Forum Discussion
Does the frizzy hair last?
Is there anyone who is 2-3 years on from having had chemo who can tell me whether hair returns to normal in time? I had my chemo about a year ago and while I am relieved to finally have a full head ...
Good luck Deanne. I hope you can find a safe alternative. Please know that there's also a huge amount of variation in the 'organic' and 'natural' products. Some of them are a big improvement and some are no better than the commercial stuff. Here's a good Choice article on the subject:
Of course, this article only deals with DIY hair dyes. You'd need to ask for a list of ingredients if you wanted to use a hairdresser.
The easiest way to check the known carcinogenic potential is to put the name of the ingredient + cancer into google. Just searching on the name of the ingredient should also give you a link to information about its general toxicity.
It seems to me that it's also worth keeping in mind that 'proving' something causes cancer is a long and difficult process. Given the toxic cocktail most of us are exposed to on a daily basis it's difficult to prove that any single substance or product conclusively causes cancer. By the time you consider all of the things we ingest, breathe in and expose our skin to on a daily basis it seems like it would be a long and complicated process to satisfactorily conclude that something was a carcinogen. And, of course, researchers face legal action if they can't back up their claims! As an example, the research about the links between alcohol and a number of cancers was strongly indicating it was a cause for several years before authorities were prepared to give it a category one warning (meaning that, like cigarettes, it has conclusively been proven to cause cancer). We still haven't seen any product labelling on alcohol that's anything like the stuff on cigarettes.
At any given point in time I think there are probably a lot of substances that are considered highly suspect but due to lack of funding, research, interest or some other factor there isn't the ability to form a strong conclusion.
As you say, we all need to make our own choices. Hope this information is helpful.