Lead Based Hair Products: Too Hazardous for Household Use

Lead Based Hair Products: Too Hazardous for Household Use - Alternative Hair Coloring Products

Alternative Hair Coloring Products

As shown in Table 1, alternative hair coloring products contain negligible amounts of lead are readily available in the marketplace. These types of hair coloring products are safer for use in the home because they contain organic dyes and bleaches that cause immediate changes in color and require neither daily nor weekly application. They are generally advertised for women, but are also increasingly available as products for men. The organic hair coloring products have been the subject of research, and there are some questions regarding adverse health effects that are unrelated to lead exposure.(17-19)

Protecting Patients

Pharmacists should warn patients that hair coloring agents formulated with lead acetate contain between 3 and 10 times more lead than the limit allowable by law for paint.

If patients insist on using hair coloring agents that contain lead acetate, instruct them to use plastic gloves even if the manufacturers' instructions call for pouring the product directly onto the hands.

Consumers who use hair coloring cosmetics should be guided to the numerous cosmetic products currently available that do not contain lead acetate.

Pharmacists should urge that hair coloring agents containing lead acetate be removed from the shelves of stores.

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Published in Journal of American Pharmaceutical Association (NS37, Jan/Feb 1997:85-89). Copied 2 October 1997 from http://www.aphanet.org/APhA/hair.html
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