Differences between hairdressers and consumers in skin exposure to hair cosmetic products: A review

Abstract

Hairdressers are at high risk of developing occupational hand eczema. Opinions on the health and safety concerns of nonfood consumer products, such as cosmetics and their ingredients, consider the exposure of a “common consumer,” which may not account for occupational exposure of hairdressers. As a result, there is a parlous scenario in which serious safety concerns about occupational exposures are present. The purpose of this review is to compare the frequency of exposure to various types of hair cosmetic products among hairdressers and consumers. Database searches for this review yielded a total of 229 articles; 7 publications were ultimately included. The analysis showed that—dependent on the task—hairdressers were exposed 4 to 78 times more than consumers to a wide spectrum of hair cosmetic products used in their daily working life, ranging from shampoos, conditioners, oxidative and nonoxidative hair colors, to bleaching agents. The highest frequency was found for coloring hair with oxidative hair color. Consumer use frequency does not appear to be appropriate for representing hairdresser exposure. The current standards do not effectively address the occupational risks associated with hairdressers' use of cosmetics. The findings of this study should cause current risk‐assessment procedures to be reconsidered.

Skin Toxicity of Selected Hair Cosmetic Ingredients: A Review Focusing on Hairdressers

“…This accounts for a variety of substances, such as detergents, used, e.g., in shampoos, film-forming substances, e.g., in hairspray, as well as hair-waving agents in perming solutions-the present six target substances presenting an indicative set of important, common ingredients. It must be assumed that hairdressers handle these products much more often than clients-simply because of their daily work [16]-so that risk assessment tailored to the regular home user is probably unlikely to reflect the much greater occupational exposure of a professional. This has to be regarded as problematic in the highly skin-strained occupational group of hairdressers.…”

“…It must be assumed that hairdressers have a higher risk of acquiring quantum sensitization against cysteamine HCl compared to a consumer due to their occupational obligations. A current review on the differences between hairdressers and consumers in skin exposure to hair cosmetic products has shown that regarding coloring hair with permanent/oxidative hair color, hairdressers are 32 to 78 times higher exposed than consumers [16]. In the aforementioned review, Symanzik et al further stress that information on consumer exposure on perming the hair is scarce, and self-use is highly improbable.…”

“…In the aforementioned review, Symanzik et al further stress that information on consumer exposure on perming the hair is scarce, and self-use is highly improbable. Contrary to customers, hairdressers are subjected to various types of perming lotions (namely acid, alkaline, and exothermic types) and apply these two (for acid perms) to three (for alkaline perms) times a day, with a mean duration of 5.0 min per application (for acid and alkaline perms) conducted by 44.3 (for alkaline perms) and 97.5% (for acid perms) of hairdressers; 29.2% (alkaline perm) and 34.7% (acid perm) wear gloves whilst applying these lotions [16]. It is safe to assume that there is no home use of perming solutions, which is solely due to the complex winding technique with special rollers used when perming the hair.…”

“…Within the framework of the project, "Promoting the autonomous implementation of the European framework agreement on occupational health and safety in the hairdressing sector", a series of systematic reviews has been performed, synthesizing evidence on several key hazardous substances [3,[15][16][17][18][19]. As further important, but less well-investigated ingredients of hair cosmetics, cysteamine hydrochloride (cysteamine HCl; CAS no.…”

Occupational Exposure of Hairdressers to Airborne Hazardous Chemicals: A Scoping Review

“…This paper is part of a series of reviews focused on the exposure and health risks in hairdressers, of which the main protocol has been published elsewhere [ 19 ]. Dermal exposure will be the subject of another review from this series [ 20 ]. This scoping review focused on inhalation exposure, i.e., the air concentrations of hazardous chemicals in the working environment.…”