Before you dive into reading this post, make sure to check out the last two posts in this series, The Ultimate Cancer Fighting Bathroom: Shower Products and Facial/ Skin Products. Here you’ll find a great overview of what skin, beauty or hygiene products I used while treating my cancer naturally and continue to use today. In this post I will talk about some of the best nontoxic and less toxic options for hair color and nail polish for cancer patients.

I couldn’t pinpoint where to fit today’s products in, because they’re not really “bathroom” products, but they are commonly used and can be REALLY toxic. Here are some of my solutions to taking a healthier route to nail and hair color.

Nail Polish/ Acrylic and Gel Nails

Would you be super surprised here if I told you that nail polish, nail polish remover, along with gel nails and acrylic nails were extremely toxic? Probably not. Even if you just simply skim through the U.S Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA’s) warnings for nail salon workers, you would see a list of the serious health issues these products can cause:

• Acetone (nail polish remover): headaches; dizziness; and irritated eyes, skin, and throat.

• Acetonitrile (fingernail glue remover): irritated nose and throat; breathing problems; nausea; vomiting; weakness; and exhaustion.

• Butyl acetate (nail polish, nail polish remover): headaches and irritated eyes, skin, nose, mouth, and throat

• Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), (nail polish): nausea and irritated eyes, skin, nose, mouth, and throat. Long-term exposures to high concentrations may cause other serious effects.

• Ethyl acetate (nail polish, nail polish remover, fingernail glue): irritated eyes, stomach, skin, nose, mouth, and throat; high levels can cause fainting.

• Ethyl methacrylate (EMA), (artificial nail liquid): asthma; irritated eyes, skin, nose, and mouth; difficulty concentrating. Exposures while pregnant may affect your child.

• Formaldehyde (nail polish, nail hardener): difficulty breathing, including coughing, asthma-like attacks, and wheezing; allergic reactions; irritated eyes, skin, and throat. Formaldehyde can cause cancer.

• Isopropyl acetate (nail polish, nail polish remover): sleepiness, and irritated eyes, nose, and throat.

• Methacrylic acid (nail primer): skin burns and irritated eyes, skin, nose, mouth, and throat. At higher concentrations, this chemical can cause difficulty breathing.

• Methyl methacrylate (MMA), (artificial nail products, though banned for use in many states): asthma; irritated eyes, skin, nose, and mouth; difficulty concentrating; loss of smell.

• Quaternary ammonium compounds (disinfectants): irritated skin and nose and may cause asthma.

• Toluene (nail polish, fingernail glue): dry or cracked skin; headaches, dizziness, and numbness; irritated eyes, nose, throat, and lungs; damage to liver and kidneys; and harm to unborn children during pregnancy.

When I was treating my cancer naturally back in 2008-2009, I didn’t step foot in a nail salon. Now you can see why. Even today when I very rarely get my nails done, my body is so shocked by the toxic overload that I usually leave with a headache and post-nasal drip from overly active mucous response to flush the chemicals out of my system.

If you have cancer, skip the nail salon and try to skip nail polish altogether. Especially skip acrylic and gel nails. There is a reason that once you choose to remove them, your nail beds are stripped of their vitality and are paper thin and flaking off (see ingredients above not to mention you deprive your nails of oxygen.)

Nowadays if I paint my nails (usually my toes only,) I use a mineral based polish which is free of formaldehyde, toluene and camphor (see above.) A salon-quality polish I also like that has a low toxicity is Zoya and there are many other lower toxicity brands at Whole Foods or other natural foods stores that you can check out (and they usually have a decent return policy if you don’t like them.) When you’re ready to remove the polish this acetone-free nail polish remover works great.

Pacifica brand nail polish is also high-quality and less toxic and Ella+ Mila is a brand I have used for my kids.

I also like Color Street nails because they work really well, apply DRY (hello moms with young kids and no time for drying), and are free from Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate, Xylene, Camphor, Ethyl Tosylamide, Parabens, and Formaldehyde resin!

They also stay on an don’t chip for over a week. You can purchase them HERE.

Hair Color/ Dyes

This was by far the hardest thing for me to give up while I was treating my cancer with natural therapies. What kept me motivated was reading studies linking lymphoma with excessive chemical exposure (and a really cute haircut too.) I knew that there was no way getting around going blond without exposure to ammonia to bleach the hair, so coloring was a no-go for me for almost a year.

Shortly after being declared in remission, I decided on the middle ground of partial highlights to give my hair the blond, sun kissed look without exposing my scalp to chemicals. Note that even highlights have some risk involved. You are still inhaling the off-gassing of the hair color chemicals, but a well ventilated room or a fan nearby can reduce this. Tell your colorist your circumstances and ask to place a fan near you as he/she works on your hair. You can also cover your face with a rag or mask.

Here are some great, SAFER options for hair color:

Organic Hair Salons: With the popularizing of natural beauty products, there are now more accessible organic hair color salons. Typically organic hair color is going to be more expensive than a standard coloring, but your health of course is so worth 30 more bucks. These salons are typically using hair color that bleaches the hair with a hydrogen-peroxide base instead of an ammonia or bleach base which is much MUCH better for the hair and your internal environment. I found an organic hair salon in my area by a quick google search: “organic hair color + (my city) Atlanta”. Aviary Salon is very popular in Atlanta and provides organic hair color services and a rockin’ haircut too.

Aveda Products: I think Aveda products are a nice middle ground for people wanting to do better for their bodies and who don’t have an organic salon in their area. Aveda salons are also located EVERYWHERE so they are easy to access and are moderately affordable. I also like that their products are free of parabens, phthalates, and sodium lauryl sulfate. What would be a best bet would be using an Aveda hair color (which still uses ammonia but is a better quality product), but use Balayage techniques (see below) to reduce exposure to the skin and how often you need to get your hair colored.

Balayage Highlights: My favorite and most time and cost efficient way to get my hair colored is by getting Balayage highlights. You can see this French technique in the picture above. It uses the same chemicals as standard salon hair color, but it is applied away from the scalp with a paintbrush. Your hair grows out more naturally without leaving a “line” where new hair grows out. It is more expensive than other highlighting techniques such as foiling because they last longer and and take longer to apply in some cases. Here’s my favorite Atlanta salon, Siggers Hairdressers that specializes in Balayage (and even teaches it there) where I go to get my hair colored every 4-6 months (reducing my exposure to these chemicals.) A google search in your area for “balayage + your city” should give you some options.

More Natural Home Coloring: If you are dying your hair a darker color, you have much more non-toxic options in natural hair dyes. The Detoxinista did a great post on Henna hair dyes HERE. There are also tons of boxed varieties at Whole Foods or online. Just make sure to check the ingredients first. The EWG’s Skin Deep website has a listing of hair dyes from most natural to horrible…and most of them were REALLY horrible. Check those out HERE and search for your at-home hair dye.

What is your natural hair color or nail routine? Chime in on the comments if you have any great ideas to add!

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