Anna CraigAnna Craig from Trashy Roots Salon in Round Rock, Texas, avoids the danger altogether. Craig used the Brazilian Blowout products until it created thick smog that lingered in her salon. When Craig and her employees tried to take a picture of the smog, a thin film veiled the lens. The smog was unbearable, and so were the side effects.
“Our stylists started talking about the smog, and how it was affecting us. One of the stylists got sick. It was bothering her eyes, and she wasn’t feeling well.”
Before banning the Brazilian Blowout in her salon, Craig and her stylists attended a class aimed at teaching stylists how to properly use the product. The instructors urged the use of ventilators and air purifiers, but Craig protested. “We don’t want clients seeing that we need air purifiers to provide a service.” After doing some research, Craig decided against using the product at all. Trashy Roots Salon strives to be environmentally friendly by providing all natural, organic products. “We decided that it is totally against everything that we stand for.”
Anna Craig isn’t the only one standing up to the Brazilian blowout and other Brazilian keratin treatments with formaldehyde. Most European countries have banned the sale of Brazilian Blowout products, and Australia has banned the use of the Keratin Complex Treatment by Coppola. Even closer to home, Health Canada has banned the Brazilian blowout and is stopping product distribution to Canadian salons. Efforts to ban the Brazilian blowout treatment in the U.S. are limited to movements within individual states. In November of 2010, the Attorney General of California filed a lawsuit against Brazilian Blowout, claiming that the company failed to warn consumers of the presence of formaldehyde in their product. Not only did they fail to warn consumers, but the president of Brazilian Blowout repeatedly told the press that their product is formaldehyde-free.
Read More: Is the Brazilian Blowout Over?
