Do Hair Dyes Cause Cancer?
Is the higher rate of bladder cancer among hairdressers due to exposure to hair dyes? And what about at-home use of hair colorants?
Why does our hair turn gray in the first place? What can we do about it? I discuss everything in the Preserving Your Hair chapter in my new book How Not to Age ( ). (All proceeds I receive from book sales go directly to charity.)
New subscribers to our e-newsletter always receive a free gift. Get yours here: .
Have a question about this video? Leave it in the comment section at and someone on the NutritionFacts.org team will try to answer it.
Want to get a list of links to all the scientific sources used in this video? Click on Sources Cited at . You’ll also find a transcript and acknowledgements for the video, my blog and speaking tour schedule, and an easy way to search (by translated language even) through our videos spanning more than 2,000 health topics.
Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM
Captions for this video are available in several languages; you can find yours in the video settings. View important information about our translated resources:
• Subscribe:
• Donate:
• Podcast :
• Books:
• Shop:
• Facebook:
• Twitter:
• Instagram:
They may get cancer but look good doing it
Cancer doesn’t look good on anyone.
60% of the adult western population uses hair dye? That’s way higher than I would expect.
I agree that sounds high, but it’s not often I see a woman with gray hair and I see that unnatural golden blond hair everywhere….
Agree
I finally gave up the battle and stopped coloring my hair. I had a severe reaction to an over-the-counter hair dye for which my doctor put me on steroids to suppress the reaction. What a mess. Anyway, my hair sure feels a lot healthier and thicker now. ✌️
What about henna? A great natural alternative for greying or lighter colored hair. Sometimes there are chemical dyes added to henna so be careful but henna also strengthens the hair and prevents split ends
Look up “nutritionfacts henna”. He has a video on it already.
Aren’t henna tattoos well known to be allergenic?
he have a vid about it, its not good cause plenty of fake toxic product
If Dr Greger is asking this question the answer is most likely yes.
Finally stopped coloring because it was too costly and figured out I didn’t need all those chemicals on my head.
Thank you for putting this out to share with my community 🙏
Better to steer clear of chemical based products full of SLS, ammonia, PPD, parabens, lead, artificial fragrances, resorcinol and titanium dioxide.
That’s why I use henna and indigo and made my mom to transition to henndigo too. Hate the process as it’s extremely tedious but love the results. Won’t use hair dye until they come up with something safer
he have a vid about it, its not good cause plenty of fake toxic henna
I do not think it has anything to do with diet. Hollistic derms should comment on this.
This isn’t talking about diet. ?
Yes they do and so do hair straightners…I know from personal experience.
I was never a fan of needless additives/enhancements of any kind like hair dyes, makeup, dyes or perfumes, artificial colors or flavors. I’m a chemist so I’m naturally suspicious. Wade through a stack of Safety Data Sheets and you start wondering if it’s worth the risk. Over the years plenty of products have contained ingredients that have been just fine-until they weren’t. Not everything is a cancer risk, to be sure, but sometimes it takes years before the danger becomes apparent and even longer before a change is made. I’m not eager to be part of that data set.
I’ll be a grey-haired, unscented plain Jane getting my single-ingredient food from the garden and produce/grain/legume aisles.