PSA: BRAZILIAN BLOWOUTS WARNING!!!!

Hello All!

I recently came across a warning regarding Brazilian blowouts (also known as a Brazilian Keratin Treatment or BKT) that I felt needed to be shared with you all.  I, probably like most of you, have friends who have had the BKT, or at least friends who are heavily considering it.  I remember the first time I heard about the process and I myself was a little leery of a process that uses a chemical to straighten hair, but yet maintains that it's not in fact a chemical.  The proponents of this process maintain that the product is simply keratin, a protein that we have in our hair anyway.  *side-eye*

Strike #1 - I asked my hair stylist (very knowledgeable in hair care and I would trust her with anything concerning my hair) at the time about it and she assured me that there indeed was a chemical in the product and that it was not possible for the product to achieve straightening without a chemical being involved.  I did a little more independent research and discovered that BKT's contain formaldehyde (as in the chemical used to embalm dead people).  I was shocked and appalled!!!!

Strike #2 - Recently, Ash and I were having a conversation and she told me that her dad told her about an article he read that talked about how research linked the BKT to cancer.  Again...shocked and appalled.

Strike #3 - Today i was flipping through my September Essence and on Page 80 I found this warning:

OSHA WARNS ABOUT BRAZILIAN BLOWOUTS -
"In June 2011 the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a hazard alert to hair salons about potential formaldehyde exposure from working with Brazilian Blowout and other hair-smoothing products,  The warning confirmaed an initial investigation done by Oregon OSHA last fall, in which they sampled 105 various hair-smoothing products from 54 salons.  Thirty-seven samples came from Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Solution, and they were found to have formaldehyde level averaging 8.8%, even though they were labeled formaldehyde-free.  OSHA requires anything above 0.1% to be listed on the label.  Since the international Agency for Research on Cancer lists formaldehyde as a human carcinogen, how can you protect yourself? By banning straighteners made with these: methylene glycol, formalin, methlyne oxide, paraform, formic aldehyde, methanol, oxomethane, oxymethylene, or CAS Number 50-0-0."

Lessons learned: BKT is a chemical, BKT contains (the chemical) formaldehyde,  Formaldehyde is a carcinogen (can cause cancer) - thus BKT is a carcinogen (can cause cancer).

Now, althout I'm on TEAM NATURAL, that does not mean that I don't support others who decide to chemically relax their hair.  If you choose to chemically straighthen your hair, be informed and don't be afraid to ask to check the labels of any chemical straighteners that is used in your hair for any of the ingredients mentioned above.

#TEAMHEALTHYHAIR

Ms. K