Did you know that 94% of women who color their hair say they recolor for the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza season?

At least that’s what Ingenuity Products, the company that makes +Repelle Hair Color Stain Shield says. They conducted a study that also revealed one of the worst side effects of hair color is stained skin.

I must be hanging around the Left Brain too much because I’m becoming very skeptical about these press releases that come across The Beauty Brains desk. According to Ingenuity Products, over half of the women surveyed said that “hair color can stain skin.” And that even though over 90 percent of the women say they avoid getting hair color on their skin, almost half said they still experience skin staining when they color their hair.

I just have to wonder: is this really an issue? A lot of us color our hair but I’ve never heard that skin staining is a huge problem. What do you think? Is this a big deal? Would you buy a product to protect your skin from staining?

–Mid Brain

Hey Braniacs, Sarah Bellum here with another intriguing product review.

Did you see the Left Brain’s post about Five Beauty Gadgets That Really Work? Well, here’s another type of beauty gadget that lets you see when a product is working on someone ELSE. It’s called Gray-dar and it’s a computerized gizmo that reveals a person’s true hair color.

Revolutionary device reveals real hair color

Gray-dar is the creation of writer/graphic artist/ visionary/inventor Scott Duran. Scott’s device is a helmet equipped with special goggles that that screen out wavelengths of light given off by artificial dyes. When you look through the goggles you can see the guy’s true hair color.

How does Gray-dar work

Okay, it doesn’t really work. This is a gag device that I saw on inventorspot.com and just couldn’t resist freaking you guys out. If you want a laugh, you can read Scott’s imaginative and entertaining description of Gray-dar. Inventorspot.com is always an interesting read for me and the other Beauty Brains.

Show your true colors

You have to admit it’s an intriguing idea. It makes me wonder: if such a device really did exist, would you use it? Who would you use it on? A potential date? Some guy at work or at school? A female friend? Would you not care at all? Or, would you be worried that someone would be using Gray-dar on you? (If you’re really that worried about being caught with a bad dye job you can get rid of the evidence with Color Oops Extra Strength Hair Color Remover.) Or maybe Scott should invent a Gray-dar jammer!

Leave a comment and let the Beauty Brains community know what YOU think about seeing someone’s true colors.

Cindi says…My stylist keeps pushing “color-protecting” shampoo and conditioners at me. I was under the impression that no products like these could really help keep color lasting longer. Are there any kinds of shampoos and/or conditioners that really work better for color-treated hair?

Left Brain’s colorful reply.
You are right to be skeptical. The fact is most “color-protecting” products are really not much different than the regular products. You can see this by simply taking a look at the list of ingredients (LOI).

Let’s do a comparison of a salon brand, their color SKU versus a non-color one…

Paul Mitchell Color Protecting Shampoo

Water (Aqua), Sodium Myreth Sulfate, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidoproply Betaine, Cocamide MEA, , Polyquaterium-44, Pathenol, Hydrolyzed Wheat Starch Protein, Cinnamidopropyltrimonium Chloride, Glycerine Stearate, Helianthus Annus (Sunflower) Extract, Dimethicone Bisamino Hydroxypropyl Copolyol/Hedychium Coronarium (White Ginger)/PEG-12 Dimethicone, Dimethicone Bisamino Hydroxypropyl Copolyol/Algae/Aloe Barbadensis Leaf/Athemis Nobilis/Lawsonia Inermis (Henna)/Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba)/Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary)/PEG-12 Dimethicone, Hydroxypropyl Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Glycol Distearate, Steareth-4, Fragrance(Perfum), Citric Acid, Tetrasodium EDTA, Sodium Chloride, DMDM, Hydantoin, Iodpropynyl Butylcarbarmate

Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Shampoo

Water (Aqua), Sodium Myreth Sulfate, Cocamide MEA, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate. Isoceteth-20, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, PEG-150 Distearate, PEG-3 Dioleoylamidoethylmonium Methosulfate, Trimethylsiloxyamodimethicone, C11-15 Pareth-7, C12-16 Pareth-9, Glycerin, Trideceth-12, Polyquaternium-10, Triethyl Citrate, Bisamino PEG/PPG-41/3 Aminoethyl PG-Propyl Dimethicone/Algae/Aloe Barbadensis Leaf/Anthemis Noblis/Lawsonia Inemis (Henna)/Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba)/Rosmarnus Officinalis (Rosemary)/PEG-12 Dimethicone, Fragrance (Parfume), Citric Acid, Sodium Chloride, Tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate

But if we remove things like fragrance, preservatives, claims ingredients and adjusting ingredients we’re left with…

Paul Mitchell Color Protecting Shampoo

Water (Aqua), Sodium Myreth Sulfate, Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidoproply Betaine, Cocamide MEA, , Polyquaterium-44, Glycol Distearate, Steareth-4

Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Shampoo

Water (Aqua), Sodium Myreth Sulfate, Cocamide MEA, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate. Isoceteth-20, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, PEG-150 Distearate, PEG-3 Dioleoylamidoethylmonium Methosulfate, Trimethylsiloxyamodimethicone, Polyquaternium-10

They are still a bit different but not much. The most important thing is that the first 2 ingredients are the same (water & sodium myreth sulfate) and so is the secondary surfactant, Cocamidopropyl Betaine.

Unfortunately, neither of these products will protect your hair color much. Actually, the Super Skinny shampoo would probably work better for protecting color because it has silicone and conditioning agents in it. The only shampoo products that have shown some color protection are Tresemme and L’Oreal Colorvive shampoos. And even these products aren’t great because you still lose most of your color.

From a conditioner standpoint, there are no standard rinse conditioners that help protect your color. Your best bet is to use a leave-in conditioner spray. This will allow you to get the benefit from the conditioning agents without the negative effects of rinse water.

Beauty Brains bottom line

Protecting color from the damage caused by washing, heat and the environment is one of the hottest areas of research in the cosmetic industry. It seems there are papers published every month about the subject and no one has figured it out just yet. The shampoos and conditioners out there now won’t live up to their promise. Right now, your best bet for keeping your color is to wash less often and use a leave-in conditioner.

Every so often you hear about how chemicals in your cosmetics are responsible for cancer, birth defects or even autism. Unfortunately, the sources for these conclusions are rarely cited and when they are, they are typically a biased political committee or marketing group.

This article about hair dye and cancer caught my eye. Reading the title is downright scary “Can dyeing your hair really give you cancer?” The article continues to discuss a major conference that is being held in Belfast in which they’ll discuss the long-term link between bladder cancer and people with dyed hair. It even states

Evidence exists to indicate regular and long term use of hair dyes can be associated with the development of the cancer which kills more than 4,000 in the UK each year.

Now, if this article was all you read on the subject, you might conclude that hair dye causes bladder cancer. You might also get the impression that experts are in agreement. After all, they did get their information from Questor a European Environmental Research Centre.

Being the skeptical Beauty Brain that I am, I went to see what the medical journals had to say on the subject. A search of ‘hair dye’ resulted in 649 hits. The most current research is most useful and for answering questions like these, review articles are best. Review articles are designed to summarize all the work that has been published before.

Does hair dye cause cancer?

This article about hair dye and cancer published in late 2006 in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health concludes

“Results for bladder cancer studies suggest that subsets of the population may be genetically susceptible to hair dye exposures, but these findings are based on small subgroups in one well-designed case-control study. Replication of these findings is needed to determine whether the reported associations are real or spurious.”

This is a bit different than the definitive bladder cancer/hair dye link suggested in the newspaper article. Essentially the researchers say certain genetically predisposed people may have issues, but even this isn’t a certainty. A more thorough study is needed. But the important implication is that for most people, this isn’t a problem. Hair dye will not cause cancer.

Beauty Brains’ bottom line

What you read, see or hear in the mainstream media rarely tells the whole story. When it comes to issues about health and safety you would not be wrong to immediately reject their conclusions. If you want to know the real story do a little research from yourself using the least biased sources you can find. Research in this case would find that the majority of research shows no established link between hair dye and cancer. So, feel free to color with abandon. I know I will.

For a more thorough summary of the cancer/hair color research look at this article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Jenna Just Wants To Be Happy: In many customer reviews for a product called “Shine Happy” by Clairol, which claims to be like a salon gloss treatment, people complained that it lightened their hair colour. Is there a reason why this would occur with this product but not with the glossing treatments performed in salons? Also, relatively speaking, where do this product and the “glossing” treatments performed in salons fall on the doing-damage-to-your-hair scale? The Left Brain Enlightens Her:

Clairol’s “Shine Happy” is actually like a hair coloring treatment. The reason that people’s hair is turning lighter is because they are putting Hydrogen Peroxide on it. Here is a list of the ingredients.

Water, Hydrogen Peroxide, Acrylates Copolymer, Steareth-21, Oleth-2, Oleth-5, PEG-50 Hydrogenated Palmamide, Acrylates/Steareth-20 Methacrylate Copolymer, Oleyl Alcohol, Etidronic Acid, Disodium EDTA, Simethicone.

Notice the second ingredient? Peroxide is the thing that colorists use to “dye” hair blonde.

Glossing treatments in a salon either do not contain Peroxide (many are just silicone treatments) or they are put on by the stylist and rinsed away before the color has time to noticeably lighten. When you do it yourself at home, leaving it on too long will result in color lightening.

Sarah says: I am dying my dishwater blond hair red very soon. My regular salon uses Schwarzkopf hair dye products. I am looking into going to a “natural” salon, but they use Redken hair dye, which doesn’t sound natural to me. I assume Aveda might be the most natural, but they are also often faux-natural. What is the safest/gentlest/least chemical ridden permanent hair dye?

The Left Brain responds:

Sarah, the sad truth is that there is no such thing as a “chemical free” permanent hair dye. All the oxidation type dyes (the truly permanent ones) use the same basic technology. There are natural color alternatives like henna that can stain hair, but your color choices are limited and those kinds of products only work on the surface of the hair so they’re not really long lasting.

Janet has hair issues: My hair is 90% grey. I want silver like Paula Deen`s. My hairdresser used violet mixed with lightest blonde. Result light blonde. I hate it. What can I use to get it silver? The Left Brain replies:

The bad news is there`s really no such thing as a silver-colored hair dye. So, sadly, Garnier can’t just add more “silveryness” to your hair.

The good news is there are products that help make silver hair look better. Typically, these products contain violet dye because the violet cancels out any yellow color that your hair might have which makes it look more silvery. Adding blonde dye doesn’t make any sense.

While I’m skeptical, here’s a website that claims to know how to dye your hair silver. If you give this a try let me know how it turns out. I say, proceed with caution or you’ll end up with purple hair!

Here’s an interesting story that is making the rounds on the internet about blondes, genetics and natural selection. According to the story (from the BBC no less) the number of natural blondes has decreased to such low levels that in 200 years there may not be any left. It seems that “bottle blondes” are out-competing natural blondes for mates thus having an easier time passing along their non-blonde hair genes. Does this mean you should run out and invest in companies like Revlon, Garnier, and Clairol that make hair dyes?

Don’t bother because it turns out that this story is completely false! The truth is blondes are not headed for extinction any time soon. The investigators at one of our favorite sites Snopes.com have shown that this is a different version of an urban legend that has been circulating since as early as 1865.

In this BBC story, it’s suggested that German researchers made the pronouncement. But upon further investigation the story’s source was actually an article published in the German equivalent to Cosmo. And while Cosmo, Glamour, Allure, and all the other women’s magazines have some great information, they are also not immune to sloppy reporting and accepting naivety.

The Beauty Brains‘ Bottom line

No, natural blondes won’t be extinct any time soon. And you can’t believe everything you read no matter how respected the source. It’s a basic Beauty Brains’ belief…

Always have independent confirmation of the facts

Here’s a question that comes from our good friends over at Women’s Health Research News. If you get a chance, please go over and check out this great blog by a fellow indy science blogger.

Trisha’s question:

In a previous post you mentioned that gray hair looks gray because it has lost its melanin, which gives hair its pigment. What`s the biology involved with that? What actually causes hair to lose its melanin? And is there anything we can do to slow the process down? And why do my gray hairs seem more kinky and unruly compared to the rest of my hair?

The Left Brain’s Response:

Melanin is a pigment that is naturally produced in the hair follicle and “injected” into the hair fibers as the protein is formed and pushed out of the head. It’s the same kind of melanin that gives your skin its color. There are two basic types of melanin (eumelanin and pheomelanin) that are responsible for every hair color from brown and black to blonde and red.

No one knows why hair follicles stop producing melanin. Genetics mostly. There just gets to be a point where the melanocytes (the melanin producing cells) just stop producing. Thus you get gray hair.

Slowing the process? No one has figured this one out just yet. And the truth is that only the pharmaceutical companies would be looking for the solution anyway. Cosmetic companies focus on things that do not react with your body. I’m not sure if there will be a solution to this problem anytime soon. (By the way, there are products out there like Reminex that claim to restore melanin production but we’ve seen no data to indicate they really work.) Of course you can always dye your hair. Or you can use Verseo Greyban. (It’s not a dye. Not exactly.)

There is no solid data to show that gray hair has a different physical structure that makes it feel more kinky and unruly. In fact, we’ve seen experiments that show if you have people close their eyes they can not feel a difference between gray hair and “normal” hair. Why do people think gray hair is so different? There are probably two reasons: First, we know that as you age, the follicles produce less of their natural lubricating oils. That can make hair feel dry and coarse. Second, gray hairs are just easier to notice because of the color difference. Think about all the hairs on your head that are unruly but they are the same color as the rest of your hair so you don’t notice them.

Jennifer has an unusual problem:
I highlighted my hair and recently had my roots done. I use a Bio-ionic blow dryer and curling iron a few times a week. I just noticed last night that the ends of my hair are turning pink!!! Oddly enough, one of the pair of silver colored hoop earrings that I often wear is also turning pink. This may be due to tarnish and unrelated to the hair turning pink but I can not figure out for the life of me why my ends are turning pink!! Can you please help me?

The Left Brain Brainstorms:
From your description it`s hard to say exactly what`s causing the pink spots, but we like your earrings theory. The hair dye could be reacting with the hoops causing a metal “salt” to be left on your hair. This kind of chemical reaction (metal oxidation) can result in a pink color. (At least you don’t have a hair dye allergy or your face would be swollen and puffy.) We can’t prove this is the cause, but it does make us worried about dying our hair and wearing silver.

What can you do about it? Shampooing twice a day for a few days might help. And as a last resort, you can cut the ends off and go to Eve`s Addiction or Philip Noel for a new pair of hoops! Read the rest of this entry »