EITHER HAIR OR HEALTH ENDANGERED BY DYES
Ever since the first woman looked into a polished surface and decided that her appearance would be greatly benefited by certain sophisticated modifications, the feminine sex has been tampering with its natural beauty.
Among the first of the features to receive attention has been the hair, long known as “woman’s crowning glory,” and now merely an added source of income to the tonsorial artist. The first hair dyes were made from vegetable substances. Then came metallic, chemical compounds, and more recently the synthetic dyes largely derived from coal tar products.
Among the vegetable dyes, henna is the best known example, but indigo wood extracts, sage and camomile have also been popular. Hair dyed with henna is light red, but one hour will make brown hair extremely red and give to white and blond hair a quite peculiar orange color, extremely artificial and unattractive.
The wood extracts and camomile produce all sorts of peculiar colors. They are reasonably safe, but suffer from the disadvantage that the dyes are difficult to prepare and the result not especially permanent. Most of these dyes do not penetrate the hair shaft, but merely coat it so that their repeated use tends to make the hair quite brittle.
Metallic dyes include combinations of lead, silver, copper, tin, and other metals. All metallic hair dyes, according to Dr. McCafferty, who has written extensively on the subject, must be considered as potentially dangerous when used for any length of time. The material may be absorbed into the body and the person so saturated with metallic poison that he develops serious symptoms.
Most of the dye substances offered on the market and advertised in publications are combinations of henna with metallic substances. The dye action depends principally on the pyrogallol and on the metal, with just enough henna present to permit the manufacturer to use the name “henna dye.”
The most common dye used today is the synthetic drug known as paraphenylene-diamine. Many persons are especially sensitive to this drug and develop severe eruptions following its use. In certain instances, eruptions on the back of the neck and on the arms follow the wearing of fur dyed with this substance. In Germany, the dye must always be marked with a “poison” label and most European countries have followed that example.
In this country, legislatures are only beginning to consider legislation of a similar character.
If a person is sensitive to paraphenylene-diamine, his scalp and face will begin to tingle and itch after its application, and this will be followed, in from 10 to 12 hours, by a swelling and blistering of the skin. The eyelids also may swell to such an extent that the person is unable to see.
Most of the cosmetic establishments use this dye for their work. The treatment given by most physicians consists in wet dressings of boric acid solutions and in small doses of X-ray to the region concerned. Following the subsidence of the preliminary symptoms, soothing creams are applied to the tissues. Dr. McCafferty points out that every substance used as a dye remover is a dangerous poison, which, if it does not injure the person using it, at least makes the hair extremely brittle. It is his belief that dye removers should be legislated out of the beauty shops.