From: pburch@roc.mbcr.bcm.tmc.edu (Paula Burch)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Perms, Dyes, and pregnancy ????
Date: 22 Jul 1992 19:27:18 GMT
Reply-To: pburch@bcm.tmc.edu (Paula Burch)
Originator: pburch@roc.mbcr.bcm.tmc.edu


In article <14jofiINNbt9@informatics.wustl.edu>, bloch@wupost.wustl.edu (Charlene Bloch Abrams) writes:
|> Actually, these things are NOT unsafe - it seems beauty schools are way
|> behind in terms of information. According to my OB, the problem (with
|> perms) was that they used to use formaldehyde - about 10 - 15 years ago!
|> Since then, perms etc are perfectly safe to use while pregnant, although
|> according to my hairdresser, perms often don't take as well on
|> pregnant women.
|> 
|> So all you pregnant women who are starting to feel the tiniest bit unattractive
|> and in need of artificial help, go for it if you like!

There are many chemicals used in beauty salons that are quite harmful. 
I worry about the hairdressers who are exposed to these things every day 
more than about their customers, though.

Solvents, for example, are unhealthy. As a biochemist, I feel that a good 
rule of thumb is, "if it smells like a solvent, it's probably bad for you 
to be around it." I was going to say, "if it smells bad, it's bad for you," 
but the odors of biological things such as sewage and vinegar are harmless. 
Lipid solvents such as toluene or acetone could be harmful to the brain. 
House painters end up with brain damage from solvent usage--do hairdressers? 
I hope not, but breathing hairspray cannot be healthy.

The makers of cosmetics substances used in salons in general care little 
about safety, I'm afraid. I would be truly afraid, myself, to get a perm 
or coal-tar-based hair coloring during pregnancy. I am afraid of even tiny 
risks when it's my baby, of course.

Yes, I'm being alarmist here. I'm not stating any consensus opinion, just 
my own. You don't want to know my opinion, you want to know facts. Here's 
something: Kramer et al. (in an article, "Medical and drug risk factors 
associated with neuroblastoma: a case-control study," which appeared in 
the May 1987 issue of J. Natl. Cancer. Inst., vol. 78, pp. 797-804) wrote 
that "Significantly more case mothers than control mothers reported use 
of hair coloring products during pregnancy." I.e., hair dye may cause 
neuroblastoma in a child whose mother used the dye during pregnancy. This 
is not proof, but certainly enough of a reason, I think, to be cautious.
Why wait for proof, when the damage may be occurring meanwhile?

Henna is probably quite safe to use to color hair during pregnancy,
but unfortunately this is not much help to those whose hair is already 
colored with coal-tar dyes and have a root problem to look forward to 
during pregnancy. Simple bleaching with peroxide and ammonia is safe, but 
doesn't yield the subtle color choices of the usual dye job. Perhaps you 
could get a hairdresser to simply strip the color from the hair, without 
using the hazardous dyes in the usual second step to make the color 
just right--depending on what color your hair is, and what color dye 
you've been using. The stripping step should be quite safe, I would
imagine, since it's just peroxide bleaching.

I'm afraid of coal-tar-based hair dyes for use even without pregnancy, 
though. There are scads of reports about carcinogenicity and toxicity 
of hair dyes. I could send you more info if you want me to go to the 
trouble of digging it up, but it's beyond the scope of this posting. 
Probably better to move that one to sci.med.

Paula Burch
pburch@bcm.tmc.edu