Archive for March, 2009
Monday, March 30th, 2009
Who started the current trend of dyeing human hair in Easter colors? Purple, magenta, orange, and robin’s egg blue aren’t really good colors for hair. People under 40 can probably appreciate Goth hair. Though incredibly, unnaturally black, it is a hair color.
Hair as decoration has many adherents throughout the world. Throughout history, some people have applied mud or clay to achieve a rich brown or red hair color. Others beautify their hair with natural vegetable powders and products like henna. We’ve all seen the tresses of senior citizens dyed that silver blue color that seems to be reserved for people 60 and older.
Human hair colors range from blonde to black, not including albinos. There are really only a few colors in between. If the Easter hair folks just wanted to change their hair color, they could choose a color of hair that really exists in nature. Unfortunately, cosmetics manufacturers are happy to oblige us with an unlimited choice of hair dye colors. Consumers now blithely pursue the joy of hair as decoration, without stopping to consider the risks associated with today’s modern hair dyes.
The Food and Drug Administration refuses to state categorically that hair dye is bad for your hair. However, they have supported some studies to find out if hair dye is bad for your body, skin, and scalp. Perhaps, their latest recommendation that people delay dyeing their hair until it turns gray is the most revealing. They also advise consumers that hair dye should never be applied to eyebrows and eyelashes. Review a lengthy list of precautions that consumers should take when applying hair dyes at 4women.gov.
A few researchers “think” that hair dye can cause cancer and might seep into your brain. These hypotheses haven’t been proven yet, but people who dye their hair frequently are the unwitting guinea pigs who will eventually give us a definitive answer. How many women and men would prefer a little gray hair to the potential loss of gray matter that might result from overuse of hair dye? How does this decorative treatment affect your hair and your body?
Do the people with Easter hair have any idea about the ingredients in hair dyes? It’s certainly not the same stuff that we use to dye Easter eggs! Just how many treatments does it take (and how many harmful chemicals) to change naturally black or brown hair to purple? Besides, exactly where do people with magenta hair work?
Tags: cancer, chemicals, clay, cosmetics manufacturers, decorative, Easter, eyebrows, eyelashes, Food and Drug Administration, Goth, hair, hair dyes, henna, mud, precautions, scalp, trend, vegetable
Posted in Health & Wellness, Natural Hair Growth | Comments Off
Friday, March 20th, 2009
Shampoo your hair only if you trust the manufacturer. Otherwise, to avoid hair loss, skin and scalp irritation, and sometimes worse, you’re better off just leaving your hair alone. What’s in your shampoo? The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics wants to know and you need to find out why. Does your shampoo play a starring role in hair loss and other consumer health problems?
The list of chemicals and ingredients in cosmetic preparations numbers over 10,000. Currently, the Food and Drug Administration does not test consumer cosmetics before manufacturers put them on the market in the United States. They have no authority to do this, regardless of the country of origin. If there are enough consumer complaints, the FDA steps in, after the fact. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review is an FDA-sponsored project. In 1976, CIR started collecting available study data on cosmetic ingredients intended for human use. Their aim is to make it possible for the FDA to be proactive about cosmetic ingredients.
To date, the FDA has banned only nine chemicals from cosmetic usage. Studies on over 100 more have been inclusive. They have been certified neither safe nor unsafe for skin application by consumers. Among these are sodium laurel sulfate and some common coloring agents widely used in shampoos. Parabens and diethanolamine (DEA), suspected carcinogens that turn up in shampoos, also lack a government safety rating.
European countries have already banned many of the ingredients on the inconclusive list. Why can’t we share the knowledge? Perhaps, we should buy their test results and get the ball rolling. Maybe our government wants to conduct its own tests for good reasons. In the meantime, consumers wind up being guinea pigs in the unofficial tests that cosmetics manufacturers conduct by putting questionable products on store shelves.
Some cosmetic manufacturers participate in the Compact for Safe Cosmetics. They have voluntarily signed agreements to eliminate unsafe ingredients from their products. Their shampoos and conditioners are good alternatives to ones that still have a long list of unpronounceable and potentially harmful ingredients. Many consumers turn to the Skin Deep database to find data on chemicals in popular brand name shampoos and conditioners.
Eliminate preventable hair and scalp problems. Protect your hair and body by reviewing the labels on the products that you use for grooming. If you can’t find suitable replacements for chemical-laden shampoos, you can always make your own. It’s not rocket science. To make a shampoo with ingredients that you can trust, all you need is glycerin, soap flakes, and common herbs like chamomile or rosemary. Look up herbal hair cleansing formulas at your local library and natural living websites.
Tags: banned chemicals, Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, carcinogens, chamomile, coloring agents, Compact for Safe Cosmetics, conditioners, Cosmetic Ingredient Review, cosmetics, DEA, diethanolamine, Food and Drug Administration, ingredients, natural living, parabens, preventable hair and scalp problems, rosemary, shampoo, Skin Deep, sodium laurel sulfate, unsafe ingredients
Posted in Natural Hair Growth | Comments Off
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
A few years ago, the Food and Drug Administration documented a national outbreak of alopecia that it tied to the use of the Rio Hair Naturalizer System, a hair relaxer. The company is now defunct, but the consumers that it victimized have learned a painful lesson. Some lost up to 40% of their hair; a few were even bald for a short while. After two years, normal hair growth was impossible for some consumers. They experienced severe scalp scarring, (cicatrial alopecia).
The practice of using chemical hair relaxers has become popular worldwide. Curly hair resists efforts to brush and comb it into a smooth shape. Women (and some men) with naturally curly hair want to spend less time managing their locks. Hair relaxers remove the curl and make the hair shaft smoother. It lays flat against the scalp, and it is easier to comb. Natural or relaxed, curly hair is fragile.
The other side of the coin is the modern day perm. Women with straight hair that lies flat against the scalp want theirs to have more body and more styling options. Beauticians apply perms or consumers do it at home. The process involves using chemicals to create a curl pattern in the hair. After the process is finished, the straight hair has waves and often looks fuller, until the hair recovers or grows out.
What these two processes have in common is dangerous chemicals. Perms and relaxers not only damage your hair over time; research shows that the chemicals in them may also damage your skin and internal organs! Borax and ammonia are two of the chemicals that manufacturers have used in perms. The first relaxers marketed for African Americans in the early part of the 20th century used lye as the main ingredient in the relaxing process.
Malcolm X, a 1960s African American civil rights activist, often told a story about his experience with lye based relaxers. At that time, many young men in urban areas adopted the “conk” hairstyle that required relaxing the hair. Malcolm had an unfortunate do-it-yourself experience at a friend’s home. After he applied the relaxing chemicals, Malcolm discovered that the water service was disconnected.
He needed to rinse the relaxer from his hair after a specified time had elapsed. While he searched for a solution to his dilemma, the lye began to burn his scalp and destroy his hair. When panic set in, he resorted to dunking his head in the toilet, the only water available. He never attempted to conk his hair again.
Hair loss from chemical treatments applied to your hair may be permanent. This type of hair loss is easy enough to avoid. Step away from that box or bottle.
Tags: African American, Alopecia Outbreak, ammonia, borax, chemicals, cicatrial alopecia, conk, curl pattern, curly hair, Food and Drug Administration, hair loss, hairstyle, locks, lye, Malcolm X, normal hair growth, perms, relaxers, Rio Hair Naturalizer System, toilet, waves
Posted in Female Hair Loss, Hair Loss Products, Natural Hair Growth | 1 Comment »
Monday, March 16th, 2009
Some people may have sensitive scalps.The French government recently allowed dermatologists to spend tax dollars conducting a study to determine if sensitive scalp is a scientifically verifiable condition. You read it here. Duh! You gotta love it.
The results were inconclusive. So, the researchers have requested more funding for additional studies. Once the French medical community actually confirms that this mysterious “condition” exists, that it is not a figment of the imagination, and that X number of people suffer from it, what’s next?
Sometime in the distant future and millions of francs later, we may get down to the causes. Finally, after you and the next generation have headed off for a dirt nap, researchers will “find” a treatment. But, will they find a cure? Stay tuned, the sensitive scalp sequel is on a storyboard near you. This is backwards. No, let’s be plain, it sucks!
Sensitive scalp might be inherited, environmental or even fantasy. Do consumers in France and the United States need more studies to find out if it exists? We need studies before the fact to figure out if chemicals in our food, water and cosmetics are contributing to it. If you or your loved ones have a sensitive scalp, you now know that scientists in France may soon prove that it exists.
Let’s hope that American tax dollars will be spent giving the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control the teeth that they need to complete inconclusive studies on the potentially harmful chemicals in popular shampoos and conditioners that may contribute to sensitive scalp.
If you grow impatient waiting for the final verdict, just examine your grooming habits, cosmetics, and food choices. Find your own cure. You’re likely to find the culprits much sooner than any government does. If you are one of the sufferers of this mysterious “condition,” imagine that you’re completely on your own. For the time being and well into the future, you are.
Tags: Centers for Disease Control, chemicals, conditioners, cosmetics, cure, dermatologists, food, Food and Drug Administration, France, French government, funding, medical, sensitive scalps, shampoos, studies, tax dollar, treatment
Posted in Female Hair Loss, Hair Loss Products, Natural Hair Growth | Comments Off
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