Cancer & Reproductive Issues Linked With Working In The Salon Environment
- whitney murphy
- Jul 13, 2023
- 12 min read
Updated: Jul 21, 2023
Salon staff may not be aware that their chronic exposure to chemicals could lead to cancer and the alteration of their DNA affecting not only themselves but their offspring. This article will talk about the risks associated with working in a salon, and cite some studies all stylists should know about.
Reproductive issues are a common occurrence for all genders of salon staff but not many attribute their issues to their working environment.
Many people start their careers in the industry quite young, not considering their future family while focusing on building their career, unknowingly, their career could impact their ability to conceive later on in life.
What pregnant staff that work in salons should be aware of
Many stylists work right up to their last trimester without knowing the risks of chemical exposure within their salon environment. Who is responsible for informing stylists about the reproductive risks to working in the salon environment? This article sites studies that cover the reproductive risks to salon staff.
All salon owners should be aware that they are required to provide safety training to all that work in the salon, including chair renters, this would include teaching staff how to handle chemicals safely, read and check MSDS's related to the products they are using and are around in the salon, and personally informing staff of the risks associated with chemical use. This is required by OSHA and other work safe related organizations that have the power to fine you as a salon owner if you are not providing that and the staff become sick while working in salon.
The salon owner is also required to provide PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, for the staff, this means a ventilation system that meets the OSHA requirements for clean air. This equipment is expensive but it is the most protective and necessary safety tools that all salons legally should have, but don't. Most do not see the value in prioritizing and investing in air quality as their first step when starting a salon.
If a staff member was to suffer a miscarriage or their child was born with birth defects, and there was no sufficient required protection in the salon, along with no safety training and no advising of the risks associated with working around and with salon chemical, a personal injury lawsuit, or citations from OSHA could come knocking on the salon owners door.
Below are some studies I have gathered over the years and I will let them speak much for themselves, I have highlighted some of the important points for easier reading if this is too dense for you at the moment. While viewing it can be tempting to panic, but please be aware there are things salons and staff can do to eliminate and mitigate risks, and that is why the hair hug exists, so we can share a new way of safe working that will help any salon meet and exceed OSHA standards and educate on the things not really covered in beauty school.
This is not a complete list of all the studies and potential hazards but as I continue to research and more studies are conducted I will update and revise this list.
These studies primarily are for consumers of hair dye and straightening chemical, the routes of exposure are inhalation primarily, skin contact, and ingestion. The eyes, and air ways are directly affected by these chemicals if a chemical source capture unit is not used to protect the client and stylist. Now this has always left me wondering... If this is the concern for consumers getting a hair service every few months, what is the risk for staff that work in salon full time, not only working with the chemicals themselves, but being around a toxic air quality where many stylists are working with chemicals in a room that is not ventilated to code, and are heating up chemical, which EVERY MSDS SAYS DO NOT HEAT! Even most shampoos, conditioners, and styling product MSDS say that, but all are heated up at some point...
This is the first study that I have found where they registered the air quality changing when hair drying was happening, which would go further to my theory that heating up chemicals is causing much toxicity, dizziness, headaches, and surprisingly intense anxiety flare-up while blow drying or washing out a client creating a chemical steam.
Airborne exposure to chemical substances in hairdresser salons
Several studies indicate health problems among hairdressers to be related to their chemical exposure at work. The purpose of this study was to describe the exposure of chemical compounds in the air of Spanish hairdresser salons, and to study differences between salons in central and suburban areas. Ten hairdresser salons were examined for two days, by recording number and type of customers, ventilation and size of salon. Both stationary and personal borne samples for organic compounds were collected, as well as stationary samples of ammonia. TVOC was calculated. Air temperature, relative humidity, CO and CO2 were logged for 48 h in each salon. Fifty-six personal and 28 stationary samples were analysed for organic compounds. Thirty-five different air-borne compounds were found in the working environment of the hairdressers. All levels were well below the limit values in Spain and USA, both for ammonia and organic compounds. TVOC ranged from 48.37 mg/m3 to 237.60 mg/m3, meaning that many salons had levels above suggested comfort values of 25. There were only minor differences in exposure between central and suburban salons. No salons had ventilation systems, and the CO2 was increasing during the day. The exposure was higher for several chemical compounds when hair dying was performed. Hairdressers were exposed to low air levels of a large number of chemical substances mostly related to work related to hair dying. There were no differences between exposure levels in salons in central and suburban areas.
In a study comparing female hairdressers to female office worker and shop assistant controls (n = 310), an increased risk for subfertility and menstrual disorders was found among the hairdressers (Ronda et al., 2009). However, further research is needed to clarify which occupational exposure explains this association.
Another study, involving self-reported reproductive health of women in Norway, found a significant increase in infertility and spontaneous abortions among hairdressers compared to women in other occupations (Baste et al., 2008). John, Savitz, and Shy (1994) reported similar findings, observing associations among spontaneous abortion, the number of hours worked per day, and the number of chemical services performed per week. That study focused on assessing whether working in cosmetology during the first trimester of pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion. Part-time work as a cosmetologist was not associated with increased spontaneous abortion risk, and no associations were found for cosmetologists who worked less than 35 hours per week and provided few chemical services (John et al., 1994). However, this study was based on a mail survey. Mail surveys are subject to non-response bias, which occurs if the answers of respondents differ from potential answers of nonrespondents.
One study found that hairdressers and the general population exhibited similar rates of infertility (Hougaard, Hannerz, Bonde, Feveile, & Burr, 2006). This did not support the hypothesis that hairdressers are at increased risk of infertility. However, a potential source of bias in this study related to care-seeking behavior. For instance, for a variety of reasons, some women may have less access to health care or be more likely to avoid seeking care; this bias could have led to an inaccurate finding in this study (Hougaard et al., 2006).
Another study found an increased risk of prolonged “time-to-pregnancy” of more than 12 months for hairdressers (Kersemaekers, Roeleveld, & Zielhuis, 1997). An historical cohort study was conducted in the Netherlands examining two time periods, conceptions in 1986 to 1988 and 1991 to 1993, as exposure to reproductive toxic agents in hair salons could have changed during this time. These periods were chosen based on the enactment of bans on the use of dichloromethane and several dye formulations in 1990 in the United States and several European countries. The results demonstrated an increased risk of spontaneous abortions for those hairdressers who conceived in 1986 to 1988. For the hairdressers who conceived in 1991 to 1993, no increased risk of spontaneous abortions was found. The results indicated increased reproductive risk for hairdressers in earlier years that appeared to decrease over time. These results agree with those of John et al. (1994), who found an increased risk of spontaneous abortions among cosmetologists, using pregnancy data from 1983 to 1988; however, they found increased risks only among those who worked more than 35 hours per week.
I will talk more about this in another article on the hair hug, because I have a lot to say about it, it was such a light bulb moment for me on how stylists could be working and how to industry should be structured to mitigate the risks. It does seem like there could be a case made for stylists working primarily part time to save their health.
Pregnancy, maternal exposure to hair dyes and hair straightening cosmetics, and early age leukemia
This study was to investigate the association between maternal exposure to hair dyes and hair straightening cosmetics (HDSC) during pregnancy and leukemia at an early age.
Conclusions: Results in this study seem to support the hypothesis that maternal exposure to HDSC (HAIR DYES & HAIR STRAIGHTENERS) during pregnancy may be involved in the etiology of leukemia in children under 2years of age.
Maternal hair dye use and risk of neuroblastoma in offspring
Studies have suggested an association between maternal hair dye use and elevated risk of childhood cancer, including neuroblastoma. It has analyzed data from a large case-control study to investigate the relationship between maternal hair dye use around pregnancy and risk of neuroblastoma in offspring.
Results: Use of any hair dye in the month before and/or during pregnancy was associated with a moderately increased risk of neuroblastoma (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.6; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.2-2.2). Temporary hair dye use (OR = 2.0, CI = 1.1-3.7) was more strongly associated with neuroblastoma than use of permanent hair dye (OR = 1.4, CI = 1.0-2.0).
Conclusion: Although the results of this study provide evidence of an association between maternal hair dye use and neuroblastoma, further research is necessary to evaluate effects by method of hair dye application, color, and chemical composition.
The effect of pre-pregnancy hair dye exposure on infant birth weight: a nested case-control study
Limited evidences are reported about the risk of pre-pregnancy hair dye use or irregular menstruation with abnormal birth weight during pregnancy, and their joint effects were also unknown. The aim of this study was to explore whether the pre-pregnancy exposure of hair dye and irregular menstruation were associated with the risk of abnormal birth weight.
Conclusion: Our study showed that either pre-pregnancy hair dye use or irregular menstruation was associated with abnormal birth weight, especially, their joint effects could furthermore increase the risk of low birth weight infants when these two factors existed simultaneously.
Reproductive and developmental toxicity of formaldehyde: a systematic review
Further assessment of this association by meta-analysis revealed an increased risk of spontaneous abortion (1.76, 95% CI 1.20-2.59, p=0.002) and of all adverse pregnancy outcomes combined (1.54, 95% CI 1.27-1.88, p<0.001), in formaldehyde-exposed women, although differential recall, selection bias, or confounding cannot be ruled out. Evaluation of the animal studies including all routes of exposure, doses and dosing regimens studied, suggested positive associations between formaldehyde exposure and reproductive toxicity, mostly in males. Potential mechanisms underlying formaldehyde-induced reproductive and developmental toxicities, including chromosome and DNA damage (genotoxicity), oxidative stress, altered level and/or function of enzymes, hormones and proteins, apoptosis, toxicogenomic and epigenomic effects (such as DNA methylation), were identified.
Fertility disorders and pregnancy complications in hairdressers - a systematic review
Hairdressers often come into contact with various chemical substances which can be found in hair care products for washing, dyeing, bleaching, styling, spraying and perming. This exposure can impair health and may be present as skin and respiratory diseases. Effects on reproduction have long been discussed in the literature.
Taken together the studies are inconsistent, so that no clear statements on an association between the exposure as a hairdresser and the effect on reproduction are possible. The different authors describe increased risks of infertility, congenital malformations, SGA, LBW, cancer in childhood, as well as effects from single substances. Conclusion: On the basis of the identified epidemiological studies, fertility disorders and pregnancy complications in hairdressers cannot be excluded. Although the evidence for these risks is low, further studies on reproductive risks in hairdressers should be performed as there is a high public health interest.
Cancer From Chronic Exposure To Chemicals
This could be it's own article but so much of this information should be viewed together to give salon staff a comprehensive picture of what the risks are working full-time in the salon. In 2019 there was a blast in the media around cancer causing chemicals, but what was interesting was that it was all about the consumer, not the salon staff exposure. That really bugged me, so I started compiling studies that have been done with cosmetologists and similar industries. Here's what is disappointing, all studies say there needs to be further research on this.
It doesn't seem that there are many companies willing to fund such research...
Risk of cancer among hairdressers and related workers: a meta-analysis
Hairdressers and allied occupations represent a large and fast growing group of professionals. The fact that these professionals are chronically exposed to a large number of chemicals present in their work environment, including potential carcinogens contained in hair dyes, makes it necessary to carry out a systematic evaluation of the risk of cancer in this group.
Results: Study-specific RRs were weighted by the inverse of their variance to obtain fixed and random effects pooled estimates. The pooled RR of occupational exposure as a hairdresser was 1.27 (95% CI 1.15-1.41) for lung cancer, 1.52 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11-2.08] for larynx cancer, 1.30 (95% CI 1.20-1.42) for bladder cancer and 1.62 (95% CI 1.22-2.14) for multiple myeloma. Data for other anatomic sites showed increases of smaller magnitude. The results restricted to those studies carried out before the ban of two major carcinogens from hair dyes in the mid-1970s were similar to the general results.
Conclusions: Hairdressers have a higher risk of cancer than the general population. Improvement of the ventilation system in the hairdresser salons and implementation of hygiene measures aimed at mitigating exposure to potential carcinogens at work may reduce the risk.
"An intriguing finding was the association between the use of chemical hair straighteners and breast cancer. Dr. White and colleagues found that women who used hair straighteners at least every five to eight weeks were about 30% more likely to develop breast cancer. While the association between straightener use and breast cancer was similar in African American and white women, straightener use was much more common among African American women."
I was recently contacted by drugwatch.com to add their information as a resource, they have information on the current lawsuits happening around chemical straighteners. If you have been affected, please check out their information here.
For more information on the types of chemicals that may be the cause of toxicity to staff in salons here's a resource, an asset for your safety binder, feel free to use it for some safety training education with your salon. Our assets support our free education and go to regenerative earth projects.
Salon Safety Assets | Track your exposure, learn a new workflow
Be sure to check out our article on servicing clients who are pregnant and the free resource you can download to keep in your safety binder and share with pregnant clients as needed.
For the salon, we have created this digital (printable) guidebook for hairstylists to navigate how to keep your pregnant client safe and satisfied in the salon environment.
Free digital (printable) guide! For those pregnant looking for safe services and studies on reproductive risks using salon chemicals.
This is a really important topic for me to share since I had suffered for years with my reproductive organs which resulted in a hysterectomy at 22 years old. My mom was a hairstylist so not only was I around the chemical a lot while I hung out at the salon, I was also her guinea pig...
Please, do not use hair color, wave, or straightening chemicals on your little ones hair, especially without PPE. It is your choice... But it's not as innocent as it may seem. It does affect their little growing bodies, to their harm.
More about that and how kids should be protected in the salon environment to come.
This article is based on the safety assets owned by The Hair Hug, It is not intended to be used in anyone's paid education, or for any part of the salon commercial industry, if you would like to use it in that capacity, please contact us for a license to use in your education materials. More of our classes will soon be available. If you kindly share, please site us as a resource so that those in the salon industry will have more access to free safety education.
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