Safe to color hair?
 

Hello,
I know this is a rather insignificant question, and aplogize if it seems shallow. However, I finished taxotere, carboplatin in September and am now on Herceptin every three weeks. My hair has begun to grow and I was wondering when is is safe/ok to color it. I have a function coming soon and I would like to wear my natural hair...even though it will be very short.
Thanks,
Brenda

15 years ago, when I learned about my Mother's Non-Hodgkins lymphoma diagnosis, I did some research about the cancer. One thing I came across was some research indicating only black hair dye had any corelation to cancer.

I do not know the current scientific conclusion. I quit dying my hair (I greyed at very young age) after my first BC in 2003 even though I was using dark brown hair dye.

being a hairdresser, I have seen (and experienced) many interesting and creative things happen to the hair of those who are on meds or have been in chemo treatment...

I would suggest having a professional do it, for one thing. Because, they can adjust, tone, counteract, correct any odd colors that might not be exactly what you expect or hope for. Chemo and meds get into the hair via bloodstream. They chemically interact with the chemicals in hair color and can adversely affect how it works. Once they are there, they don't leave until you have discontinued the med and cut the hair. Chemo tends to have a lingering effect on hair for about 6 months, and it also causes the first hair that grows back to be weaker, so your young hair can easily be damaged by harsh color. Of course it will grow out and be cut off, but it sucks to finally have hair after many months, and then to color it with something too harsh, making it look dry, damaged and straw-like. I would be careful of level 40 developers with high lift blondes and/or bleach. I actually would recommend no bleach at all for the first 6-8 months.

I would recommend going close to or a 1/2 shade darker than your original natural color, and using semi or demi permanent color, like Redken Shades EQ (available at many salons). Semi and demi aren't as penetrating as permanent color and they blend and lightly fade over a few months, and just look so much more natural.

I hope this helps!

I don't think this is an insignificant question. My oncologist told me I could dye my hair any color I wanted, but after it grew back I hesitated for a year. Finally I was tired of being grey-white. I don't use permanent color. I get what my stylist calls color 1. It's temporary. It last about 6-8 weeks, so I guess it's more expensive. I dont' dye it black either. I use, believe it or not, a plum/purple color glaze.

Personal use of hair dyes and risk of cancer: a meta-analysis
JAMA 2005 May 25;293(20):2516-25

Department of Preventive Medicine, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. mrbahi@usc.es
CONTEXT: Use of hair dyes has been suggested recently as a risk factor for several types of cancer in epidemiologic studies. This alarming news and controversial declarations by scientific organizations and general media have made necessary a systematic evaluation of the epidemiologic evidence. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between personal use of hair dyes and relative risk of cancer. DATA SOURCES: We retrieved studies published in any language by systematically searching the MEDLINE (1966-January 2005), EMBASE, LILACS, and ISI Proceedings computerized databases and by manually examining the references of the original articles, reviews, and monographs retrieved. STUDY SELECTION: We included cohort and case-control studies reporting relative risk estimates and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) (or data to calculate them) of personal hair dye use and cancer. We excluded studies that dealt with occupational exposure. We carried out separate analyses for bladder, breast, and hematopoietic cancers and cancers of other sites. Seventy-nine studies were included of 210 articles identified in the search. DATA EXTRACTION: Data were extracted independently by 2 investigators. We used a standardized questionnaire to record information on study design, sample size, type of controls, year of publication, adjustment factors, and relative risks of cancer among ever users of hair dyes. When possible, we extracted association measures on use of permanent dyes and extensive use (>200 lifetime episodes of dye use). DATA SYNTHESIS: Study-specific relative risks were weighted by the inverse of their variance to obtain fixed- and random-effects pooled estimates. The pooled relative risk for ever users of hair dyes was 1.06 (95% CI, 0.95-1.18) for breast cancer (14 studies), 1.01 (95% CI, 0.89-1.14) for bladder cancer (10 studies), and 1.15 (95% CI, 1.05-1.27) for hematopoietic cancers (40 studies). Other cancers were examined by only 1 or 2 studies, of which the pooled or single relative risk was elevated for brain cancer, ovarian cancer, and cancer of the salivary glands. No effect was observed for use of permanent dyes or for extensive use. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find strong evidence of a marked increase in the risk of cancer among personal hair dye users. Some aspects related to hematopoietic cancer and other cancers that have shown evidence of increased risk in 1 or 2 studies should be investigated further.

The studies show any higher incidence of hair dye causing or contributing to cancer are the level 1 & 2 (darkest levels) of permanent hair dye -

But I think Brenda really just wants to know what the dye will do to her newly growing hair...

You are absolutely right! I just couldn't get the notion 'black hair dye may cause cancer' out of my mind.

I was a hairstylist also, I dyed my hair as soon as it was long enough. I used a demi permenant hair product. I always go a shade lighter because in my experience, they are always darker. I did find that my ends grabbed the color more than my roots and the color was a little uneven. Could be that the first few inches of hair were more pourous...sherryg683

Brenda,

I also had this question for my onc when my hair started to grow back, he said that there was no problem and that I could dye it whenever I wanted.

hair dyes and cancer.
 

I don't use any hair dyes, because I wear wigs that are my natural color and looks great.
I have read in medical joinals that permanent dyes, especially dark color have a toxic ingredient that can cause cancer of the bladder. I can relate this to an aunt I HAD WHO WAS A HAIR DYE SPECIALIST AND HAD FOUGHT WITH BLADDER CANCER FOR 15 YRS BEFORE SHE DIED AT AGE 88. THE ARTICLE FOUND LIGHT CLORS OR ALTERNATIVE ,HENNAS WERE SAFER THAN THE FAMOUS PERMANANT DARK DYE COLORS, so do yoir own search before starting to color.

Hope you figure this all out. Paula Young has given me my hair back, and I just order it in my color and style it a little. It's very comfortable all year round;; no kidding.
Hugs Christine

There is a great product on the market by John Freida - luminous color GLAZE - no ammonia, no peroxide - if your
hair is less than 25% gray, it should cover it. After you shampoo and condition your hair, you apply this product onto your hair, leave it on for a minimum of 3 minutes, then wash it off. The first week or so you have to do it every day to build it up, then a couple of times a week after that. You can leave it on longer, up to 15 minutes or so (it does not say that on the package, but a beauty magazine article suggested this and I tried it - it will last longer I believe if you do this).
I use the "Hazelnut to Expresso" colour, and it leaves a lovely glossy brown colour on my hair - the grays I have look like hightlights. The beauty of this product is that it is not permanent, so there are no roots. It costs about $10/bottle. I don't know if it will cover up more than about 25% gray, but you could try it.

all the best
caya

I would listen to brenda...when my hair came back with alot of gray, I tried the same color i had used previously...it was a temporary color...it looked nothing like it did when i used it prior to chemo...lets just say my hair lookedlike bird feathers....guess I am lucky I went back on Taxol and lost it again!!!

Knowing what we learned in beauty school about the huge difference between formulations of grocery store color and professional salon color, I would still recommend having a stylist color your hair with semi or demi permanent color in a salon. And a good, experienced stylist. Expecially if you are getting your hair done for a special occasion, as they can correct it as they go along, if it does not respond the way it should. Once you have it done by an expert, then you can go to Sally's and buy a professional semi-permanent color to use at home. I wouldn't use any color that can be bought in a grocery store, discount store or a big pharmacy store.

Just one professional hairstylist's/cancer patient's opinion and recommendation.

I am pretty sure that Sherry would agree with me...

I did not use anything on my hair until over a year after chemo. I was lucky that my hair grew back fairly straight, with much less gray than before chemo. I agree that if you are just out of chemo to go to a professional salon. I was also advised that colour would not really "take" until about 6 months afer the last chemo treatment.

My last chemo was in January 31, 2005. My hair was long enough to have an "art gallery owner" short hairdo and I wanted to stop wearing my wig to work by Memorial Day (because it would get too hot). I dyed it the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend (4 months after my last chemo) a natural medium brown (permanent color (Garnier brand from the drugstore)). It had been a weird brown gray (grayer than it naturally was and is). It turned out great and I felt great and I didn't (and still don't) worry about if hair coloring causes cancer or not. I feel young and pretty and really felt young and pretty for once then since you don't during chemo.

I didn't have color problems when I dyed my own hair but obviously some women do so decide on the salon or yourself and go girl!

Let us know how it comes out. I'm sure you'll feel wonderful about it.

The only real problem with permanent "box color" from a grocery store (for anyone, not only cancer patients) is that it is known as a "coating color". It essentially stains the hair in a different way than the action of professional color and the developer is not as strong as what professionals are allowed to use ... professional color is formulated to swell the hair shaft and deposit color. The professional formulation usually (but not always) gives the hair a more translucent, shinier dimension than a coating stain. The problem with coating stain color (especially the darker levels 1-5) is that if you ever want to go lighter or have highlights done, it can cause real problems, as it is very hard to lighten and you often get very inconsistent results... I am sure some of you have been scolded at some point in your life by a hairstylist for using "box color"... I know I have been. Once I went to beauty school, I learned why.

Not that anyone asked, but I have experimented on myself with some hilarious results, and then a friend clued me in about going to Sally's to buy professional color instead of grocery store color, and my life improved immensely! Eventually, I went to beauty school, so my experimental days were over...