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When hair vanity gets the better of us, we often tackle it with a natural, apparently ethical dye. But fresh research from Which? suggests well-meaning ethical shoppers should think twice before covering up those roots and grey hairs with natural dyes.
According to the magazine's tests, so-called 'natural' hair dyes Herbatint, Naturtint and Hennaplus all contain man-made chemicals. More worryingly, one particularly harmful chemical that can cause extreme allergies, p-phenylenediamine (PPD), was found in both Herbatint and Naturtint.
Encouragingly, though, there were two dyes that didn't contain any chemicals at all: Logona and Colour Me Natural. But that's where the good news ends, we're afraid, as the people who tested the two dyes were so unhappy with the products' performance they vowed not to use them again.
Before trying out the 'natural' dyes, Which? asked the guinea pigs what 'natural' meant to them. They answered, not surprisingly, that the product should be free from man-made chemicals or artificial ingredients, not tested on animals, and "better for me and the environment".
The magazine's report concluded that we shouldn't equate 'natural' with 'chemical-free'.
27 December 2007 01:56pm
I started using herbatint and naturtint when I lived in italy in the late nineties. Recently (2 years ago) I developed an allergy to both dyes wherein my head swelled up and my body was covered with hives. I am unsure as to whether any ingredients were changec, but I am left with only messy henna powder as an alternative
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