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Dermatitis in hairdressers
What is dermatitis?
Dermatitis means inflammation of the skin and most often affects the hands. It is caused by substances that come in contact with the skin and is the biggest occupational health and safety hazard for hairdressers, with as many as 60% being affected at some time in their career.
Irritant contact dermatitis: caused by
- water
- shampoos and conditioners
- cleaning agents
- other strong chemicals
Continually wetting and drying of the skin, as well as contact with these substances will de-fat the skin and cause it to dry out, flake, split and crack. This will occur more rapidly in people with sensitive skin, especially those with a history of asthma, eczema or hayfever.
Irritant dermatitis often:
- occurs gradually
- affects apprentices, juniors and casuals who do a lot of work at the basin
Taking good care of your hands and protecting them from the very beginning of your career will prevent this skin condition.
Allergic contact dermatitis: caused by the chemicals in;
- dyes and tints
- perm solutions
- bleach
You can become allergic to these chemicals causing the skin to be very itchy, flake, split, crack and blister.
The skin will flare-up a few hours after the particular chemical has been contacted. It can also take days or weeks to settle down again.
Allergic dermatitis can occur at any time in a hairdresser's career and often happens in combination with irritant dermatitis. It is diagnosed by patch testing in a specialised clinic.
Once this condition has developed - there is no cure. Prevention is the key.
Contact urticaria: caused by an allergy to particular proteins, which are found in disposable latex gloves and bleach.
- produces an immediate reaction, eg welts on the skin, runny nose, sneezing, asthma
- usually settles with an hour of stopping contact
- can ultimately develop into a life threatening condition
Contact urticaria is fairly rare, but is becoming more common with the greater use of cheap, powdered, disposable latex gloves. Therefore it is best to avoid this type of glove altogether rather than risk developing this condition, especially when there are excellent alternative gloves available.
Clients may also experience either allergic contact dermatitis (usually to hair dye) or contact urticaria to latex. Always check with them if they have any allergies.
Protect your hands - wear gloves when:
- mixing and preparing products
- colouring
- perming
- bleaching
- shampooing
- rinsing out chemicals
- cleaning the salon
Disposable gloves
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must be thrown away (disposed of) after each use
- must not be washed and re-used
- Use vinyl, which come in boxes of 100, several brands are available eg:
- black disposable vinyl gloves such as Halo™
- polyethylene eg Poly D® by Ansell
Re-usable gloves
- always keep the contaminated surface on the outside
- wash gently with soft soap between uses
- if you turn them inside-out to wash them, remember to turn them back again before you put them back on
- choose nitrile gloves (a synthetic form of rubber) eg Touch-N-Tuff® by Ansell, Cool Blue™ by Cricket
- or the following gloves, designed specifically for hairdressers. Although containing latex, they are less allergenic than disposable, powdered latex gloves. Provided you do not have latex allergy they are recommended eg Black Satin™ by ETI, Matador by Semperit, Pro-Tech™ by Marigold, Blue Velvet™, Pro-Gloves™
All of the above gloves are available from good hairdressing suppliers
Basin style gloves
- try the re-usable gloves suggested above
- or strong vinyl gloves eg Astra® Chux Multi-Purpose by Clorox™, Hygiene Plus™ by Hercules™
They are available from the supermarket
Cotton under gloves
- try these if you tend to sweat a lot when wearing gloves
- they are cheap and come in packets of 4
They are available at the supermarket
Moisturise your skin
- feed your skin with the moisture it loses during a working day
- always apply at the end of the day and before bed
- also apply at the beginning of the day and when you have a break
- rub well into the hands and wrists
- make sure you include the web spaces between your fingers - often the first place for dermatitis to start
- use a rich sorbolene cream, not a runny lotion, with 10% glycerin, which contains no perfumes
These moisturisers are very reasonably priced and sold at chemists.
Important tips
a salon is not a large bathroom - it is a hair laboratory
- take your rings off at work - chemicals, detergents and water get trapped under rings and cause dermatitis to develop. This may lead to nickel allergy - a common condition in hairdressers
- rinse chemicals off your hands immediately and dry with a towel
- keep work surfaces clean and free of contamination
- when on holidays, do not get a 'temporary tattoo'. Although they claim to be henna, they are often PPD (hair dye) and may lead you to become allergic
- your clients are only exposed to these chemicals once every 6 - 12 weeks. You are exposed to them many times a day, 5-6 days a week.
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