Hair Dye and it's risk

Risk of bladder cancer

Up to now, some research has indicated that using hair dye may lead to increased risk of bladder cancer, while other research has suggested it doesn’t. Some of the research has considered different types of dyes and others haven't. Some studies have probably been too small to show up any small increase in risk. In the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) May 2005, there was a large meta analysis published that looked into all the research on hair dyes causing cancer. A meta analysis is research that pulls together all previous study results. This has found that there is unlikely to be any link between hair dye use and bladder cancer.

Risk of multiple myeloma, leukaemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma

There is no definite evidence of a link between the use of any type of hair dye and non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), leukaemia or myeloma. Some studies have shown a slight possible increase in risk and other studies have found no link. The meta analysis of all these studies, published in the JAMA in May 2005, found that there may be a small link between hair dye use and myeloma, lymphoma or some types of lymphoblastic leukaemia. But the results of this paper show that if there is any increase in risk, it must be extremely small.

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2004, focusing only on non Hodgkin's lymphoma, suggests that long term use of dark hair dye may slightly increase your risk of developing non Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But the researchers say these findings don’t prove that colouring your hair causes cancer. The study points out that there could be an increase in risk for people who used hair dyes before 1980. A lot of hair dyes made before 1980 contained chemicals that were known to cause cancer in mice. Since 1980, hair dyes have changed dramatically and many no longer contain these cancer causing chemicals (carcinogens).

There is information about the risks and causes of myeloma and risks and causes of non Hodgkin's lymphoma on CancerHelp UK.

There is information on reducing your risk of cancer in the worried about cancer section of CancerHelp UK. It is far more likely that concentrating on your diet, smoking, drinking and exercise habits will reduce your risk of cancer more effectively than changing your use of cosmetics.