--- title: Hairdressers Show High Levels of Carcinogens in Blood description: Study finds concerning carcinogens from dyes and perms in hairdressers' blood canonical: https://time.com/2849262/if-looks-could-kill-carcinogens-in-hairdressers-blood-from-dyes-and-perms/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-09T22:30:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:26.375Z article:section: Health og:title: If Looks Could Kill: Carcinogens in Hairdressers' Blood from Dying and Perming og:description: Study finds concerning levels of carcinogens from dyes and perms in hairdressers' blood og:url: https://time.com/2849262/if-looks-could-kill-carcinogens-in-hairdressers-blood-from-dyes-and-perms/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta71c6e2671ee002c/698696d406f2c15bfb32f643/175532379-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5616 og:image:height: 3159 og:image:alt: 175532379 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: If Looks Could Kill: Carcinogens in Hairdressers' Blood from Dying and Perming twitter:description: Study finds concerning levels of carcinogens from dyes and perms in hairdressers' blood twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta71c6e2671ee002c/698696d406f2c15bfb32f643/175532379-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # If Looks Could Kill: Carcinogens in Hairdressers' Blood from Dyes and Perms > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=34627a61-9139-441a-b516-49403aeafca5&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 9, 2014 10:30 PM UTC  Mladen Mitrinovi—Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Jun 9, 2014 10:30 PM UTC Looking fabulous can come at a price—and sometimes that price is unwittingly outsourced to the people who provide these services for a living. A [new study](http://www.eurekalert.org/jrnls/bmj/oem101960.pdf) of 295 female hairdressers, 32 regular users of hair dyes, and 60 people who get regular hair treatments found that permanent hair dyes and the chemicals used to straighter or curl hair can be carcinogenic to humans. Those with the highest exposure are hairdressers. The researchers found that among hair dressers, carcinogen levels in their blood tended to rise alongside the number of weekly permanent light hair coloring treatments they did. It was only a few years ago that it was discovered that the Brazilian hair straightening—a treatment that smooths hair for up to six months–could release the known carcinogen formaldehyde. This despite the suggestion that keratin, which is a natural protein found in hair, is the ingredient doing the heavy lifting. In 2011, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and several State OSHA programs [issued a Hazard Alert](The%20Occupational Safety and Health Administration %28OSHA%29 and several State OSHA programs) after hearing complaints from salon workers. A subsequent investigation found air-borne formaldehyde that exceeded OSHA safety guidelines Brazilian blowouts are still a beauty salon option, even though the FDA issued a warning letter to one company that makes Brazilian blowout solution for [labeling and safety violations](http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/ProductsIngredients/Products/ucm228898.htm). Yet, due to how the United States regulates salon treatments and cosmetics, the agency had little recourse to pull the products from salon shelves. While it’s up to the consumer to choose whether to undergo a hair styling that puts them at a risk for chemical exposure, hairdressers are the ones really putting themselves at risk. The new study, published in the journal _Occupational & Environmental Medicine_, says hairdressers should protect themselves by using gloves and completing steps that cannot be done with gloves before hair dying. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2849262/if-looks-could-kill-carcinogens-in-hairdressers-blood-from-dyes-and-perms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2849262/if-looks-could-kill-carcinogens-in-hairdressers-blood-from-dyes-and-perms/"},"headline":"If Looks Could Kill: Carcinogens in Hairdressers' Blood from Dyes and Perms","datePublished":"2014-06-09T22:30:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:26.375Z","description":"Study finds concerning carcinogens from dyes and perms in hairdressers' blood","url":"https://time.com/2849262/if-looks-could-kill-carcinogens-in-hairdressers-blood-from-dyes-and-perms/","keywords":["Living","beauty","Research"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta71c6e2671ee002c/698696d406f2c15bfb32f643/175532379-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta71c6e2671ee002c/698696d406f2c15bfb32f643/175532379-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"175532379","caption":"175532379","creditText":"Mladen Mitrinovi—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2849262/if-looks-could-kill-carcinogens-in-hairdressers-blood-from-dyes-and-perms/","name":"If Looks Could Kill: Carcinogens in Hairdressers' Blood from Dyes and Perms"}}]}] ```