other reactions. People can become sensitized and develop an allergy to the ingredients even after using a particular product for many years. So you should do the patch test every time you use a products, not just the first time.
When using all hair chemicals, it's critical to keep them away from children to prevent ingestion and other accidents, and to follow product directions carefully. If the label says leave on hair for five minutes, then don't assume that leaving it on your hair for seven minutes will give you an even better result. It probably won't, and it might be damaging.
Look Out For Your Eyes
Whether applying hair chemicals at home or in a hair salon, consumers and beauticians should be careful to keep them away from the eyes. And while it may be tempting to match a new hair color to eyebrows and eyelashes, you should resist the urge. The use of permanent eyelash and eyebrow tinting and dyeing has been known to cause serious eye injuries and even blindness. There are no color additives approved by the FDA for dyeing or tinting eyelashes and eyebrows.
Hair Color and Cancer
Over the years, some studies have indicated a possible link between hair dye use and cancer, while others have not. In February 1994, the FDA and the American Cancer Society released an epidemiologic study involving 573,000 women. Researchers found that women who had ever used permanent hair dyes showed decreased risk of all fatal cancers combined and also of urinary system cancers. The study also revealed that women who had ever used permanent hair dyes showed no increased risk of any type of hematopoietic cancer (cancer of the body's blood-forming systems).
This research, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, did suggest that prolonged use (20 years or more of constant use) of black hair dye may slightly increase the occurrence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma, but these cases represented a small fraction of hair dye users. This study followed previous NCI studies that raised concern about the use of hair dyes and higher rates of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
In another study, published in the October 5, 1994, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston followed 99,000 women and found no greater risk of cancers of the blood or lymph systems among women who had ever used permanent hair dyes.
Then in 1998, scientists at the University of California at San Francisco questioned 2,544 people about their use of hair-color products. After integrating the results of this study with those of animal and other epidemiologic studies, they concluded that there was little convincing evidence linking non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with normal use of hair-color products in humans. The study was published in the December 1998 issue of the American Journal of Public Health . The FDA continues to follow research in this field.
Excerpted from an article by Michelle Meadows
FDA Consumer Magazine
Article Created: 2001-02-26
Article Updated: 2001-02-26
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