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Out-of-date standards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.
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.