Hair Dye Safety Guide: Chemicals, Cancer Risks & Safer Options

Hair dyes include chemicals like preservatives, coloring agents and other hair product ingredients that may cause health issues. These ingredients have been linked to safety risks such as skin problems, hair damage, allergic reactions and increased cancer risk.

Each brand of hair dye may have a different combination of these chemicals. In some cases, there may be over 5,000 chemicals working together to make hair dyes effective.

Permanent hair dyes and darker shades of dye typically have higher amounts of chemicals that may cause health issues. Right now, about 80% of the hair dyes on the market are permanent hair dyes.

Some research has found that hair dye exposure may lead to an increased risk of bladder cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and breast cancer, but the results are mixed.

For hair products in general, like hair dye and chemical hair relaxers, more research is needed to better determine the cancer risk.

However, so far, the strongest association is with breast cancer.

Findings from the Sister Study in the International Journal of Cancer found that women who used permanent hair dye had a 9% increased risk of developing breast cancer. However, Black women specifically had a 45% increased risk compared to white women, who had a 7% increased risk.

The cancer risk also went up the more times hair dye was used. Black women who used permanent hair dye every five to eight weeks had a 60% higher breast cancer risk.

Studies haven’t found the same cancer risk with semi-permanent and temporary dyes.

Women who used semi-permanent dye didn’t have an increased breast cancer risk in general. But women who used semi-permanent hair dye on their own without professional help had a 28% increased risk of breast cancer.

Researchers didn’t find an increased cancer risk in women who used temporary dye.

In the same study, researchers also looked at the risks of chemical hair relaxers and discovered a relationship between chemical hair relaxers and cancer. There was a 31% increased risk of breast cancer for women who used relaxers every five to eight weeks.

Some studies of hairdressers and barbers exposed to hair dye found a small increase in the risk of bladder cancer. One meta-analysis published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that people who had been hairdressers for at least 10 years were almost twice as likely to develop bladder cancer as people who were never hairdressers.

One study published in the International Journal of Cancer didn’t find an overall increase in bladder cancer risk with permanent hair dye, but it did find that some women with specific genes might have an increased risk.

Researchers found that women who began using hair dye before 1980 were 1.3 times more likely to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma than women who never used hair dye. But women who used hair dye after 1980 didn’t have an increased risk.

In 1980, hair dye formulas were changed to remove some chemicals that could contribute to cancers such as NHL. This is probably why the risk went down.

While it’s hard to confirm if any hair dye is 100% harmless, the safest types are temporary or semi-permanent dyes, as well as dyes that have fewer chemicals and ingredients.

You can also create your own hair dyes from natural ingredients like coffee, henna or beetroot. But you may need to research how to mix these ingredients first.

Additionally, you should test any hair dye, especially homemade ones, on a smaller patch of hair to make sure you won’t have an allergic reaction before using it.

If you’re dyeing your hair at home, there are a few things you can do to avoid potential problems.

• Check the ingredients to make sure the dye doesn’t contain potentially harmful ingredients, like PPD, or ingredients you’re allergic to
• Wear gloves to protect your hands
• Follow all hair dye instructions
• Make sure you dye your hair in a well-ventilated area
• Don’t dye your hair if you have any wounds or rashes on your scalp
• Test a patch of hair before you dye your whole head to make sure you aren’t allergic to the dye

After dyeing your hair, be sure to rinse out the dye and remove any residue from your skin, scalp and hair. Limit hair dyeing to every few weeks or longer.

If you’re concerned about any side effects from hair dye, make sure to talk to your doctor or dermatologist. You can also report any problems you have with a product to the FDA.

If you developed breast cancer, especially triple-negative breast cancer, from long-term use of hair dye, you may qualify to file a hair dye lawsuit. Attorneys are also filing chemical hair relaxer lawsuits on behalf of women who developed cancer.

You can sign up for a free case review on Consumer Notice, and we will match you with an attorney. There’s no pressure to sign up, and you can get information about your legal options.