Funky hair dyes: trendy but toxic?

You are casually scrolling through your Facebook feed and something magnificent catches your eye. A woman with a head full of shifting rainbows for hair is running a blow-dryer over it and parts of her hair are changing from royal purple to bright pink or from a vibrant green to lemon yellow. And, before you know it, you are glued to the screen! You start looking for more of these videos, imagining just how amazing it would look on you.

Videos of people experimenting with this new hair dye which changes colour with a rise or fall in temperature are all over the Internet. While it looks stunning, salon professionals as well as dermatologists seem to strictly recommend against it.

Celebrity hair stylist Sachin has an interesting opinion. He says, “If you notice, only a minor brand in the US has come out with this product and no world-renowned brand has launched it. It’s because they wouldn’t want to risk it. If the colour of the dye changes due to temperature, it means the chemical potency of the product is very high. This is the reason why we, even in our salons, don’t offer a service like keratin treatment, as a matter of principal. It is very damaging for the hair. So that is why even top brands like L’Oréal or Schwarzkopf don’t have keratin products, and would never introduce such a product,  as not much is known about how safe it is.”

Dr Rekha Singh, a senior consultant dermatologist at Oliva Skin and Hair Clinics, says, “The company itself claims that the dye is ‘less’ toxic, so it is definitely toxic to some extent.”

“With just one application it may not do much damage but those who colour their hair, usually have to keep doing it repeatedly. So in the long term, it may not be good at all. Minor absorption through the skin is always possible, even with regular hair dyes. When a person washes their hair, the dye comes on to their bodies and skin, and as a dermatologist, we have had so many cases of pigmentation problems due to hair colour. If regular hair dyes itself are so toxic, something as drastic as one that changes colour with temperature can only be more toxic,” she says.

Another celebrity hairdresser from Hyderabad, Vijaykanth Alex, agrees. “Chemical processing is 100 per cent there. But also, since this has been made in the US, they would have considered the hair texture and colour of their people. It may be even more detrimental for Indians because our hair and skin differs from them. That is why even shampoos of international companies, when bought here, will differ from the same shampoo bought in another country,” explains Alex.

So, would you say nay or yay to rainbow hair?

The chemicals that are there in hair dyes can cause the shaft of the hair to become weak and break. Once the hair colour makes the hair dry, even something as simple as combing or brushing can break the hair
— Dr Anup Kumar,
dermatologist, Apollo Hospitals

There have been studies, not definite but only retrospective ones, which have linked hair colouring to bladder cancer. It isn’t a direct study though. They would have taken samples of around 2,000 people who do suffer from bladder cancer and if they see in their history that all of them had coloured their hair, then they conclude it.
— Dr Rekha Singh, Senior consultant
dermatologist