Why It Is Hard To Share Safety Information With The Hair Industry

When stylists hear things like cancer being associated with their profession, there is two common responses. A little Ahhhh-Cuss-Cuss-Cluster-Cuss in rage to companies that have not educated them on the risks associated with using their chemicals, or a little cuss-cuss to the stylist that shared it with them.

Why the extremes? It makes our skin crawl, many of us are not ready to hear the truth about the chemicals we work with because we are too burned out and do

not have the energy to adapt and learn a new way, or the chemicals really work for us and we are even ambassadors of them...

When stylists react with anger they typically are taking the information you just shared with them as you saying "You are not good enough, and you're doing it wrong". Something that overworked stylists really do not need to hear, I mean hair school was enough of that.

The thing is we are all ignorant just at different levels and about different things. I am still on this journey learning and being surprised and disturbed about many things, lots of issues take me significant time to process.

We can all be more empathetic, to both sides, our industry needs more of that.

Knowledge really can be painful, ignorance really can be bliss.

Have you ever heard the ancient proverb that says "increase knowledge increase pain"? This subject is an area this is especially proves true. Once you know risk, you can easily spot it and warnings go off. It is easier to not know, that is for sure, but how can you protect yourself, clients and staff if you close your eyes to danger?

When information is presented to the hair community there is lots of shock, outrage and hard feelings to process, and it can leave us spiraling. It is especially hard to discover these things about our industry and then have no solution to the issues. It makes hairdressers just turn off. Lots of stylists get heavy feelings around chemical safety and chronic exposure. Many feel significant guilt for putting themselves, family members, or clients in harms way. But it is good for us all to remember, we didn't know. You can't do anything about the past and what you didn't know. So take your time processing, go slow and take care.

I want to just say I am here to educate and not enrage. Three and a half years has gone toward building solutions. Safety resources for the beauty industry, specifically for hairstylists, barbers and salon & barber shop owners. There's a huge gap in the industry for safety education and we at The Hair Hug want to meet that need. We have a full course ready to be released on just how to work safely in a salon, shed the toxic salon culture, and implementation. Reshaping not just how we work but how we think about our careers, and how we treat clients.

I can empathize with stylists that are sick, underpaid, and overworked that may not have the energy to learn a new workflow. I was there at one point too. But now having some solutions & education I promise stylists that learning and implementing new ways of working will actually alleviate the harsh parts of work, which will give the stylist an opportunity for balance and a way less stressful career that ends up in a bigger income and more time for yourself.

People have to go at their own pace. You can't force people to do anything they do not want to do.

There are various reasons as to why stylists get angry at other stylists for sharing information... Hey it even could be that they are currently in the salon in a highly toxic environment that literally causes them to not be able to think clearly and accept new information. That is not said sarcastically, someone seriously could be super overloaded and not even have the ability to think in that moment from the acute or chronic exposure in the salon to high VOC's. I mean who hasn't at the end of a hair service have a raw feeling brain?

I have to reiterate the following:

It is good to keep in mind anytime we share information that some stylists feel attacked

when someone points out something that they could adjust because for them it is the same as saying "you are not good enough", something most stylists feel to begin with. It is natural for then a part of them to come out to protect the part of them that was just feeling attacked. Stylists have a stereotype of being dramatic, and sometimes the characteristic rings true, I think because many of us are highly-sensitive, highly-creative, traumatized humans just trying to take care of other humans and we are doing the best we can, lots of times it's just too much to hear at the moment. *I resemble that remark*

A stylist may one day have an open ear, heart, and mind. What shifts and facilitates that change is something personal to them, it could be after they are sick from chemicals and are looking for answers. Or maybe they have too much on their plates currently in their personal lives or find the culture of their salon too hard to navigate.

If you find that you are a stylist frustrated that others in your salon are not taking safety seriously, be kind, be open, lower the sass, try to redirect the frustration into educating yourself and being ahead of the game so to speak, educate silently by example. Growing is uncomfortable, and some don't want that added pain.

All that being said I think it's important to validate everybody's concerns, and respect their right to choose which chemical lines and companies to invest in and work with. No one is the same and we need to respect everyone's journey and the pace they are at.

I personally do find it hard to understand why people do not want to be known as a safe hairstylist, it is a major advantage in the salon industry. I mean if they don't care about getting paid like 50% more than they do already, and extending their career another 14 years that's fine, maybe they will come around.

All have their own choice to make. It's sad and frustrating to observe stylists that are investing their time and resources in learning a new way, many that are sick stylists, be ridiculed by stylists in ignorance, for just trying to take care of their life and protecting their clients. I do apologize if any of that feels harsh, but it is the truth of the matter. People deserve to know the risks of the industry they invested in. And all have the right to choose.

Ridiculing stylists for safety is so unnecessary, unkind and only wastes the energy of the person hating on those that are sharing information, I wish that they would take that energy and google their chemicals MSDS. But all in good time, who hasn't mocked someone else in ignorance?

Don't want to hear it?

Just say, "At this time that's not for me." You don't even have to say why. And the person who shared the information should respect that.

*ahem* unless you are a salon owner, in which case you definitely shouldn't ignore this information because it could literally bankrupt you if someone, stylist, or client, was ever to report you to the regulating authorities. It is a risk to you financially and professionally as a salon owner to not know your liabilities *

And for stylists trying to share awareness and education, maybe something like, "Hey I didn't know this, but I'm going to take some education on it if you want to do it with me we can support each other."

That way you acknowledge that you didn't know something and are willing to take steps to educate yourself further. You didn't shame or blame, and you didn't say something that belittles the stylist you are trying to share with.

I once called out a famous stylist and educator (hi to you if you're reading) on their example they were setting not using gloves, I learned a lot from that interaction. There's some really humble stylists out there that just do not know but are willing to if they are educated in a way that is gracious, kind and open ended to begin with. What I learned from our convo was that It's good to keep the critical comments off peoples feed and message privately, I started something in comments and I really shouldn't have. I mean so many stylists work hard on their social educational content only to have it shredded in comments, these conversations are important to have but where and how we have them drives the results to positive or negative outcome. Why would someone consider changes after feeling that they have been treated badly? How would you want to be adjusted, with tact or snark?

In the absence of compassion people cannot see the truth.

“Only when compassion is present will people allow themselves to see the truth.” ― A.H. Almaas

I am now going to address a few topics I have had in my messages.

You may be surprised to hear me say this but I'm not here to tell anyone to use or not use a certain chemical line.

If I was to do that I really feel it would cause this information to be exclusive to a niche community, I want this information to be available and useful to all stylists in the industry.

I get many messages from stylists wanting to know which chemical line I work with, it is such a natural question to ask for a stylist or salon owner, how can I make my salon safe as fast as possible? But the industry has kinda conditioned stylists to want quick solutions, and I tell ya there isn't just ONE change a stylist can make. It is not as simple as changing your chemical line. That's where I started a few years ago, and quickly learned that that wasn't the solution.

If you want to make two quick changes that will ensure like 90% more protection, It's #1 using a ventilation system that meets OSHA standards, and #2 the correct gloves used at each point of chemical contact. Surprised that it's not the chemical you choose to use but the way you handle it?

Yep, it's not the products you are using that matters the most, it's the way you use those chemicals.

#1 expressed opinion of salon owners "But a ventilation system is too expensive!'

Is it tho? I guess we have found the valued price of the health of human life here. People would rather pay thousands of dollars on medical costs later on in life than prevent it by investing under 2k, equal to the wholesale price of an intro product chemical line. Stylists do tend to value their chemical line investment more than their own lungs.

If you are dropping hundreds of dollars a week for your chemical purchases you can afford a ventilation unit. There are many things you can implement at your salon to afford ventilation. You can't afford to be sick. And if you or a member of your staff was to have a injury due to not having the proper PPE, you are liable, not the chemical manufactures, that is stated in all the major professional lines MSDS's.

There's really no excuse for not having proper ventilation in the salon, other than maybe you didn't know you had to have one when you started your business, but now you know. I as an independent stylist dropped thousands of dollars on intro product lines for styling and color lines, If i had known chemical source capture hood units existed, and if it was even sold at the beauty supplier, I would have invested in my health sooner. Like, I can't get my uterus back, that I had to give up while working with toxic products. May have been able to prevent that, if I would have known. That's why I want you to know.

Why not promote a "non-toxic" chemical line?

Is there such a thing?

At one time I promoted a line (one that called itself non-toxic) and all it resulted in was me finding out how completely green-washed the company and its supplier are. They were not significantly different than our major chemical makers product mixtures.

When I saw that they were selling their chemical product to clients to do in their own home without the use of the correct PPE, and without the chemical makers permission, which violates their terms of use, I stopped referring stylists to them. They took so many liberties and would not be held accountable, they gave so many excuses that just held no weight.

That company also released a chemical smoothing product before making an MSDS for it, there was no access to safety directions. Clearly safety was not a priority for them. They promoted a few of their chemical color lines as non-toxic, ammonia-free, organic, and holistic, but all they did was swap that ammonia out with another toxic ingredient, monoethanolamine, which is proven to cause hair loss and much more. I even went to the color line creators themselves, surprisingly I was the one to point out what the distributor was doing, did they correct that? Nope. Why? The chemical was still being sold during the pandemic when stylists weren't able to perform services in the salon. Stylists naturally paused their chemical orders, slowing down the distributor's profit, so the distributors loop-hole to get their sales back up was to circumvent the stylist and go to the client. So the core of the issue is money and greed under the guise of vanity and self-care. No one actually cares about the risks concerning stylists and consumers if it means a loss of profit to them. It was such an exhausting and icky issue to observe.

SOOOOOOO, that's the last time I will ever promote any chemical line as a safer option for clients and stylists, that product made the hair super pretty though ;) Ha-barf. You're probably not gonna get an answer from me if you ask the question "What chemical line do you use?" I am happy to share that information at some point, but my target goal is to educate you on how to use those chemicals you already choose to work with safely.

I am disappointed in myself how I went about calling out the distributor of the chemical line, the dm and email thread was infuriating, and I wish I would have just went and reported them to OSHA. There is no use arguing with distributors and chemical makers, just report them to the correct authority, and report chemical or product reactions to the manufactures reporting number on the chemical's MSDS.

These chemicals will not go away, and I would surely be exhausted if I had to argue with every chemical maker, distributor, ambassador, and stylist. I have to direct my energy where it's best spent.

I'm here to educate on how to be safe with these chemicals, not call out companies for making the product itself.

I will point out when and where there is clearly a contradiction, confusion, misdirection, and things like these, because that's educating the community. Yeah, I guess you could call it exposure, but it's exposure to information all stylists have access to and are entitled to know.

Can stylists lobby for change?

I need to point out to the stylists that are eager to press politics as a solution, there's already legislation in place, but like most things it is not easily enforced, and stylists do not know their rights and liabilities. As I quote in the Do Not Heat article on the hair hug, the EPA says 85,000 chemicals on the market that can't be tracked.

Chemical makers can put whatever they want in a product with little consequence to themselves.

The hair hug will never participate in any political change, will not partner with any hair coloring, lightening, or smoothing chemical maker as a consultant or anything like that. Many companies offer stylists and safety companies a seat at the table for show or endorsement, but will never implement the recommendations of such participants. So if you are one of those people associated with a company like that, no need to reach out to collaborate, first start out educating your educators of chemical how to work with it safety, update your MSDS to the current standards, and start offering stylists grants and awards promoting real safety in the industry, instead of just rewarding stylists for the prettiest creation yielded from your chemical line.

Our education is here to help those that work with chemicals. Our educational materials, assets, protocols and workflows have been adapted to meet OSHA and other worksafe government supplied information in a way that is easy for stylists to learn and implement during their work days, something chemical makers & distributors never offered to stylists and salons. We don't want or need a seat at those tables.