Campaign Launched Against Brazilian Blowout Products
Categories: Beauty News, Hair Updates
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which is an organization that maintains a database of cosmetics and body care product safety and lists actual product and ingredient safety information as well as educates the public about safety in the cosmetics, hair care products and personal care products they use on their body, has launched a campaign against the Brazilian Keratin and Brazilian Blowout products.
The Brazilian Keratin hair straightening and hair smoothing treatment is a semi permanent treatment that is administered in salons across the US. It was a craze that started probably a little over five years ago after the much hyped Japanese Straightening, or thermal reconditioning straightening craze died down a bit.
It was touted as a semi permanent solution to frizzy, curly hair as it lasts about three months or possibly more depending on the person’s hair. It was also sometimes preferred over the more severe straightening process of thermal reconditioning (Japanese straightening) because it could still leave a little body and wave while reducing the frizzies. Here is my experience with Japanese Straightening treatment and my experience with the Brazilian Keratin treatment.
It also is slightly less expensive than the other treatment, although it can still run from $200 to $400 depending on the length of a person’s hair. I’ve actually gotten both treatments done, before I was aware how dangerous the chemicals are that they use in these treatments.
The Brazilian Keratin products many times contain formaldehyde in unsafe concentrations. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. Stylists have complained that they had symptoms after treating customers with the products, and customers have complained as well.
It is a tissue irritant, so it can cause watering eyes, irritated throat, irritated skin, and even bloody noses in some cases. Those are all sure signs that something is a carcinogen, since the very definition of carcinogen (cancer causing agent) is that it irritates tissues to the extent that it can cause cell damage and cell mutation.
Formaldehyde definitely has no business in any personal care or body products, and I can tell you I will never again get one of these treatments on my hair after knowing what I know. I have even changed to natural hair dye because I’ve become so much more educated on the hazards of chemicals that we use to become more beautiful, but which actually destroy our hair or skin in the long run.
If you want to see more about the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ initiative to educate people and force makers of the product to take the formaldehyde out (in the form of methylene glycol, which is just formaldehyde by a different name essentially) – see http://www.safecosmetics.org/.
