Health & beauty
Hair dyes
Introduction
Last year more than 1.8 million hair colouring products were taken home. Should we worry about the chemicals we're using to colour our hair?
To find out what's in the products we're using, we bought nine permanent hair dyes covering the spectrum from blonde to black. We looked at the ingredients - and found most contained substances with the potential to cause severe allergic reactions.
Why we're concerned
Feeling it's time to freshen up your hair colour? At The $2 Shop in Wellington, Shinuo hair dye promises to "Completely cover white hair and seeps (sic) your hair brighter". This Chinese-made hair colour claims its added vitamin C will also "repair harmed fiber and make your hair elastic". Imagine ...
Other than the vitamin C claim, this product's packaging gives few clues about what's actually inside. That's not illegal - New Zealand's regulations don't require hair-dye ingredients to be listed. We think they should be.
Out-of-date standards
In the last two years, health concerns have prompted European countries to ban over 100 hair-dye ingredients. A further 42 have been given provisional approval for use while their safety is investigated. Among the 42 are several common hair-dye ingredients fingered as "strong" skin sensitisers - substances that have the potential to cause severe allergic reactions.
Back home, the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) sets controls on hair-dye ingredients under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act. The current controls are based on European standards - but they haven't been updated since 2006 and ERMA has recently announced plans to bring them into line with the EU's regulations.
ERMA is also proposing to introduce compulsory labelling of ingredients. These changes, however, aren't expected to be in place until later this year. In the meantime, substances banned in Europe back in 2006 can still be sold in hair-dye products here.
Not good enough
This isn't good enough. With long lists of chemicals that have almost unpronounceable names, deciphering the ingredients in hair dyes is no easy task. So it's vital that regulatory agencies do their job well. At the very least, this means keeping standards up to date.
It isn't a minor problem, either. While exact figures are hard to find, estimates suggest that more than 70 percent of women and 20 percent of men colour their hair. And we're starting younger and doing it more often. Supermarket hair-dye sales alone were worth over $20 million last year.
What we found
Our selection of dyes included major brands Clairol, Garnier, L'Oreal, Schwarzkopf, and Wella. We also included a product called Just for Men, one "herbal" hair colour purchased from a health store, and Shinuo hair dye from The $2 Shop in Wellington.
No ingredients disclosed
Of all the products we bought, Shinuo hair dye gave the most cause for concern. The list of ingredients was incomplete. And there was no information on how to contact the New Zealand importer or the manufacturer if someone wanted to ask questions. What's more, about half the writing on the packaging was in Chinese.
When we contacted The $2 Shop's head office, managing director Brian Salmon told us the product had not been approved for sale in the store. Salmon said the Wellington shop was in breach of its franchise for selling the dye and would receive written notice of this.
The hair-dye could contain chemicals declared unsafe to use - we just don't know. We don't think it should be on sale and we strongly advise against buying it.
Banned in the EU
Our shopping expedition also turned up one product, Schwarzkopf's Live Salon Permanent (dark brown), which indicated it may contain an ingredient called 2-aminomethyl-p-aminophenol. A potential allergen, this substance was banned in the EU in 2006. It can still be sold here because our regulations haven't been updated.
Schwarzkopf told us it stopped using the ingredient in 2007. But, as we found, old stock that may contain the substance can still be bought in stores here.
Risks from skin sensitisers
We couldn't tell exactly what was in the dye we bought at Wellington's $2 Shop - but all the other products we purchased contained ingredients classified by the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products (SCCP) as "extreme" or "strong" skin sensitisers. These are ingredients that have the potential to cause serious allergic reactions. In our sample, all except the "herbal" hair colour Herbatint listed at least two different skin sensitisers. (See Products compared for the sensitisers we found in each product.)
Herbatint - which markets itself as a more gentle dye - nevertheless contains an ingredient called p-phenylenediamine (PPD). PPD is classified as an "extreme" sensitiser and is identified as a key cause of allergic reactions. It's estimated PPD is used in over two-thirds of permanent hair dyes that you can buy off the shelf and is also common in salon dyes. We found it in five of the products in our sample.
PPD used to be banned from hair dyes in some European countries. But EU regulations now allow it to comprise up to six percent of a product - the same rule that we have here. Manufacturers aren't required to state exactly how much PPD is present and, depending on the colour, the level can vary. There tends to be more PPD in darker dyes, which is bad news for wannabe brunettes. Semi-permanent dyes, which use different ingredients, don't usually contain PPD.
Several of the other skin sensitisers we found in our sample are listed among the 42 ingredients provisionally approved for use in Europe while they're being evaluated to assess their safety and work out acceptable levels. This provisional approval expires on 31 December 2009.
"Natural" hair dyes
As we discovered with Herbatint, products that claim to be more "natural" can contain some of the same kinds of ingredients as mainstream brands. The UK consumer magazine Which? recently tested five "natural" hair dyes. Three of the five products were found to contain synthetic chemicals, including extreme or strong skin sensitisers such as PPD.
Products compared
See What we found for more discussion about the sensitisers we found in these products.
Guide to the table
Sensitisers grouped according to the European Commission's Scientific Committee on Consumer Products classification.
- A EU regulations give provisional use of this ingredient until 31 December 2009.
- B Label indicates the product "may contain" this ingredient.
Allergies
Many people who use hair dye do so without any evident problems. Unfortunately, that won't be the case for everyone. Even if you've used hair-dye many times with no adverse effects, it's possible you could become sensitised to an ingredient and have a reaction the next time you colour your hair.
Dermatologist Dr Amanda Oakley says allergic reactions range in severity. They occur when the body thinks a chemical is harmful and produces an immune response against it. The result is usually an acute contact dermatitis affecting all areas touched by the dye especially the face, neck and scalp.
Some allergic reactions may not happen straightaway. Dr Oakley says reactions to PPD, for example, usually occur between 6 and 36 hours after use. Symptoms may include marked reddening, swelling and blistering. The reaction tends to be less severe on the scalp than on the more sensitive skin of the face and neck.
In rare cases, allergy to a hair-dye ingredient can cause anaphylaxis. This is an extreme allergic reaction that can be life threatening if not treated quickly. Symptoms include an immediate itchy rash, wheezing, difficulty breathing, faintness and collapse.
How can you tell?
To test whether you're allergic to a product, dye manufacturers usually recommend a patch test 48 hours before use. This involves applying a small amount of the product to your forearm or behind your ear. All the dyes we bought recommended a patch test and advised not to use the product if a reaction occurred.
But are patch tests reliable? In a report released in December 2007, the Scientific Committee on Consumer Products concluded there's a risk that patch tests can give misleading and false-negative results. The Committee cautioned that a patch test can give people "the false impression they are not allergic or not at risk of developing an allergic reaction". One reason for this is reaction time - reactions can take up to 7 days to develop, not just 48 hours.
Cancer questions
Some studies have linked hair-dye use to cancer. Recent research by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reports that occupational exposure of hairdressers and barbers to hair-dye chemicals is "probably carcinogenic".
The jury's still out on the level of risk for home users. The IARC says current epidemiological evidence is inadequate to assess the cancer risks from personal use of hair dye.
Case-study
Anna Cottrell (pictured right) used to dye her hair regularly. But not any more.
A few years ago, Anna suffered an extreme allergic reaction to p-phenylenediamine (PPD), a common hair-dye ingredient.
Colouring her hair at home, Anna noticed a "terrific rash" on her face almost as soon as she put the dye on. She immediately jumped in the shower to wash the dye out, only to see the rash spread rapidly down her body.
Things soon got much worse. Anna felt "a vice-like grip" around her chest and started having difficulty breathing. She rushed to the doctor, arriving just before passing out. She had gone into anaphylactic shock, a rare but life-threatening allergic reaction.
She was put on oxygen and given an adrenaline shot. Anna says "I had no idea anything like this could happen" but has since heard of numerous similar cases. Anna has looked for "natural" dyes in health stores but hasn't found any without PPD.
Our advice
- There are still unanswered questions about hair dyes. Further research is needed to assess the safety of ingredients and their long-term effects. The EU is currently evaluating 42 ingredients; changes to EU regulations may result and our regulations need to keep pace. Questions about patch-test safety also need to be answered.
- There are no widely accepted alternatives to the chemicals used in hair dyes. Almost all permanent hair dyes - used either at home or at the hairdressers - are likely to contain extreme or strong sensitisers. And many "natural" hair dyes are no different.
- If you do experience an allergic reaction, see your doctor for treatment. And don't use the product again.
Tips for safe hair dye use
You may never experience any problems with hair dyes. But there are some safety precautions you should take when using these products:
- Avoid getting the dye on your skin.
- Always use gloves to apply the dye.
- Never leave the dye on longer than the recommended time.
If you're susceptible to eczema or have other allergies, you may have a greater risk of a reaction to hair dyes.
Permanent v semi-permanent
Permanent hair dyes work by penetrating the hair cuticles - the outer layer of your hair. Semi-permanents simply coat the outer layer and usually fade after a few washes. Permanent dyes last much longer - but not "permanently". After a few weeks, you'll obviously get re-growth of your "normal" hair at the roots.
More information
- Environmental Risk Management Authority: www.ermanz.govt.nz
- New Zealand Dermatological Society: www.dermnet.org.nz
Report by Jessica Wilson