‘Most’ Hair Straightening, Smoothing Products Release Cancer-Causing Formaldehyde, FDA Warns

If you use a hair straightening or smoothing product, chances are you’ve been exposed to the cancer-causing chemical formaldehyde, according to a new consumer update from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

On Tuesday, the FDA published an update on its website titled Formaldehyde in Hair Smoothing Products: What You Should Know.

In the update, the FDA warns consumers that most hair smoothing or straightening products release formaldehyde gas into the air during the hair straightening or smoothing process.

Formaldehyde is a known human carcinogen as classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the update states, and exposure can cause both short- and long-term effects that may impact your health.

The FDA said formaldehyde is released into the air as a gas when it is heated. At the salon, that will typically be when the hair stylist seals the smoothing or straightening product into a customers’ hair with a flat iron.

The FDA said it’s important at this stage that safety precautions are taken. 

“If the salon is not properly ventilated, you, your stylist, and others in the salon are at risk of inhaling the released formaldehyde.” 

If formaldehyde is present in the air at levels exceeding 0.1 ppm, it can cause serious irritation of the eyes, nose, and lungs, and can cause skin sensitivity or allergic dermatitis.

More serious is risk associated with long-term exposure. Chronic effects associated with formaldehyde can include an increased prevalence of headaches, asthma, contact dermatitis and possibly cancer, according to the FDA.

The organization urged customers to avoid using hair smoothing products at home, and to instead visit a licensed hair stylist. It said stylists should use gloves, glasses and ensure proper ventilation of the salon. 

If you must buy for home use, read and check the ingredients, and if there are none listed, don’t buy the product, the FDA said. In case of adverse reaction, customers should report the reaction to a doctor, and to the FDA here. 

Meanwhile, three class action lawsuits have come forward in the last two months against Unilever, which plaintiffs say uses a controversial preservative in its keratin shampoo that slowly leaches formaldehyde over time.

The consumers allege Unilever has known about these issues since at least 2012 and that they settled a class action lawsuit that made similar claims against its Suave line of keratin shampoos for $10 million in 2016.

Have you had a bad reaction when using a hair product? Let us know in the comments! 

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