Hair color... a carcinogen?

Harley44

Hair color... a carcinogen?

Harley44

 Here's a link to a website with info. about hair color and a possible link to cancer...

http://www.ccorganics.com/toxic-toiletries.htm

I am just TERRIFIED about this! 

My hair was coming in white, and I colored it, before my bc dx.  Now, this article suggests that even the semi-permanent haircolor can cause cancer...

After chemo, my hair came in WHITE!!!  with some black... 

I have colored it once since chemo, but I'm just SO afraid that by coloring my hair, I'm going to start something...

What to do??

What do ya'll think?

Harley

Jellydonut

Harley,

The girls in my family should own stock in the hair coloring companies!  All of us color and have been doing so for decades and I'm the only one with BC, and the youngest of the clan.  Personally, I don't believe it and will continue with color until I'm old and feeble.

Harley44

I guess I will either have to go get one of those 'vegetable-based dyes' that are out there, or just keep going to the salon and getting the semi-permanent ones. 

I just talked to a new hair stylist, and even though she didn't seem really nice, I thought about using her.  I just can't seem to find a hairdresser that I REALLY like. 

Thanks for your opinion.  I have been searching the net to see if there have been any reliable sites that have information from a reliable study which showed conclusively, one way or the other. 

Harley

Annabella58

Harley, hon, Annie here.

I heard that too, and have colored my hair for years.  I did grill the onc and he said no connection whatsoever, that there is tho, a connection to black hair dye, so don't color it black.

To be super safe, i get a haircolor from the health food store, it's no amonia, veggie based and it doesn't last longer than three weeks, but it's safe.  It's some french based stuff i cannot remember the name cuz haven't been allowed to color since chemo, but most health food stores carry it.  I think semi permanent is fine, since no amonia.  That is the stuff you REALLY want to avoid and black dye.

If you really don't want to worry about it, there is a totally temporary hair color in most cvs or beauty supply places called Fanciful rinse, by Roux.  No, it doesn't stay more than a week tops, it tints rather than colors, but it kind of disguises grey if you don't mind being a blonde.  The darker colors really do not work.  I am using the Fawn shade now and they also have really good color based temp mousses that get you thru the daily hassle, I am quite impressed with this stuff.  Go online Roux products, google it, and they are all there. 

I did notice a copper, worth a shot?

Let me know what your onc says, mine said no way during chemo, but after color it whatever the heck you want, that that tale comes around the internet every few years and is baloney.  But I'd like to hear what your onc says!

good luck

love

annie

Annabella58

p.s. Harley

Another fix I used before starting chemo and it lasts three months........go get a whole head full of low lights in a color that matches you now.  These are like highlights, but it's painting your hair or most of it with color and they don't touch the scalp so it does not go into your bloodstream.  It's what they people do on TV and such when they have to not color due to pregnancy, chemo, etc.

Worked very well for me, and is only growing out.  I did this in

October.  Am using the fanciful now and it's fine too, but way too much work as my hair is still long and thick (only now with attractive bald patches)

Where there's a will there's a way!!

love to you

annie

Urbie

You can check out this website and enter in the brand of hair color that you use, but I can tell you that all of the major commercial brands have a BAD score when it comes to containing known carcinogens.

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/  

"Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 25,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn't require companies to test their own products for safety."   

 And, if you color your hair regularly, you should read this   http://www.internatural-alternative-health.com/reference/hair2298.html  

Today, 35 to 40 percent of American women, aged 18 to 60 - some 50 million - use hair dyes. That these products, as a class, remain unlabeled for their human cancer hazard is one of the worst public health scandals today.  Because of loopholes in the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, these killer products continue to bear no warning whatsoever of a very real cancer hazard.   

Just what I have read...

Anonymous

I don't use them because I don't like the look, not because I'm worried about a carcinogenic effect. Plus, it undeniably *does* cause hair thinning.

Love my gray, worked for it, can't wait to get it back. 

Harley44

Well, that is all well and good... but did you have chemo, and have your hair come in TOTALLY WHITE??? 
If you didn't ... What Would You Do??? 

Annie,

Hey, thanks for answering my post!  I think I might try to find that light mountain brand hair color, because it has the least amount of toxic ingredients, and I'll see if my new hairdresser will agree to put it in for me...if not, I guess I might have to try it myself...  ....sigh...

See you on the CMF thread! 

Harley

Sassa

Urbie,

You are way off base about the FDA not requiring companies to test their products for safety.

The fact is, that when it comes to hair dyes, hair dyes were specifically exempt from the 1938 Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act when first enacted due to the lobbying of the cosmetic industry.  The industry knew that hair dyes could never pass the standards for safety set in the FD&C Act.

The exemption has never been repealed, again due to lobbying by the cosmetic industry.

So, if you want to blame anyone for this loophole, blame the big bucks that the cosmetic industry has spread around Congress over the years.

Of course, the unrelenting vanity of women (and men) who refuse to age gracefully  makes it profitable for the cosmetic industry to spend that bribe money.

By the way, I stopped wearing all make up within 2 years starting to work for the FDA.  Because I worked in NY District, I routinely spent time looking at the complaint files at all the big cosmetic firms headquartered in the area.

Scary stuff - none of that stuff has been on my face (especially near my eyes) for over 35 years and there is no way I would ever dye my hair (or perm or straighten or anything else). 

And yes, my hair did come in gray after chemo.  However, a year out, most of my hair has regained its color. And for that part that is still gray, I earned the gray  the hard way.

Harley44

Sassa

Were you wearing makeup, and/or coloring your hair, when you were dx'd with bc??

just curious....

harley

Sassa

Harley,

I haven't wore any makeup in over 35 years.  I have never dyed or processed my hair in any way.

Just curious , Harley, are you also a member of a board about cruising? 

Mary-Lou

I guess I will Dye till I die...............And make-up I don't live with out.

So many things cause cancer so they say, I'm just going to live while I have life, and not worry about everything in the mean time.

Stress is a big cause of health problems. I'm just going to chill and not stress over something that I think MIGHT happen.

I have learned life is short, and I may be hit by a bus any day of the week. Why worry what will come down the road.

Annabella58

Hi all:

I will be putting on lipstick and slapping on mascara til I die too.

Hey, I could hit by a bus tomorrow, before bc comes back or die from a heart attack.   I will take some reasonable precautions but I'm not going crazy.  One of my oncs (who heads up lymphoma research and came from NY Presbyterian) and my primary onc who is on the board of everything from everywhere have both said, "live your life, blonde hair dye is fine, stay away from amonia but don't go crazy..."

I'm gonna do that, and if I croak, well, hell, i'll look good.

The one rumour that is true, apparently, is diet anything.  Diet sodas, artificial sweeteners, even splenda.  Natural everything is better.

love to all

annie

Harley44

Thanks everyone who replied to my question.  Since my bc dx, I just can't seem to stop wondering, "what caused this?", since bc doesn't run in my family...in fact, there is no cancer in my family.  I guess I will just live my life, and try not to worry about all this stuff, cause it really is making me crazy!! 

Mary,

I know...I'm beginning to feel the same way... I'm so tired of worrying about all this bc crap... when even breathing the air causes cancer!!  Thanks!  You are so nice!

Annie,

Me too!!  I know, sometimes I can get really crazy, worrying about all this... see, I also used HRT for a few years, before my bc dx...  and part of me still blames myself... but, hey, I was dx'd with premature ovarian failure at 35 y.o., and those hot flashes were wicked bad!! 

Oh, and my onc. never said that coloring my hair was a nono... when I asked him, I also asked if I needed to wait SIX months before coloring my hair.  He said "Hasn't it been six months?"  it had only been FOUR months!!  so I went ahead and got it colored, in a salon, with only semi permanent hair color, at 5 months post chemo!

Thanks Annie, for all your support!!  You're the best! 

Harley

Anonymous

I had AC dose dense, lost all my hair, started weekly Taxol/Herceptin, lost my eyebrows and most of my lashes. Hair started coming back about 4 weeks ago, half-way through Taxol treatment. Mostly white. I like to think of it as Artic Silver. Or Dawn Mist. I'm 50. Other than breast cancer, I'm healthy. I'm 50 and healthy whether my hair is white or purple. I don't care what people think of how I look.

AnnNYC

I have always read the same thing anniebelle's docs told her: there is an association between use of black/dark hair dye, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

A very recent publication in the American Journal of Epidemiology says the same thing (and also says there was an increased lymphoma risk for women who used any color hair dye before 1980, but only very dark dye since 1980):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18408225?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Mary-Lou

That's right Harley, I have had over 2 years of my life taken being worried. It must stop, this is going to be a year of life!

I have to much to enjoy, and I'm missing it with all the stuff that has to do with cancer.

I say health has way more to do with the mind than anything. I just can't worry about being sick one more minute.

Harley44

Mary L.

You are SO right!! 

Thanks for helping me to stop worrying about all this stuff... my dh wants me to just go back to the way I was...before bc... but, since I have been changed by this experience so much, it's hard for me.

That is one thing that I am trying to do...just live my life, and only look forward, not back...  there is NO turning back!! 

Harley 

Shirlann

Hi girls, one little thing to help put your "why" to rest.  They have found numerous Egyptian mummy's with breast cancer evidence.  And many other cancers.

So try not to make too much of the "why" part.

Gentle hugs, Shirlann