Dyeing one’s hair is all the rage nowadays. However, whether it’s completely changing one’s hair color or just highlighting a portion, continuous hair dyeing may be risky for one’s health. It leads to a higher risk of certain cancers and can harm one’s hair and scalp.
Most permanent hair dye formulas have the chemical hydrogen peroxide, which is a bleaching agent. Dyes can also contain para-phenylenediamine (PPD), which is also a molecule elementary to most hair dye formulas. PPD and its related compound p-aminophenol are both main ingredients in hair dyes. They both create an oxidation reaction to change one’s natural hair color. The PPD molecules then remain in the hair because they are too large to escape, thus maintaining the new dyed color.
However, PPD is a harmful chemical. The color molecules seek electrons from PPD to maintain the dyed color. These molecules will also search for electrons from the skin, or human scalp, which leads to allergic reactions and potential damage to DNA. As people continuously add PPD to their scalp by re-dying their hair, this eventually damages their body.
Hair dye is a common household item given popular trends, but there may also be health risks involved.
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Hair dyes are the highest leading cause of bladder cancer. In 2008, the Working Group of the IARC reported that some of the chemicals hairdressers and barbers are continuously exposed to, were “probably carcinogenic to humans”. Most studies proved that people exposed to hair dyes at work had a small but consistent increased risk of bladder cancer. However, these studies only focused on hairdressers.
Hair dye can also lead to other diseases. Studies testing women who dye their hair showed they had an increased risk of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a cancer involving immune system cells, or lymphocytes that occur in the spleen and bone marrow tissues. Hair dye has also been proven to cause leukemia. Studies showed that the risk of leukemia was highest among people who had used permanent dyes for 15 or more years.
To relieve the minds of hair dyers, however, a contrasting case-control study in Italy found that permanent hair dyes, save for black dye, did not cause risk of leukemia. However, PPD is still one of 5,000 different chemicals in hair dyes that are considered carcinogenic by the FDA.
The safest bet is to limit exposure to hair dye chemicals. Both hairdressers who work with these carcinogenic chemicals and people who do home dye jobs should protect themselves by wearing gloves when dyeing hair. Considering all that, using permanent hair dyes might best be limited to a short-term hairstyle!
