Personal use of hair dyes and temporary black tattoos in Copenhagen hairdressers.

BACKGROUND Hairdressers are occupationally and personally exposed to hair dye substances and adverse reactions from the skin are well known. Currently, little is known about personal exposure to hair dye ingredients and temporary black tattoos. OBJECTIVES To investigate hairdressers' professional and personal risk exposures and to compare the frequency of temporary tattoos among hairdressers and subjects from the general population. METHODS A questionnaire was sent to 1679 Copenhagen hairdressers and 1063 (63.3%) responded; 3471 subjects from the general population in Copenhagen were asked about temporary black tattoos. RESULTS Of the female hairdressers, 38.3% had coloured hair within the previous week. Adverse skin reactions to own hair dye were reported in 29.5%. In the hairdresser population, no significant association was observed between self-reported adverse skin reactions to hair dye and having had a temporary black tattoo when adjusted for sex, age, and atopy. A total of 19.0% of hairdressers (43.5% of apprentices) and 6.3% of participants from the general population had ever had a temporary black tattoo performed at one point. There were no differences in frequency of eczema after temporary tattooing between hairdressers and subjects in the general population. Almost all hairdressers (99.2%) used gloves for hair colouring, 51% for high/low lighting, 39.6% for perming and 21.1% used gloves for shampooing. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, skin reactions to hair colour are frequent among Copenhagen hairdressers. Temporary black tattoos were more frequent among hairdressers than in a sample of the general population and increased with decreasing age.