Studio 3 does not do the Brazilian Blowout Hair Treatment, we will not place our clients or staff at risk just to earn a dollar. Over and over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has shared information regarding the risks. Is it worth anyones long term health to have straight hair?
There are alternatives, at the salon we offer several Formaldehyde Free smoothing services. Please talk to your stylist about the smoothing treatment that would be best for you.
Brazilian Blowout Hair Treatment Can Pose Formaldehyde Risks
Posted by Cosmetology Campus News
| The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently released an updated hazard alert regarding the use of a potentially harmful hair treatment, Brazilian Blowout. In the OSHA investigations, air tests showed formaldehyde at levels above OSHA's limits in salons using hair treatment products such as Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution and Brasil Cacau Cadiveu. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also sent a warning letter to the former for having misleading labels saying that the product is "formaldehyde-free" or "no formaldehyde." Excessive and continuous exposure to formaldehyde poses more risks to salon workers than those getting the actual treatment. According to OSHA, formaldehyde is a cancer hazard and can cause allergic reactions and breathing problems. If sprayed into the eyes, it can also lead to blindness. "Misleading or inadequate information on hazardous product labels is unacceptable," said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. "Salon owners and workers have the right to know the risks associated with the chemicals with which they work and how to protect themselves." OSHA calls on salon owners to give proper training to its employees to ensure safety. Salon workers must have access to eye and skin washing equipment in case they come in contact with the product. OSHA also advised the public to read the product label to know if it contains harmful chemicals like formaldehyde or methyl glycol and learn the procedures needed to perform in cases of emergency. |
Cosmetic Industry Declares Formaldehyde In Hair Products Unsafe
Washington, D.C. – The mainstream cosmetics industry has, for the first time, declared formaldehyde unsafe at any level in hair straighteners.
Citing undisputed health risks, frequent consumer complaints and a lack of evidence of safety, the Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel, a scientific advisory board established by the major American cosmetics manufacturers, has effectively disavowed expensive salon products sold by a handful of small companies such as the Los Angeles maker of Brazilian Blowout.
The federal Food and Drug Administration has yet to bar formaldehyde from hair straighteners, even though the U.S. Department of Health and Human Safety has labeled it a known human carcinogen. However, last month the FDA issued a formal warning that publicly admonished Brazilian Blowout. The agency declared the company’s hair-smoother adulterated, because it contained dangerous levels of formaldehyde, and misbranded, because it claimed to be free of formaldehyde.
Last week, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency charged with overseeing workplace safety, escalated its warning to hair salons and employees after investigators found that two popular brands of hair straighteners exposed salon workers to dangerous levels of formaldehyde. OSHA officials also instructed the manufacturer of Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution, one of the products that failed OSHA’s tests, to stop suggesting that OSHA tests had found its product safe. Brazilian Blowout’s hair-straightener, though labeled “formaldehyde free,” was found by OSHA to contain significant amounts of the chemical.
"Misleading or inadequate information on hazardous product labels is unacceptable," said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David Michaels. "Salon owners and workers have the right to know the risks associated with the chemicals with which they work and how to protect themselves."
Though OSHA singled out Brazilian Blowout and Brasil Cacau Cadiveu, an investigation earlier this year by the Environmental Working Group uncovered 15 companies that claimed to use little to no formaldehyde, yet whose products contained substantial amounts of the chemical. As a result of its investigation, EWG urged the federal Food and Drug Administration to ban formaldehyde as an ingredient in hair straighteners.
The agency declined to do so, responding that it was “looking to [the Cosmetic Ingredient Review panel] to get additional information … that we need to be able to take an action. Right now we are not there.”
It is unclear how the industry panel’s assertion that no level of formaldehyde can be considered safe will affect FDA’s decision-making on a possible ban.
An April 2011 survey by EWG found dozens of top salons still promoting formaldehyde-laced hair straighteners despite the mounting evidence of the risks to stylists and clients.
"The incentive to downplay mounting health concerns is substantial when you can charge several hundred dollars for a single treatment," said Thomas Cluderay of the Environmental Working Group. "Until regulators pull the plug on Brazilian Blowout, I think it's clear the company is prepared to do just about anything to peddle these products."
The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC that uses the power of information to protect human health and the environment. http://www.ewg.org
(CBS) Brazilian Blowout, you are officially on notice.
The FDA sent a scathing letter to the popular hair-straightening brand, saying its product could endanger consumers and hair stylists who use them.
The letter called the Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution "adulterated," with the liquid methylene glycol. When heated with a blow dryer and hot flat iron, the liquid releases carcinogenic formaldehyde vapors into the air.
People exposed to large amounts of formaldehyde in their professions are at an increased risk for lymphoma, leukemia and brain cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
An FDA analysis of Brazilian Blowout samples found formaldehyde levels ranging from 8.7 to 10.4 percent. The government requires an occupational hazard alert if levels are 0.1 percent or higher.
What's more, the product is "misbranded," says the FDA, since its label reads "No Formaldehyde" or "Formaldehyde Free." The agency called those statements "false and misleading."
"The failure to include information about the release of formaldehyde into the air during the heating process on the product's label or labeling makes your product misbranded because you fail to reveal material facts with respect to consequences that may result from the use of your product ," the letter read.
The agency threatened an injunction or seizure of products if Brazilian Blowout does not say how it plans to address these allegations within 15 days.
The Environmental Working Group hailed the FDA's decision. The Washington D.C.-based advocacy group conducted its own investigation this year and found 16 products, including Brazillian Blowout, contained high levels of formaldehyde.
"FDA's recent action is a critical first step to getting this dangerous and very popular product off the market," Jane Houlihan, the group's senior vice president for research, said in a written statement. "Now FDA must apply the same pressure to the other companies that also peddle similar products laced with the cancer-causing chemical formaldehyde."
When reached by CBS News, a Brazilian Blowout representative had no comment.
If these products are so dangerous, how are they even on the market?
"If consumers have been wondering why they've still been able to get Brazilian Blowouts despite so much troubling news, the answer is because our regulatory system is broken," Anuja Mendiratta, a representative of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, said in a statement emailed to CBS News. "Even when a product has clearly been shown to poison people, the FDA has little authority to take immediate meaningful action in the case of cosmetics."
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