Pain is not always beauty

I remember when my housemate returned from her Summer holiday completely terrified of going bald. A few weeks previously she had had her long straight jet black hair chemically curled.

However, it turned out not quite how she had expected so immediately returned to the hairdresser to have it chemically straightened. Her distress rose exponentially when the hairdresser apologised that they had accidentally used too strong a concentration of the chemical.

Her hair began to melt and frizz with a large clump falling out on the top of her scalp and drying out the skin. One and a half years later the patch still has not grown back to its full potential.

But this isn't a one off scenario.

In the Observer newspaper today, there is a health warning about poorly trained beauticians. Health officials have revealed women suffering from paralysis of the face, burnt scalps and lost fingernails. 

It poses the biggest risk when managers encourage cost-cutting techniques amongst poorly trained staff, which can lead to infection. Examples include waxing and body piercings not being carried out properly. 

Hairdressing staff also suffer from dermatitis because of the shampoos and hair chemicals they handle on a day to day basis. 

Chemical warning

Concerns were raised after a drugs watchdog about a tanning agent that you inject called Melanotan. It is illegal to sell as it has not undergone safety checks and has been linked to increased blood pressure. 

Despite this it has been sold in tanning salons, body-building gyms and over the internet. 

This has led to the inspection of other chemicals used for the love of beauty. In nail bars methyl methacrate is a chemical sometimes used to bind false nails to a real nail. Worryingly it has been associated to lung, kidney and liver problems, asthma and allergic reactions. 

It is the cheaper option to chose, but there have been incidents where women have also pulled off their real nail after getting their false nail caught in clothing as it was glued on so strongly.

My housemate has refused to have her hair dyed, straightened or curled since the incident at the hairdressers. 

But perhaps we should be staying clear of a lot more. Experiments show that your hair even washes itself after  3 weeks of non shampooing. It would certainly be a great deal cheaper to be more "o'natural" during these difficult "credit crunch" times.