THE CROSS LINK BETWEEN HEALTH AND BEAUTY
Editor's Note: Lia D. ('17) wrote this research paper for her Organic Chemistry class on isoprenes.
Over the past couple of years, disputes around the potential health risks of semi-permanent hair straightening and curling process, such as the Brazilian Blowout® or Japanese thermal straightening, have flooded the news and left people feeling confused. For the past century, people have been using heat as a source to temporarily straighten and curl their hair, though this process never seemed to pose any health risks. These temporary straightening techniques, such as flat ironing or blowdrying your hair, work by rearranging the hydrogen bonds in the hair strands. Unfortunately, those hydrogen bond arrangements will only last as long as the hair doesn’t come in contact with water, allowing you with a small window of time to show off your straightened hair. (Drahl, 2010). Over recent years, new chemical processes for hair straightening have since been invented which can last for many months and withstand water. The Brazilian Blowout®, the most common and controversial of the hair straightening techniques, works by fusing additional keratin amino acids to the hair fibers, which are also made of keratin proteins. This fusion takes place with the help of formaldehyde gas in water (methylene glycol), as it acts as a cross-linking reagent to connect the keratin chains from your hair to the keratin strands in the straightening solution. The hair is then heated and stretched, causing the fibers to straighten and remain stabilized in the new form for a long time (Drahl).
Besides the Brazilian Blowout®, other straightening processes, such as Japanese thermal straightening, have also been brought to market. Unlike the Brazilian Blowout®, this technique doesn’t work by creating cross-links. Instead, this process relies on ammonium thioglycolate, the same chemical used to create curly hair perms. The ammonium thioglycolate creates negatively charged cysteine ions by reducing the disulfide bonds in the hair. Heat is then added to the hair using a flatiron, and the hair stylist uses a product that contains an oxidizing agent, such as sodium bromate or hydrogen peroxide (Drahl). This final step forms new disulfides in order to “anchor” or fix to newly straightened hair, and unlike the Brazilian Blowout, this internal bond breaking step causes Japanese thermal straightening to be permanent. (Summar, 2012).
Unfortunately though, not only is the Brazilian Blowout® the more popular of the two methods, but also the more dangerous. This risky hair straightening technique relies on formaldehyde; a compound known to cause nose and lung irritation, increase risks of cancer, and can trigger many allergic reactions (Brown, 2011). Formaldehyde is applied to the hair in aqueous form, but when heat is added to the hair in the final stages of the process, the formaldehyde turns back into a gas and escapes into the air. Formaldehyde is already harmful at room temperature, but when it is heated above its boiling point and vaporizes, it becomes even more hazardous because the gas can now enter into your lungs and nose (Sawyer, 2011). While the Cosmetic Ingredient Review expert panel said that formaldehyde is “safe as used,” (which is under 0.2 ppm), studies have shown that clients and stylists are often exposed to levels formaldehyde up to 0.75ppm; way above the threshold of “safe” (Summar).
While high levels of formaldehyde exposure a few times a year isn’t great for the client, it is exponentially worse for the salon workers who come into contact it every day. In 2011, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a health hazard to alert salon workers nationwide of the dangers of formaldehyde in the Brazilian Blowout®. Complaints of vomiting, blisters, burning eyes, noses, and throats, and headaches were made by numerous salon workers across the country, causing the Environmental Working Group (the EWG) to carry out a formal investigation. They found that many salons offer this straightening treatment despite its dangers, and the EWG published a revolutionary report, entitled “Flat-Out Risky,” exposing these practices (Sigurdson & Roth, 2015). Some cosmetic companies even went as far as to claim that they had found a “miracle alternative” which didn’t contain formaldehyde. Instead, the process included methylene glycol, which they claimed was a new “safe” alternative to the old method. Ironically enough, methylene glycol is simply the product obtained from the hydration reaction of water and formaldehyde, which ends up resulting in a single carbon chain with two hydroxyl groups. Most importantly though, the reverse of this reaction can easily take place, as methylene glycol is constantly turning back into formaldehyde and water, and then back into methylene glycol once again (Neufeldt, 2010).
So why, even after formaldehyde was named “a known human carcinogen,” are hair products and processes that contain this dangerous compound still on the market? Some countries, such as Canada, have even pulled the Brazilian Blowout® off the market due to its hazardous health effects (Brown). But what is stopping America? While attempts have been made by the EWG to urge the FDA to examine the dangers of the hair product, nothing much has been done (Sigurdson & Roth). Perhaps, our country and FDA is choosing to turn a blind eye on the health risks the Brazilian Blowout® poses because of the demographic of people it is affecting. The salon workers, who tend to be immigrants and minorities, are the ones who are actually breathing it the harmful formaldehyde gas every day. For these women, English is sometimes a second language, and they don’t always have the education or tools to advocate for themselves and their poor treatment. In my opinion, straighter or glossier hair is not worth putting someone else's’ well being and health at risk, and we need to think of the larger effects of our simple luxuries on the people who might not be represented in our society.
Works Cited:
Brown, L. A. (2011, April 12). Straighten This: Government Warns of Health Risks from Hair Straighteners. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2011/04/straighten-government-warns-health-risks-hair-straighteners
Drahl, C. (2010, November 8). Hair Straighteners: Cross-linkers, redox chemistry, or high PH, all in the name of beauty. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://cen.acs.org/articles/88/i45/Hair-Straighteners.html
Neufeldt, S. (2010, December 1). Brazilian Blowout and Formaldehyde. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://icanhasscience.com/chemistry/562/
Sawyer, J. (2011, January 11). The Truth About the Brazilian Blowout. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/jodi-sawyer-rn/truth-about-brazilian-blowout
Sigurdson, T., & Roth, G. (2015, August 21). Brazilian-style Blowouts: Still Poisonous, Still in Salons. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2015/08/brazilian-style-blowouts-still-poisonous-still-salons
Summar. (2012, August 5). Brazilian and Japanese Hair Straightening - The Dangers. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from https://www.truthinaging.com/review/brazilian-and-japanese-hair-straightening-the-dangers
Besides the Brazilian Blowout®, other straightening processes, such as Japanese thermal straightening, have also been brought to market. Unlike the Brazilian Blowout®, this technique doesn’t work by creating cross-links. Instead, this process relies on ammonium thioglycolate, the same chemical used to create curly hair perms. The ammonium thioglycolate creates negatively charged cysteine ions by reducing the disulfide bonds in the hair. Heat is then added to the hair using a flatiron, and the hair stylist uses a product that contains an oxidizing agent, such as sodium bromate or hydrogen peroxide (Drahl). This final step forms new disulfides in order to “anchor” or fix to newly straightened hair, and unlike the Brazilian Blowout, this internal bond breaking step causes Japanese thermal straightening to be permanent. (Summar, 2012).
Unfortunately though, not only is the Brazilian Blowout® the more popular of the two methods, but also the more dangerous. This risky hair straightening technique relies on formaldehyde; a compound known to cause nose and lung irritation, increase risks of cancer, and can trigger many allergic reactions (Brown, 2011). Formaldehyde is applied to the hair in aqueous form, but when heat is added to the hair in the final stages of the process, the formaldehyde turns back into a gas and escapes into the air. Formaldehyde is already harmful at room temperature, but when it is heated above its boiling point and vaporizes, it becomes even more hazardous because the gas can now enter into your lungs and nose (Sawyer, 2011). While the Cosmetic Ingredient Review expert panel said that formaldehyde is “safe as used,” (which is under 0.2 ppm), studies have shown that clients and stylists are often exposed to levels formaldehyde up to 0.75ppm; way above the threshold of “safe” (Summar).
While high levels of formaldehyde exposure a few times a year isn’t great for the client, it is exponentially worse for the salon workers who come into contact it every day. In 2011, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a health hazard to alert salon workers nationwide of the dangers of formaldehyde in the Brazilian Blowout®. Complaints of vomiting, blisters, burning eyes, noses, and throats, and headaches were made by numerous salon workers across the country, causing the Environmental Working Group (the EWG) to carry out a formal investigation. They found that many salons offer this straightening treatment despite its dangers, and the EWG published a revolutionary report, entitled “Flat-Out Risky,” exposing these practices (Sigurdson & Roth, 2015). Some cosmetic companies even went as far as to claim that they had found a “miracle alternative” which didn’t contain formaldehyde. Instead, the process included methylene glycol, which they claimed was a new “safe” alternative to the old method. Ironically enough, methylene glycol is simply the product obtained from the hydration reaction of water and formaldehyde, which ends up resulting in a single carbon chain with two hydroxyl groups. Most importantly though, the reverse of this reaction can easily take place, as methylene glycol is constantly turning back into formaldehyde and water, and then back into methylene glycol once again (Neufeldt, 2010).
So why, even after formaldehyde was named “a known human carcinogen,” are hair products and processes that contain this dangerous compound still on the market? Some countries, such as Canada, have even pulled the Brazilian Blowout® off the market due to its hazardous health effects (Brown). But what is stopping America? While attempts have been made by the EWG to urge the FDA to examine the dangers of the hair product, nothing much has been done (Sigurdson & Roth). Perhaps, our country and FDA is choosing to turn a blind eye on the health risks the Brazilian Blowout® poses because of the demographic of people it is affecting. The salon workers, who tend to be immigrants and minorities, are the ones who are actually breathing it the harmful formaldehyde gas every day. For these women, English is sometimes a second language, and they don’t always have the education or tools to advocate for themselves and their poor treatment. In my opinion, straighter or glossier hair is not worth putting someone else's’ well being and health at risk, and we need to think of the larger effects of our simple luxuries on the people who might not be represented in our society.
Works Cited:
Brown, L. A. (2011, April 12). Straighten This: Government Warns of Health Risks from Hair Straighteners. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2011/04/straighten-government-warns-health-risks-hair-straighteners
Drahl, C. (2010, November 8). Hair Straighteners: Cross-linkers, redox chemistry, or high PH, all in the name of beauty. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://cen.acs.org/articles/88/i45/Hair-Straighteners.html
Neufeldt, S. (2010, December 1). Brazilian Blowout and Formaldehyde. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://icanhasscience.com/chemistry/562/
Sawyer, J. (2011, January 11). The Truth About the Brazilian Blowout. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://www.doctoroz.com/blog/jodi-sawyer-rn/truth-about-brazilian-blowout
Sigurdson, T., & Roth, G. (2015, August 21). Brazilian-style Blowouts: Still Poisonous, Still in Salons. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2015/08/brazilian-style-blowouts-still-poisonous-still-salons
Summar. (2012, August 5). Brazilian and Japanese Hair Straightening - The Dangers. Retrieved May 18, 2016, from https://www.truthinaging.com/review/brazilian-and-japanese-hair-straightening-the-dangers
