Hair Burn
Reporter: Jonathan Creek
The price of fashion -- scarred, disfigured, bald or burnt - an everyday risk if you colour your hair. Kylie Miller never thought a trip to the hairdresser would leave her scarred for life. Last New Years Eve she went to an inner Melbourne salon to have highlights put in her hair -- the process involves using a steamer to help the colour take. "It got to a point where I couldn't cope anymore and tried to get myself out from under the steamer, at which point the lady next to me worked out that there was a problem and asked if she could help", Kylie added.
By the time help arrived, it was too late. Kylie was left with a six centimetre by twelve centimetre thermal burn, through to the bone. It's sensitive to the sun and there's no hope of hair ever growing back. And Kylie isn't alone. 85% of Australian women dye their hair -- sometimes with devastating results. 14-year-old Brittany Cooer was rushed to hospital after suffering an anaphylactic shock brought on by hair dye. Sharon McGuire's hair fell out after a routine cut and colour and then there is Louise Barry's burn. It's almost identical to Kylie's, except it was caused by chemicals not a steamer - the result was a wound that took months to heal. Adding to Kylie's pain is that the staff at the time didn't apologise. They demanded the full $200 for being steamed like a vegetable. Medical bills and scalp surgery will cost Kylie close to $5,000. The owner of the salon says it's all a misunderstanding, with the compensation claim in the hands of the insurance company. "Obviously we admit negligence for that to have happened", he said.
Danielle McIlwain is the head colourist at Fancapelli Hair Academy and she says the increasing number of accidents at hair salons is a result of the growing number of overseas hairstylists coming to Australia, "That the government is bringing in, because there is such a shortage. They are under skilled and under qualified to work in our country -- they don't meet our standards", she said.
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Hair Dye
Reporter: Helen Wellings
The frightening and gory stories about permanent hair dyes keep coming. Donna Cooer could only watch in horror as 14 year old daughter, Brittany was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. Chemicals in a supermarket hair dye to colour her blond hair dark brown, left her in anaphylactic shock, on drips and steroids, fighting for her life.
"I had blisters all around the back of my neck, and all my ears, and I had swollen eyes and forehead and my cheekbones here were swollen and my neck was that swollen I could hardly even breathe. Like I couldn't breathe properly" says Brittany.
"She looked like a little alien. It was like ET. Her head was sort of blown up like round, and within three, four days it sort of moved longer and made her face longer but it was very scary" says Brittany's mother Donna. Brittany was told by the hospital doctors - die her hair again and she'll die.
Anyone, including young teens, can buy and apply, potentially hazardous permanent hair dyes. The disturbing facts, almost 50% of permanent hair dyes in Australian supermarkets, pharmacies and hair product stores contain chemicals, so risky, they've been banned overseas. But our Department of Health still isn't moving to stop them. Other common irritants, para-phenylene-diamine or PPD and Resorcinol, - we found them in 10 out of 17 hair dyes.
Remember 16 year old schoolgirl, Danielle Lyall's tragic outcome when she tried to peroxide her thick dark hair at home. In hospital for 8 days, she suffered 2 skin grafts and deep burns that left her permanently bald and horrifically scarred.
Danielle bought this Australian manufactured peroxide, Hi Lift, from Hair House Warehouse, which sells direct to the public. It's marked "Professional Use Only" with safety instructions and warnings - amazingly the check-out girl recommended Danielle buy the strongest peroxide for her thick hair.
Hairhouse Warehouse told us they were "deeply shocked by the reaction Danielle suffered and that they take every measure possible to inform customers that the product is for use by qualified hairdressers. But a month later when we went into Hairhouse Warehouse, we discovered the opposite ...they were still offering the peroxide to the general public with no warnings or advice.
"You are playing with danger with DIY hair dyes... professional use only salon products should never be sold to the general public." Mario Nasso of the Professional Hairdressers Association says bleaching especially is dangerous, a job to be done in stages by qualified hairdressers. "The peroxide being the highest peroxide 40 vol peroxide creates a heat reaction and just burns you skin."
"I had red weeping sores all over my head... it then spread all over my face... it went into my ears and around my ears...it looked to me like a chemical burn and also my right eye began to swells almost shut." It's not just over the counter hair dyes that can injure. Some salon dyes can cause extreme reactions. Bernadette Trella ended up atopic dermatitis from the hairdressers. "There seemed to be nothing I could do to ease it, whether I used ice, packs, whether I was washing my hair." Doctors pumped her with steroids."I've had my hair dyed at the hairdresser about three to four times and not had a patch test ever before with it ... My doctor basically said there was no way I could go near any of those dyes again" adds Bernadette.
Sharon Klemm treated her 17 year old daughter Kristy Lee to a salon hair colour, thinking she'd be in good hands - she suffered a severe swelling and infection and is lucky to be alive. A year on, her head's still flaking. The Professional Hairdresser's Association advises if you're having colour, a patch test is essential to indicate reactions.
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Hair Dye Horror Stories
Reporter: Helen Wellings
Half of all permanent hair dyes contain potentially deadly toxins as some have found, to their cost. Helen Wellings investigates. Schoolgirl Danielle, 16, had thick luxuriant hair until she, with the help of her friend, peroxided it at home.
Within half an hour, her scalp was burning, the pain unbearable. Her mum Lana found her moaning, her head in a bucket of cold water. "I lifted up the towel and I was in shock, I couldn't believe what I saw," Lana said. "Just the whole top of her head looked dead. The hair was all brittle and stuck and almost melted into her scalp." Danielle went into hospital for eight days. She had two skin grafts, but the deep burns have left her permanently bald and horribly scarred.
Poison warning
The peroxide was marked "Poison" and "Professional Use Only", with safety directions and irritant warnings. Yet Danielle bought it at a store that sells direct to the general public. And Danielle claims the store recommended the strong peroxide because her hair was so thick. "If I had have known in hind sight what would have happened I would never have allowed her to do this," Lana said. But it is not just the strength of hair dyes. Potentially harmful ingredients in some top-selling products can also cause severe reactions. These are the latest chemicals banned in 27 countries, from Austria to the United Kingdom. Yet despite action overseas, most of the hair dyes you are buying in Australia are laced with some of these harmful chemicals. Australian health authorities have not moved to protect millions from hair dyes that aren't safe.
Expert experience
Trichologist Geoff Mahaney always does a patch test on customers to assess risk. He has seen many casualties of permanent hair dyes in Australia, especially dark colours, the do-it-yourself ones, as well as many salon brands which have the same or similar ingredients as the supermarket varieties. He is also very allergic to most hair dyes. "Anything from localised itching, which is quite common, and burning of the scalp which lasts for about a week," Geoff said. "I've had clients come in that have had the same colour for many years and patients that I see as a trichologist, then out of the blue, they've just had a severe reaction and they don't understand why." In Australia, do-it-yourself hair colouring is a burgeoning $140 million industry annually, at supermarkets and pharmacies alone. About 50 per cent of purchases are for the potentially dangerous permanent dyes. But here and around the world, with more young people - and men as well as women - using hair dyes, the number of extreme reactions is soaring.
Chemical cocktails
Homeopath Bill Statham, is the author of Chemical Maze, a Guide to Food Additives and Cosmetic Ingredients. He says hair dyes are risky chemical cocktails. "There was evidence that these chemicals had caused adverse effects in human health including bladder cancer," Bill said. That's why 27 countries of the European Union recently banned 22 chemicals, adding to a long list of now 50 banned hair dye ingredients overseas. But all these chemicals are allowed in Australia. The federal Department of Health's National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme told Today Tonight the majority of EU banned chemicals were not found in hair dyes in Australia.
But our survey found at least one of these banned chemicals in almost half the permanent hair dyes in supermarkets and pharmacies around the country. Other common irritants allowed are para-phenylene-diamine (PPD) and Resorcinol which we found in 10 out of 17 hair dyes. Manufacturers do warn of the possible dangers and advise you to do a patch test. The National Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme told us it was considering the safety of chemicals banned overseas, but said because companies are required to declare ingredients, consumers are informed about chemicals.
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