DEBATE HAS LONG RAGED OVER WHICH HAIR DYE ingredients pose a health risk. If you want a dramatic color change or permanent coverage, avoiding all questionable ingredients is difficult. One of those questionable ingredients is p-phenylenediamine (PPD), found in many permanent hair colors. Mary Beth Janssen, a beauty consultant in Palatine, Ill., and author of Naturally Healthy Hair, says PPD is the cause of most allergic reactions to hair dye and that it has been linked to cancer.
The chemicals that are in a many of the dyes and highlighting kits available are too harsh for many people, but there are new products on the market now that promise to work well for them without the resulting health problems, such as allergic reactions. Though still required to work as they should, the less caustic permanent hair colors contain such chemicals as peroxide, diaminobenzene, ammonia and p-Phenylenediamine in amounts that are much smaller
Superior to hair dyes that are ammonia-based and void of the displeasurable side effects, Organic Color Systems permanent hair coloring products can only be found in professional hair styling salons. The range of Organic Color Systems’ products includes colors, lighteners, concentrates and activators. There is also a hair care line of products that are salon only that can be used in addition to the range of colors for repairing damaged hair. Organic hair color has many benefits. What you don’t get are fumes, ammonia, hair damage, burning and itching, banding, brassing, hot roots, sulfates, plastics, parabens, animal products and animal testing. What you do get is just beautiful, healthy hair.
Meanwhile, temporary dyes and highlight treatments should be able to color hair without the need for harsh chemicals. Naturcolor and Vegetel are shorter-lived options that do not contain any damaging chemicals, although their effect will only last a few washes.
One truly natural although temporary dye that has been around since Cleopatra herself is henna. Made from the powdered leaves of a desert shrub called Lawsonia, henna has been used for thousands of years to color hair and skin. Rainbow Henna makes a variety of 100 percent organic hair treatments ranging from blonde to black hair and everything in between. Meanwhile, Organic Color Systems offerss a complete organic line of products and hair coloring packages. While many such treatments are available at natural health and beauty supply retailers, others, such as those of Organic Color Systems, may be available only at salons.
People who were looking for a good reason to stop using their usual hair dyes in favor of milder natural choices now have that reason due to the release of recent studies. In 1994, the National Cancer Institute released a report that has shown there is higher risk of cancers like non-Hodgkins lymphoma and multiple myeloma from the use of the darker range of hair dyes, such as dark brown or black over long periods of time. The International Journal of Cancer conducted a study in 2001 that found twice the incidences of bladder cancer in people who used permanent hair dye than in people who used no hair dyes at all.
Tags: Health, cosmetics, hair, Health
