OK, so I did something bad on the weekend. Something I totally regret now. Do I have your attention? OK maybe it’s not as bad as you may be thinking, but it left me literally scratching my head!!

Now, with 3 children, I don’t get to enjoy the inside of a hair salon very often, mostly because with the amount of hair on my head, I’m never out of there before 3 hours have passed. Anyways on Saturday I went to the salon for some much needed hair care. Before long, my stylist had convinced me to skip my usual foil highlights and go for an all over permanent hair dye (to better cover the few -ah hum- ‘natural’ highlights I’ve been noticing as of late). Against my better judgement I succumbed to her persuasion and before long she had a vat of funny looking and even funnier smelling lotion type substance next to me. She began applying it to my hair and my head! Shortly thereafter, my scalp felt like it was burning, almost like something was biting at it. I was told that that is necessary for the color to take! After about 45 minutes of application (yes, I do have THAT much hair!), my stylist informed me that I had to sit and ‘process’ for about 45 minutes. Fine. After all this is peace and quiet time for me. Time for me to sit and relax and catch up on mindless Hollywood gossip!

After a few minutes, the ‘biting’ felt like it was getting more intense. I was given the end of a comb to use to scratch my scalp to help alleviate the discomfort. 45 minutes passed, then another 15. By this time I had had enough. I was taken to the sink where the gal washed out the color and on my request basically scratched my scalp with her nails during my scalp massage. MY SCALP FELT LIKE IT HAD HAD A CHEMICAL EATING AWAY AT IT!  I suppose that was my AH HA moment, because it had! Later that night, I was in so much discomfort that I couldn’t sleep. I got up and feverishly scrub shampooed my hair twice! Because I was already awake, I decided to do a little online research. I was so disturbed by what I learned:

Typically the nastiest culprit of an itchy scalp and hair dyes problem is the chemical Phenylenediamine (PPD). This is known as a contact allergen, and can result in a nasty itchy scalp…or in doctor-speak, sensitisation dermatitis. It absorbs itself into the skin causing serious irritation. If inhaled it can cause throat irritation, and bronchial asthma, and in extreme cases has led to blindness from contact with the eyes.  In France, Germany and Sweden, PPD was banned as a hair dye because it was thought to be too dangerous for health!!

I do everything I can day to day to stay healthy via diet and exercise, then I went and willingly got a toxic, chemical concoction applied to my scalp, which I can only assume got penetrated into my head! Today, 4 days later my scalp is still itchy. To a lesser degree, yes, but itchy nonetheless. I feel really stupid for having trusted in my stylist as well as the color manufacturer. It seems ridiculous that toxins such as hair dye are so readily used and available! I mean no one has their natural hair color anymore! It’s just fun to play around with different shades, but at what expense??

I have now made it my mission to source out a color that is either natural, or much less damaging that can even color some silvers. I will keep you posted, but please share anything that you know or come across.