Effects of Hair Dye

Ladies, admit it. We have tried dyeing our hair to try a different color at least once in our lives. Most of us have tried more than we could imagine. It looks great – a new color, something totally different from your original one, and you can try another color once you’ve grown bored of your current one. Men are no exception too.  More than one-third of women over age 18 and about 10 percent of men over age 40 use some type of hair dye.

But what we don’t know or fail to realize is that there are actually bad side effects of hair dye. The symptoms and damage caused by hair coloring may not always be apparent immediately. It may take up to several days or even weeks or sessions. Especially if you color your hair quite often, the chances of something severe happening may more likely to occur. What are these effects?

Brittle Hair

If you color your hair often, it gets over-processed because of chemicals present in the dyes. The chemicals strip moisture from your tresses, separating cuticle scales and making them dry and brittle. Your hair ends up losing its shine and looking dry and frizzy.

Cancer, possibly.

Laboratory experiments have proven that paraphenylenediamine, a component of hair dyes, can damage human DNA cells and cause cancer. But it is still being argued whether the small amount of PPD found in hair dyes is capable of causing such damage. The American Cancer Society believes that further research must be conducted before drawing to a conclusion. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is the type of cancer that has been most associated with excessive use of hair dyes.

Allergic reactions

Allergic reactions to hair dye is very rare but is serious when it does happen. Symptoms include itchy scalp, redness and swelling in the scalp, mild dandruff, swelling around the eyes and eyelids, as well as scaly skin around the eyes, nose, and face. An estimated four in one million people are sensitive to hair dyes but it can definitely happen to you. In these cases, it is important to do a skin patch test for safe coloring first.

Asthma

Hairstylists have been found  to be more vulnerable of getting skin allergies and to contract asthma as well. This is because they have a much higher exposure to hair dyeing products. This occupational asthma is a consequence of constant exposure which, of course, can occur to you too if you frequently have your hair colored.

In our next Beauty Salon article, we will focus on providing you information on how to properly apply hair coloring to avoid or minimize these side effects.