Article date: 06/08/2004
Making sense of sensitivity
It was with great interest that I read the letter Common Sense and Sensitivity (HJ 9-16 July).
We have just returned after an extensive tour of the country lecturing, by invitation, to seven hairdressing colleges representing over 70 college lecturers and hairdressers, on what happens when biology meets hairdressing. We looked into the subject of sensitivity to chemicals that are applied to the scalp with special emphasis on permanent hair dye.
What was made abundantly clear in every college we visited, was the need for clarity and an industry standard for the testing for hypersensitivity to hair dye.
The consumer should be made aware that the salon that tests is the salon that cares.
A presentation made to the recent European Toxicology Forum, held in Brussels last October, outlined the specific requirements placed upon hair dye manufacturers. A three-tier approach has been implemented, obliging manufacturers to submit to EU Licensing authorities toxicological safety data for every chemical used in their formulations. Failure to comply will result in any materials not adequately described being banned from use.
The first deadline for the submission of data on individual chemicals was September 2003; the second and third deadlines are September 2005 and 2008, by which time extensive information on the toxicology of all materials in commercial use, both individually and in combination with each other, must be made available. This is a huge undertaking and will impact upon any sensitivity protocol to be used in the future.
As an additional word of warning – in final clinical trials at Cranfield University, it was found that if clients are taking antihistamine medication- either prescribed or bought over the counter – any skin test could show a negative result, even if the client is sensitive to hair dye. So don’t forget to ask this question.
Brian Plunkett
Trichocare Diagnostics
Bedfordshire