LAUSR

To the Editor: Based on best estimates, tens of millions of Americans are regular hair-dye users. Consumer hair dyes in Spain, Sweden, and the United States have been investigated for prevalence of allergenic hair dye–specific chemicals and have been shown to frequently contain paraphenylenediamine (PPD) and amino phenols. However, hair-dye kits for consumer use typically contain multiple cosmetic products including dyes, shampoos, conditioners, toners, lighteners, and other miscellaneous items. These kits may constitute an important source of exposure not only for allergenic hair-dye substances but also for other common fragrance and preservative allergens. We here present an assessment of 159 hair-dye kits that included 539 available to American consumers and report the most common sensitizers in each product contained in every kit that are potential sources of exposure to hair dye, fragrance, and preservative allergens. One hundred fifty-nine hair-dye kits containing 539 individual cosmetic products were purchased from major supermarket chains in Phoenix, AZ. Hair-dye kits were selected using the methods from 3 prior published consumer exposure studies. Hair-dye kit selection was designed to maximize the number of represented brands across multiple stores. No products were rerecorded if found at a subsequent store. Products were purchased systematically: within each brand or subbrand, the darkest blonde shade, 1 ‘‘regular’’ light brown shade, 1 ‘‘regular’’ dark brown shade, 1 ‘‘regular’’ black shade, and 2 additional colors were purchased, if available. If any of these shades were not available, a similar shade was chosen; if no similar shade was available, it was not replaced by any other shade. In this way, different brands were incorporated, and similar shades in each brand were avoided to maximize unique products and create a representative sample comparable with prior studies. Purchased hair-dye kits included colorants, conditioners, shampoos, toners, and so on. The lists of ingredients for each product in each kit were photographed. The product types, dye colors, and ingredients of each product were entered in a database in Microsoft Excel and cross-referenced with the North American Contact Dermatitis Group standard series allergens, including expansions of the allergen mixes (eg, fragrance mix I). As the term fragrance is nonspecific, it was not included in the cross-referencing. Rare allergens were not assessed. This study analyzed 159 hair-dye kits that contained 539 individual cosmetic products. Every hair-dye kit contained at least 1 allergen (mean, 7; range, 1–23), and 63% of the products contained allergens (n = 340). There was an average of 2 allergens in each product. Common sensitizers included propylene glycol,