Formaldehyde in Hair Salons
Written By:
Henry P. Shotwell, CIH
Senior Vice-President
Atlantic Environmental, Inc.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
and the National Institutes for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) have recently begun looking into complaints
from hair salon owners, stylists and clients about formaldehyde
in certain hair straightening products, particularly the
“Brazilian Blowout also known as Keratin Hair Treatment”
line of hair straightening products.
In spite of the fact that many of these products’
labels claim to be “Formaldehyde-Free,” NIOSH
found as much as 11% formaldehyde by weight in some. During
product application and hair drying procedures, formaldehyde
is released. Not only are the hair stylist and the client
subject to exposure to formaldehyde, but other people
in the salon are, as well.
The current OSHA PEL (Permissible Exposure Limit) for
formaldehyde, is 0.75 parts per million (ppm), expressed
as the average concentration in air over the full, 8-hour
work shift and is intended to protect the hair stylists
from over-exposure. This is often written as the Time-Weighted
Average (TWA). The NIOSH Recommended Exposure Limit (REL),
averaged over a 10-hour day is 0.016 ppm. The American
Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)
has recommended a not-to-exceed ceiling limit of 0.3 ppm.
NIOSH labels formaldehyde as a potential occupational
carcinogen (cancer causing substance). ACGIH lists it
as a suspect human carcinogen. The U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services considers formaldehyde as reasonably
anticipated to be a human carcinogen.
Even though a hair straightening product may claim to
be formaldehyde-free, if the label lists methylene glycol,
formalin, methylene oxide, paraform, formic aldehyde,
methanol, oxomethane or oxymethylene, these are all either
other names for formaldehyde or are the names of chemicals
that can release formaldehyde into the air.
The only way to determine if people in your salon are
exposed to formaldehyde, when using hair care products,
is to analyze a sample of air in their breathing zones
for formaldehyde. The Industrial Hygienists and Environmental
Consultants at Atlantic Environmental, Inc. have more
than 100 years’ combined experience in air sampling,
analysis and data interpretation, assuring you of reliable
guidance.
If interested in further information or testing, call
us at 1-800-344-4414 or e-mail us at
info@atlenv.com.
Atlantic Environmental Inc
2 East Blackwell Street
Dover, NJ 07801
(800) 344-4414
(973) 366-4660
(973) 366-3116 Fax
info@atlenv.com
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