Warning over cancer link to hair dyes

Toluidines are banned from EU products, but a study today by researchers in Sweden found hairdressers who apply light-colour permanent dyes or perform perms on their clients seem to be exposed to the compounds.

Authors of the paper, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, urged hairdressers to wear gloves and to perform work where gloves cannot be worn, like cutting hair, before applying dye.

They called for analyses of hair waving and hair dye products to identify potential sources of exposure to the banned chemicals.

In the 1970s, 90 per cent of commercial hair dyes contained cancer-causing chemicals prompting restrictions amid concerns of higher-than-expected rates of bladder cancer among hairdressers.