Formaldehyde exposure during simulated use of a hair straightening product

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bausman T ; Kumagai K ; Nicas M ; Stewart M
• Description:
  Many hairstylists use hair straightening products that may potentially expose them and their clients to formaldehyde. One popular hair straightening product, Brazilian Blowout Acai Professional Smoothing Hair Solution, contains methylene glycol, a hydrated form of formaldehyde, and a small amount of nonhydrated (free) formaldehyde. This pilot study simulated product use procedures in a test chamber and measured associated formaldehyde concentrations in air via integrative sampling and a direct-reading instrument. Two different chamber air exchange rates (one and four per hour) were used. Breathing zone formaldehyde concentrations during some treatment steps exceeded the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 15-min time-weighted average (TWA) exposure limit of 2 ppm and, during all steps, exceeded the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended ceiling limit of 0.1 ppm and the ACGIH(R) threshold limit value [TLV(R)] ceiling of 0.3 ppm. The product used in the simulation was found to contain formaldehyde (the hydrated plus nonhydrated forms) at 120 mg/mL. Based in part on findings published by others, to keep airborne formaldehyde exposure levels below 0.1 ppm, it is recommended that only hair straightening products demonstrated by an independent third party to contain formaldehyde at less than 1 mg/mL be used. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Carcinogens Case Reports Cosmetics Environmental Monitoring Eye Foreign Bodies Formaldehyde Hazardous Substances Laboratories Nose Occupational Health Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Sense Organs Skin Skin Absorption

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• Keywords:
  Air-quality-measurement Air-sampling Air-sampling-techniques Breathing-zone Case-studies Cosmetics-workers Exposure-assessment Exposure-chambers Exposure-levels Exposure-limits Eye-irritants Formaldehydes Hairdressers Hazardous-materials Humans Laboratory-testing Nasal-disorders Permissible-concentration-limits Respiratory-system-disorders Scalp Simulation-methods Skin-absorption Skin-exposure Time-weighted-average-exposure

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• ISSN:
  1545-9624
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  10
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042952
• Citation:
  J Occup Environ Hyg 2013 Aug; 10(8):D104-D110
• Contact Point Address:
  Mark Nicas, University of California, School of Public Health, 140 Warren Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720
• Email:
  mnicas@berkeley.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Formaldehyde (CAS RN 50-00-0) ; Methanediol (CAS RN 463-57-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• Performing Organization:
  University of California, Berkeley
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• End Date:
  20250630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:5cdc784394467bae8bbe38c6d615579e8143b0cc36341cb79eea15974e73ae304d9bd5fe1d59bc8c91290d44a1aa6beab2033f77c12cebd575b4e890bda9f329
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/195001/cdc_195001_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 186.30 KB ]