Formaldehyde levels disputed in Brazilian Blowout warning
October 12, 2010
Yorkville hair stylist Greg May is the first to admit that the hugely popular hair straightener Brazilian Blowout Solution works magic.
Yet for almost two years he’s been sending his clients to other shops for the treatments, which can cost anywhere from $300 to $900 and make even the curliest hair stay straight and supple for up to three months.
“My staff is so upset with me because they all want to do it. It’s amazing. It’s incredible. It works,” said May.
But Health Canada’s recent warning that hair stylists should stop offering the 90-minute treatment, claiming the product contains 12 per cent formaldehyde, confirmed what the veteran hair stylist feared almost from the moment the treatments took off in Canada almost two years ago.
“I haven’t been saying to clients, ‘Don’t do it.’ I’ve just been saying, ‘Know what you’re getting into before you do it,’” said May.
That, according to eight complaints to Health Canada — six from customers, two from hair stylists — can include a burning sensation in the eyes, nose and throat, problems breathing and, in one case, even hair loss.
Health Canada tested the product and believes the formaldehyde becomes airborne when the chemical solution is blow-dried and flat-ironed during the final stage of the straightening process.
“Formaldehyde is a known irritant, sensitizer, and is linked to cancer in humans when inhaled chronically over a long period of time,” says the Health Canada warning, which has called for an immediate end to the use of the product in Canadian salons. The product has also come under investigation in Oregon.
Officials with California-based Brazilian Blowout were unavailable for comment, but a spokesperson said the product is “as formaldehyde-free as the air we breathe.”
California chemist Doug Schoon claims Health Canada has made an error. “Formaldehyde is a gas, not a liquid. You can’t put 12 per cent of it in a product. It will evaporate out instantly,” said Schoon in a telephone interview.
Schoon blames Health Canada’s own testers for the high readings, claiming that the primary product in hair straighteners is methylene glycol, or formalin, which is converted to formaldehyde during the testing process.
“(Health Canada testers) actually created the formaldehyde they are reporting,” said Schoon. “I’ve told Health Canada this.”
But Health Canada is sticking by its testing and its warning, a spokesperson said.
Schoon acknowledged that the heating process can release some formaldehyde gas, but within safe levels. The real issue, he believes, is poor ventilation in many salons.
Most salons contacted by the Star refused to discuss whether they’ve stopped using the product. But the owner of Salon Matte on Bathurst Ave. says he’s just leaving the few remaining boxes on the shelf until he either finds another product or Brazilian Blowout comes up with a new one.
Meanwhile, he’s still getting requests from clients and marveling at the miracle it’s worked on his own tightly wound locks.
“There were some problems with smell and burning, but after clients saw their hair, they didn’t complain,” said Matthew, who asked that his last name not be used. “Three years ago colour wasn’t good for your hair — it could cause cancer. Women still came in. Then it was cellphones. Every other day there’s a warning.
“I smoked 10 years of my life. Sometimes you have to take a risk.”
Toronto Star staff
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