Treasured Locks was approached several months ago about selling a hot
new product-"Brazilian" Keratin Treatment. It sounds fantastic. What
could be better for straightening your hair? The hair itself is made of
keratin.
So, applying keratin and heat and getting straight hair for two to
three months sounds like a great thing. It certainly sounds better than
the caustic chemical relaxers or blow drying and flat ironing your hair
all the time.
There was just one rub. The manufacturer admitted that the product
contained some amount of
formaldehyde.
Whoa! Did you say formaldehyde? Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen
(cancer causing agent) and allergen. You may have heard of it because
it is used to embalm dead bodies. Formaldehyde's import is restricted
in some European countries, even for embalming because it is so toxic.
Formaldehyde is a great disinfectant because it kills a lot of stuff
(microbes). It can cause extreme irritation of the eyes, nose and
throat- even in low concentrations. We know there are differing
opinions on things like parabens and sulfates. But, everyone agrees
that formaldehyde is some pretty nasty stuff. People should only be
exposed to formaldehyde under very controlled conditions and in
extremely limited amounts. The use of formaldehyde in a product applied
to your hair and then heated (released the formaldehyde into the air is
something to be especially cautious about. Because those vapors are
going to be breathed by everyone in the room.
The manufacturer we spoke with assured us that his product contained
the lowest amount of formaldehyde possible. I don't recall the
percentage he said exactly. I know it was less than 2%. Formaldehyde is
allowed in cosmetics at a concentration of less than 0.2% (as a
preservative). I had never heard of formaldehyde being an active
ingredient in a product. We we decided to pass on the whole thing. It
just didn't sound right to us. Now I'm glad we did.
Over the months, as the keratin treatment seemed to be growing in
popularity, we watched to see what the reaction would be to the
formaldehyde in these products. If you're doing a treatment at home
every several months, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. If you were having
it done in a salon, that limited exposure once every few months. Maybe
not so bad. But, what about hair care professionals putting it in day
after day? We were surprised the FDA hadn't stepped in.
A salon in Portland asked
Oregon Health and Sciences University to test a
line of popular Brazilian straightening treatments. The salon had
stopped using the treatments because their operators were reporting
difficulty breathing, nose bleeds and eye irritation (all symptoms of
exposure to formaldehyde) after working with the treatments. The
results were disturbing to say the least. The lab found levels of
formaldehyde ranging from just over 6% to over 10%. A newer
"formaldehyde free" version of the product had about 8.5% formaldehyde.
Even the products that were not labeled "formaldehyde free" did not
mention formaldehyde on the product label or
material
safety data sheet.
Well, apparently, the FDA still hasn't stepped in. But the Canadian
government has.
Health
Canada, the department of the government of Canada responsible for
national public health,
conducted their own tests, finding even higher
levels, of 12 percent formaldehyde. Health Canada is working with the
Canadian distributor to stop distribution of this product to salons in
Canada. Health Canada is also informing consumers of the health risks
associated with this product. As far as we know, the Food and Drug
Administration, which regulates personal care products in the U.S., has
not responded.
We don't know what the levels of formaldehyde are in all of the many
spin-offs and knock offs of the Brazilian Keratin Treatments. But, at
this point, I would not recommend taking the manufacturers' word for
it. When it comes to these treatments, we advise you to proceed with
caution until we all better understand exactly what's in them. And, if
we do find out they are 6-12% formaldehyde, we'd recommend staying away
from them entirely.
