Hair Care - Tips and Revelations

It can be quite confusing - with thousands of hair care products on supermarket, drugstore, and salon shelves, each with its own amazing claims, the consumer is quite naturally confused.

And lets face it, with hair care products ranging from everyday shampoos, conditioners, gels, mousses, and hairsprays to dyes and permanents, there's a lot to learn.

The US government has this to say about hair dyes:

The decision to change your hair color may be a hard one. Some studies have linked hair dyes with a higher risk of certain cancers, while other studies have not found this link. Most hair dyes also don't have to go through safety testing that other cosmetic color additives do before hitting store shelves. Women are often on their own trying to figure out whether hair dyes are safe.

When hair dyes first came out, the main ingredient in coal-tar hair dye caused allergic reactions in some people. Most hair dyes are now made from petroleum sources. But FDA still considers them to be coal-tar dyes. This is because they have some of the same compounds found in these older dyes.

Cosmetic makers have stopped using things known to cause cancer in animals... ... but chemicals made almost the same way have replaced some of the cancer-causing compounds. Some experts feel that these newer ingredients aren't very different from the things they're replacing.

Experts suggest that you may reduce your risk of cancer by using less hair dye over time. You may also reduce you risk by not dyeing your hair until it starts to gray.

So, there clearly are some causes for concern. Now perhaps you might like to consider the following:

• Studies have found that almost half of cosmetic products evaluated were contaminated with the cancer-causing chemical 1,4-dioxane.
  
  
• According to the Environmental Working Group, 89% of the over 10,000 ingredients FDA has determined are used in personal care products have not been evaluated for safety by any publically accountable organization.
  
  
• Most products are labeled so as to sell themselves rather than to provide accurate information about the product itself.
  
  
• Common emotive terms such as hypoallergenic and natural do not have official definitions, so manufacturers can use them to mean anything they want. This of course can easily lead on to misleading information about the product on the label.
  
  
• FDA approval is not required for toiletries, cosmetics and personal care products before being sold to the public, and yet a harmful product can only be removed from public sale if the FDA can prove in court that it is harmful, improperly labeled or in direct contravention of the law.
  
  

From the above, it's very clear that you can't simply rely on governments to make sure the cosmetic products you buy are safe. It's up to you to study as well as you can, always read the product ingredients, and do your own research. There are many resources available to help you and provide guidance, including a range of books and websites such as this.