What is the chemical in hair dye that causes cancer?

It has generally been assumed that personal use of today’s hair dyes is safe, even though there is some evidence that at least one cancer causing agent–known as 4-ABP–can be present in some dyes or dye-lots. It is not a deliberate ingredient, but an unintentional by-product of the manufacturing process.

How does an alkaline ingredient get color into a strand of hair?

Alkalline ingreidients get color into hair by swelling the outer hair layer or cuticle, allowing the dye and hydorogen peroxide into the middle layer off the hair. The hydrogen peroxide the oxidizes melanin to make it colorless so only the dye molecules are seen.

What is the role of hydrogen peroxide in a hair color formula?

In dye mixtures, hydrogen peroxide acts as an oxidising agent. It oxidises melanins, organic compounds which absorb visible light and give hair its colour; this oxidation removes the parts of the compounds that cause colour, and causes the natural pale yellow of keratin (the protein that makes up hair) to show through.

Is coloring hair harmful?

The truth is, chemical-laden hair dyes can irritate your scalp and cause hair thinning or loss in some people — while the long-term health effects are not yet known.

Does hair dye enter your bloodstream?

So through our skin or hair follicles, compounds in hair dye could get into our bloodstream. Because it gives a long-lasting color that has a natural look, it’s used in a lot of hair dyes. It often triggers allergic reactions, and it’s associated with blood toxicity and birth defects. Ammonia is a respiratory irritant.

What hair color has an alkaline pH?

Demi-permanent colour resides at a pH of about 6.0–8.0, which will swell the hair strand just enough to penetrate just inside the cuticle layer. Permanent and hi-lift colouring products have a pH between 9.0–11.0 and are alkaline.

How does ammonia work in hair dye?

Ammonia, an alkaline chemical, is used to raise the pH level of our hair during the colouring process. This then lifts the cuticles of the hair fibre and allows the colour to be deposited onto the cortex (the inner part of the hair protected by the cuticles).

What is a hair developer?

Developer, also known as activator or even peroxide for short, is mixed with bleach or dye to lighten or color hair. It’s a creamy product that contains hydrogen peroxide, and the amount of hydrogen peroxide is what determines developer volume.

Does hydrogen peroxide cause GREY hair?

It’s been known for years that hair turns gray due to a natural buildup of hydrogen peroxide in hair follicles, which causes oxidative stress and graying. (Hydrogen peroxide solutions have been used for years as a cheap and easy way to “go blonde.”)

What is the role of hydrogen peroxide in the permanent hair colorant which agent?

Peroxide is used as the developer or oxidizing agent. The developer removes pre-existing color. Peroxide breaks chemical bonds in the hair, releasing sulfur, which accounts for the characteristic odor of hair coloring products. As the melanin is decolorized, a new permanent color is bonded to the hair cortex.

Is hair dye bad for your health?

Given the widespread use of hair dye products, even a small increase in risk may have a considerable public health impact (3). Over the years, some epidemiologic (population) studies have found an increased risk of bladder cancer in hairdressers and barbers (2, 6).

How did people get their hair colored?

It is believed people initially used a combination of lead oxide and calcium hydroxide to color their strands, but when that was determined too toxic, they switched to a formula created by fermenting leeches. During the early years of the Roman Empire (300 B.C.), prostitutes were required to have yellow hair to advertise their profession.

Is the hair dye industry making progress?

Aesthetic tendencies drift with the cultural currents, but our drive to alter ourselves is constant. The chemical history of modern hair dyes reveals that, while they were once part of an innovative industry, progress has stalled, and today they rely on antiquated methods. But consumers are not exactly pressuring the industry to innovate.

When did people start dyeing their hair blonde?

Much later (circa 1700 A.D.), Venetian Italians brought blondes into the mainstream by laying in the sun with their hair saturated in a lightening solution (perhaps an ancestor to Sun In?) activated by UV rays and heat. The first modern dye was (surprisingly!) mauve