Do hairdressers comprise a high risk group for genotoxicity? A systematic review

Nowadays, hair dye products are widely used for aesthetic purposes, in which it generates chemical exposure to customers and, mainly, hairdressers. The aim of this systematic review was designed to elucidate the following question: are hair dye products able to induce DNA damage in hairdressers?

Studies were included in our analyses if they met the following criteria: (1) studies measuring genetic damage in vivo; (2) studies published in English; (3) studies that provided data clearly presented in scientific standards.

Full manuscripts from 13 studies were carefully selected in this setting. Our results demonstrate that hair dye products may contain chemical agents able to induce DNA strand breaks or chromosome damage since the majority of studies demonstrated positive findings for genotoxicity. A total of 7 studies (out of 13) had strong or moderate rates in the quality assessment. The type of genotoxicity assay and sample selection criteria time influenced the outcome.

In summary, our results reveal that hairdressers are occupationally exposed to genotoxic agents. Such findings are very important for protecting these professionals who are continuously exposed to chemicals for long periods.