American study confirms: Does frequent hair dyeing increase the risk of cancer? If you can do these 4 points, you can rest assured
Nowadays, hair dyeing is a hobby of many people, and it is also a major source of income for barber shops, from grandparents in their seventies and eighties to young students.
Grandparents like to dye their white hair black, hoping that the shadow of the years will slow down; young and lively students like to dye their hair in various colors, bringing them an unknown exploration of the world.
However, the price of hair dye in barbershops discourages many people, so they choose more affordable and convenient "hair dye" and dye their hair manually. But did you know that hair dye ingredients contain a lot of chemicals, if used improperly, it may affect your health , and even blindness in severe cases...
A 13-year-old girl in Georgia, USA, accidentally sprayed the hair dye on her left eyeball while she was dyeing her hair with friends at home, and the intense burning sensation made her scream. After flushing, her mother immediately Sent her to the hospital for examination.
But it was too late. Although the hair dye was washed away by water, it had stayed on her eyeball for 15 minutes, causing third-degree chemical burns, burning of the surface of the cornea, loss of limbal stem cells, and loss of the cornea’s ability to repair itself. . Despite months of treatment and a corneal transplant, her condition did not improve and she eventually lost vision in her left eye.
So hair dye is so dangerous, it is hard not to feel a little fear of its ingredients, and many people will ask: "Will hair dye cause cancer if it is used too much?"
1. Is it true that "hair dye causes cancer"?
In 2021, a study published in Cancer by the American Association for Cancer Research (ACS) showed that the use of permanent oxidative hair dyes may increase the risk of prostate cancer in men.
Scientists conducted a 28-year follow-up study on 28,795 Finnish men with an average age of 50-69 and all smoking habits .
Studies have shown that men who use permanent oxidative hair dyes have a 77% increased risk of prostate cancer compared with men who do not use them, after other life factors and a family history of prostate cancer are excluded. This increased risk was more pronounced among men who had smoked younger and had a higher body mass index.
The researchers said that permanent hair dyes contain a chemical called "p-phenylenediamine", which was listed as a Group III carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer as early as 2017. In China, the content of "p-phenylenediamine" in hair dyes that meet the production standards is only 2% to 6%, which is relatively low. However, if you are exposed to unqualified hair dyes containing this chemical substance for a long time , there will still be a certain risk of cancer.
2. Random hair dyeing is dangerous
In addition to using unqualified hair dyes, the following three behaviors may also cause health hazards.
1. Dye your hair in any weather
Try not to dye your hair in smoggy weather. Hair dye products contain a chemical called "secondary amine", which can penetrate and stay in the skin and hair for as short as a few weeks or as long as several years. It can also react with tobacco, smoke, exhaust gas, etc. in the air to form nitrosamines ( a strong carcinogenic chemical ).
Therefore, if you have been exposed to haze weather, second-hand smoke environment, automobile gas exhaust and other environments for a long time, it is not recommended to dye your hair, and you should wash your hair frequently.
2. Dyeing and ironing in one step
Hair dyeing itself does a lot of damage to the hair quality and skin. If you have another " one- stop dyeing and ironing ", your hair may not be far from turning into "withered grass". The perm lotion contains alkalinity and oxides, which will make the hair yellow and brittle, without luster and elasticity. Every time you do your hair, try to choose one of the two to protect your health and also protect the hair quality. beauty.
3. Hair color should be deep and bright
In hair dyes with darker and brighter colors, the higher the content of "p-phenylenediamine", the greater the damage to the scalp and the relatively higher health risks.
3. Dye your hair with peace of mind, keep these 4 points in mind
① Do an allergy test 48 hours before dyeing your hair
Hair dyes contain p-phenylenediamine, aminophenol and other ingredients, which are all chemical substances that are prone to allergies. It is recommended to go to the hospital for an allergy test before dyeing hair (especially for people who are prone to allergies). If you really don't want to go to the hospital, you can do it yourself, that is, apply a small amount of hair dye to the inside of the forearm, wash it off after a period of time, and observe whether there is an allergic reaction.
②Dye your hair up to 2 times a year
No matter how much you like to dye your hair, you must be restrained, and your hair should be dyed no more than 2 times a year. Frequent hair dyeing will cause the chemical substances deposited in the body to be difficult to metabolize, causing damage to the body, and frequent hair dyeing will also cause considerable damage to the hair quality, which is difficult to repair. The longer the interval between hair dyeing, the less damage to the body.
③Do not wash your hair before dyeing it
Washing your hair before dyeing your hair will remove the protective layer formed by the oil on the surface of the scalp. The large amount of chemical substances in the hair dye will more easily irritate the scalp and damage the skin. You don't need to wash your hair before dyeing, the oil secreted by the hair can reduce the damage caused by the hair dye to the skin.
④ The following people are not suitable for hair dyeing
(1) Allergy to hair dye;
(2) Damage to the scalp;
(3) Elderly and infirm, with liver and kidney insufficiency;
(4) Children, pregnant women, pregnant and lactating;
(5) Have a family history of cancer;
While becoming beautiful, don’t neglect your own health. Scientific hair dyeing keeps cancer away!
References:
[1]Lim, J-E, Huang, J, Mӓnnistӧ, S, Weinstein, SJ, Albanes, D. Hair dye use and prostate cancer risk: A prospective analysis in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study cohort. Cancer. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.34035
[2] Hu Lei, Yan Rui. Hair Dye Causes Cancer? Six major techniques for lightning protection [J]. Public Health, 2020(03): 108-109.
[3] Can hair dye really cause cancer? [J]. Science Public (Middle School Students), 2020(09): 29.
[4] Carcinogenicity is doubled in smog after hair dyeing [J]. Chinese Journal of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases for the Elderly, 2014, 16(03): 283.
[5] Li Jie. Harm of hair dyeing, beware of hidden dangers in beauty [J]. Healthy Life, 2015(12): 30-31.
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