Does dyeing your hair often cause cancer? How often do you dye it? Do 3 points, or you can dye it with confidence

Ms. Wang, who lives in Harbin, grew white hair when she was in her thirties. At first, it was only a few hairs, but after forty, more and more white hair grew. Ms. Wang couldn't pull it out, so she had to dye her hair to cover it.

At first, dyeing her hair did give Ms. Wang confidence, but her hair grew fast. In less than a month, white hair appeared from both sides of the temples. In order to cover the new white hair, Ms. Wang had to go to the barber shop every month. Li, this dye has been dyed for more than ten years.

Now fifty-year-old Ms. Wang is often praised for being well-maintained and has no gray hair, but Ms. Wang herself knows that this is all the result of "money".

Just over two months ago, Ms. Wang felt that her body was often tired and her skin was getting yellower . Until her husband told her that the whites of her eyes were turning yellow, Ms. Wang noticed something was wrong and rushed to the local hospital for examination.

After a series of examinations, the examination showed that it was in the middle and late stages of cirrhosis, and it was chemical liver injury. The doctor judged that it was probably related to Ms. Wang's perennial hair dyeing.

1. Why does dyeing hair on the head hurt the liver?

Hair dye is directly applied to the hair and scalp, away from the liver, why does it hurt the liver?

How does hair dye change the original color of hair? This is related to their molecular structure.

Hair dyes are small molecular aniline colorants, which can penetrate into the hair through coupling agents, and then undergo oxidative polymerization through oxidation, thereby forming macromolecular pigments that are not easy to fall off, which are enclosed in hair fibers and make hair hair. color changes.

So why does it hurt the liver?

Hair dyes contain dozens of chemical components, most of which are toxic, such as nitrobenzene, amines, etc., and are easily absorbed . Our common hair dye site allergies, erythema, itching, etc., are caused by the toxic components of hair dyes that damage the skin.

Once these toxins penetrate into the body with the hair follicles and skin, the liver needs to be catabolized. Frequent hair coloring will undoubtedly increase the detoxification burden of the liver. Moreover, the toxic components of hair dye can directly damage liver cells, which in turn can lead to liver disease.

Second, frequent hair dye will cause cancer? Research finds answers

Isn't it just a change of hair color? Those celebrities who dye their hair every day have never seen any celebrity with leukemia or skin cancer?

Before discussing whether hair dye is carcinogenic, let's take a look at what hair dyes have?

At present, hair dyes on the market can be divided into inorganic hair dyes, synthetic hair dyes and plant hair dyes according to the formula. According to the duration of hair dyeing, it can be divided into temporary, semi-permanent and permanent hair dyes.

Different formulas, different durability, and different degrees of harm to the human body.

In 2020, a large-scale joint study published in "BMJ", from Harvard School of Public Health, Indiana University School of Public Health, and Austrian Medical University of Vienna and other institutions, took 36 years to recruit 120,000 people through questionnaires. subject.

It was found that permanent hair dye was associated with an increased risk of skin cancer, breast cancer, and lymphoma cancer .

• For basal cell carcinoma of the skin, users had a 6% increased risk of basal cell carcinoma of the skin compared with those who did not use permanent hair dye.
• In terms of breast cancer, people who use permanent hair dyes have an increased risk of breast cancer. For every 50 times of hair dyeing, the risk of breast cancer increases by 1% to 2%.
• For ovarian cancer, those who use permanent hair dye have a 21% increased risk

In addition, studies have also found that men's hair dye may increase the risk of prostate cancer .

From the National Cancer Institute's Jung-Eun Lim-led Men's Hair Dye Risk Study, which compiled and evaluated survey data for up to 28 years, it found that men who regularly use oxidative hair dyes have a 77% increased risk of prostate cancer.

In other words, the use of permanent hair dyes is associated with the risk of cancer. In addition, frequent hair dyeing may face the following consequences:

• Skin allergies

The stronger the color of the hair dye and the more chemical components, the more likely it is to cause allergies.

• severe hair loss

Among the causes of hair loss, frequent coloring is a major risk. Benzene compounds in hair dyes are harmful to hair and can cause dryness, breakage, etc.

• Liver and kidney damage

In order to enhance the dyeing effect, some hair dyes will add heavy metals, which can cause chronic damage to the body.

3. Safe hair dyeing, don't ignore 4 points

With the pursuit of beauty, the demand for hair coloring is also increasing. With the improvement of hair dyes, although the degree of damage has been reduced compared with the past, long-term exposure is still easy to increase the risk of cancer. Therefore, if you want to dye your hair safely, these must be noted:

1. Test your allergy before dyeing your hair

Hair dyes contain allergenic ingredients, especially the lighter the hair dyes, the greater the risk of harm to the body.

Therefore, it is best to do an allergy test before dyeing your hair. Do not wash your hair two days before dyeing, and take a little hair dye and apply it to the skin that is not obvious such as behind the ear to observe the reaction, and see if there is peeling, tingling, etc.

2. No more than 3 times a year

Foreign in vitro studies have found that the ingredients in the dye are toxic to living cells and destructive to the DNA genetic material of cells, so the frequency of hair dye should not be too dense, preferably no more than 3 times a year .

3, buy regular hair dye

When buying hair dye, be sure to carefully check the packaging and check whether there is a "national makeup special character" approved text . Try to buy in regular channels, do not choose overseas shopping or purchasing, foreign products generally have not passed the toxicology and safety tests in China, and have certain risks.

4. Avoid direct contact with skin

Before dyeing your hair, be sure to protect your skin and apply a layer of lotion to block. If you accidentally get hair dye, apply it with Vaseline immediately or wipe it off in time.

Although proper hair coloring poses less risk to human health, it is not recommended to color hair for these 7 types of people:

• Allergic to hair dye;
• Menstruating women have low resistance and sensitive skin;
• Outdoor workers, whose hair is exposed to the sun for a long time;
• Those with poor hair quality;
• During pregnancy and within half a year after childbirth, women's constitution changes and their hair quality is relatively fragile;
• Those with scalp damage;
• Children, the elderly and those with liver and kidney insufficiency.

Occasional hair coloring has little impact on your health, and you don't need to worry too much. But after all, hair dyes are all chemical substances. Don't sacrifice your health for the pursuit of beauty. If you really are not suitable for dyeing your hair, don't force it.

References:

[1] "Doctor's Business Card | Can Hair Dye Cause Cancer? Will it speed up hair loss? Let's talk about hair coloring". Healthy China. 2021-01-04

[2] "How about people who have used hair dye for a long time? A study of 120,000 people followed for 36 years draws conclusions". Life Times. 2020-10-11

[3] "Dyeing hair is harmful to the body? Pay attention to 5 points, you can rest assured". Tencent Medical Dictionary She Knows. 2022-03-09

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