There are several straighteners and hair relaxer products on the market however not all formulations are considered compliant with safety regulations – either for salon professional use or for consumer use at home.
It is important to understand there are different formulations for the various hair products and it is important to understand the difference between the regulated active ingredients in relaxers and straighteners and the products that have consumer safety issues containing banned substances such as formaldehyde and formaldehyde donors.
Conventional relaxers and straighteners contain sodium hydroxide, or lithium hydroxide or guanidine and are formulated at acceptable and regulated consumer safety levels. The aforementioned active ingredients are formulated in most relaxers and reputable responsible brand owners are compliant with the regulations governing the use of these active ingredients and feature warnings and stipulate directions for use on the packaging.
Hair products containing formaldehyde (can be labelled as any of the following, formaldehyde, methylene glycol, formalin, methylene oxide, paraform, formic aldehyde, methanal, oxomethane, oxymethylene or timonacic acid) are categorised as toxic in many countries including South Africa. Despite this fact, hair technicians are administering products containing these banned and harmful ingredients to their own detriment and to the detriment of their clients and visitors to the salons.
Unscrupulous brand owners have been known to feature ‘formaldehyde free’ on their packaging when in fact the products contain significant and dangerous concentrations of this banned substance. Consumers need to be cautious of straightener treatments lasting up to two or three months as this is a characteristic of a product containing formaldehyde.
The CTFA does not support hairdressing salon processes using formaldehyde products due to the proven dangers and safety issues for both the salon employees and for the consumer. This view is in line with global opinions. To read the USA / FDA opinion please click here.