Permanent hair dye or colour may cause cancer

If you are one of those people who are proud of the fact that you opt for funky permanent colours for your hair every often, it's time you think of more options! Researchers have warned that permanent

By: Editorial Team | | Published: June 10, 2014 7:06 pm

If you are one of those people who are proud of the fact that you opt for funky permanent colours for your hair every often, it’s time you think of more options! Researchers have warned that permanent hair dyes have chemicals than can cause cancer! Also Read - Ganesh Chaturthi 2020: 4 reasons an eco-friendly Ganesha is good for you

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Permanent hair dyes and perming treatments at salons may contain banned aromatic amines called toluidines that have carcinogenic properties, researchers warn. A new study from Lund University in Sweden has found that hairdressers may still be exposed to these carcinogens. Permanent hair dyes, also called oxidative dyes, are the ones most dangerous to hairdressers and its users. For their study, the researchers looked at o-toluidine levels in the blood, along with levels of seven other potentially carcinogenic aromatic amines. o-toluidine (ortho-toluidine) has actually been confirmed as a carcinogenic. Also Read - Weight loss diet: How to eat healthy in a restaurant when you want to lose weight

Researchers measured its levels in the blood of 295 female hairdressers, 32 regular hair dye users and 60 people who had not used any of these products. They found that hairdressers were indeed exposing themselves to o-toluidine and meta-toluidine (m-toluidine). A similar trend was seen for perming treatments in respect of o-toluidine levels. ‘The ingredients of hair dyes and perming products should be analysed to find out if these products continue to be potential sources of toluidine exposure,’ researchers said. (Read: Quiz How much do you know about cancer?)

Hairdressers should protect themselves from the risk of absorbing these products through their skin by wearing gloves.

What is cancer?

Normal body cells multiply in an orderly fashion. Some cells multiply, while some cells die, so that the body mass remains intact. All this is programmed and tightly controlled by ‘genes’ in the cells. When there is some change in the genes due to variety of reasons, it could cause a cell to escape this control mechanism and multiply uncontrollably. This is cancer. The cells just keep on multiplying, initially forming a small ‘tumour’, and finally grow larger. The problem with cancer is, in whichever organ the cancer forms, the function of that organ is disturbed by the cancer. Besides, cancer cells can spread by means of lymphatics and blood stream to other organs in the body and they form similar tumours in that organ and disturb the function of that organ too. It is the disturbance of function of the organs which initially causes the symptoms and ultimately results in the death of the person.

What leads to cancer?

There are innumerable things which can cause cancer. Some of the commoner causes are as follows:

Nicotine (chewing tobacco or smoking cigarettes etc) – usually causes oral cancer, lung cancer; and cancers of the alimentary tract, pancreas etc. Nicotine can cause cancer of practically any organ in the body.
Genes, some cancers run in a family. There is inheritance of a faulty gene, which initiates cancer. For example, HBOC (Hereditary Breast Ovarian Cancer), HNPCC (Hereditary Non Polyposis Colorectal Cancer) etc. (Read: Cancer your most common queries answered by an expert)

With inputs from IANS

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Published : June 10, 2014 7:06 pm

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