A large population-based case-control study at the Centre for Study and Cancer Prevention,
Florence, Italy, in 2005 found an association between the use of hair dyes and non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, and Hodgkin’s disease (Miligi et al. 2005). Women who
used black hair dye colors were at an increased risk of developing leukemia, in particular chronic
lymphocytic leukemia. Another 2007 study in Germany found that human bladder cancers, induced by
aromatic amines, can often hide for more than twenty years, which means that hair colors could make
their deadly impact many years later (Bolt, Golka 2007).
A Spanish study in 2007 analyzed 2,302 incident cases of lymphoid neoplasms from all over
Europe in 1998–2003 (de Sanjosé et al. 2006). Use of hair dyes was reported by 74 percent of
women and 7 percent of men. The lymphoma risk among dye users was increased by 19 percent in
comparison with no use and by 26 percent among those people who used hair dyes twelve or more
times per year. The lymphoma risk was significantly higher among people who had started coloring
their hair before 1980 and people who had used hair dyes only before 1980.
Researchers at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NewYork, in 2007 found that hair dyes,
along with tobacco exposure and a diet rich in meat, increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer
(Ambrosone et al. 2007).
A small study in Nebraska in 2005 found that among women newly diagnosed with brain cancer, a
1.7-fold increased risk of glioma was observed for women who had ever used hair coloring products
and a 2.4- fold risk for those who had used permanent hair coloring products (Heineman et al. 2005).
For women with the most aggressive form of glioma, the risk increased after twenty-one or more
years of permanent hair coloring use.
What’s worse, women using hair dyes not only up their own risk of getting brain cancer, they may
be passing this risk on to their children. A 2005 study conducted by scientists at the University of
North Carolina linked maternal hair dye use and the elevated risk of childhood cancer, including
neuroblastoma (McCall et al. 2005). Doctors analyzed children with neuroblastoma diagnosed
between 1992 and 1994 at hospitals in the United States and Canada. They found that use of any hair
dye in the month before and/or during pregnancy was associated with a moderately increased risk of
neuroblastoma. Use of temporary (nonpermanent dyes, marketed as “low ammonia”) hair colors was
more strongly associated with neuroblastoma than use of permanent hair dyes.
For some reason that is beyond the scope of this book, cosmetic manufacturers consistently ignore
these findings, launching new brands of at-home coloring kits. Would someone buy a hair coloring kit
if it contained a warning “Caution: May Cause Cancer,” similar to those on tobacco products? Many
young people start coloring their hair as early as twelve years old, and I was shocked to see a toddler
girl with intricately placed pink and golden highlights in her freshly colored black hair. It turned out
her mom was a student of hairdressing, and she used her two-year-old daughter as a training model!
These children and teenagers are accumulating a toxic load at an incredibly fast rate. The first calls to
remove carcinogens from hair dyes and adopt appropriate labeling of hair-coloring products to
reduce the risk of cancer were voiced as far back as 1994, yet nothing has been done so far in this
direction.
Dyes That Kill
So how do you know if your hair color is slowly killing you? There is only one way to tell. You
have to take a thorough look at the ingredients list printed on the box. The list is usually printed in all-
capitalized letters,making it incredibly hard to read, and there’s a good reason for this. You will see