My mom used to tell me “beauty is pain” when she’d unsnarl sticks from my hair or held the crimper a little too close to my scalp. She was right, of course, beauty is pain and sometimes sickness or worse.
In an article timed to coincide with “National Brazilian Blowout Day,” the nonprofit Environmental Working Group charged that the Brazilian Blowout, and other “keratin smoothing formulations,” still contain a dangerous amount of formaldehyde. Well, shit.
The first time I saw formaldehyde, it was the murky amber liquid surrounding a frog in a jar. The image of the frog, distorted by the liquid and the curved glass, seemed an exaggeration of its former self. The next time I saw formaldehyde it was pooling in the veins of my father-in-law as he lay in his coffin. Like…
Many nail polish brands claim that their offerings are free of certain toxic chemicals. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control put those claims to the test in a lab — and the findings are, well, concerning.
On June 10, the US government issued a report on carcinogens, and formaldehyde was officially added to the list. For the most part, formaldehyde is used as embalming fluid used in the funeral industry, and CNN reports, "it is also a large component of the 'new car smell' — composed of fumes emanating from carpets,…
After Allure magazine ran that story in its October issue on the new hair-straightening technique out of Brazil that uses crazy, dangerous amounts of formaldehyde, there was a spike in women wanting the service. Says Allure editor-in-chief Linda Wells: "It's so illogical that people would willfully pursue something…
