Last Friday was "crazy hair day" at my kids' school and there were some doozies. My son's hair is too short to do much of anything with it but color it with some temporary color, but I've been reading far too much about toxic chemicals in salon quality hair coloring, that I figured the temporary spray had to be far worse. As it turns out, Henry didn't really want to participate in it anyway so it ended up not being a big problem. Emma wanted me to put a whole bunch of pony tails in her hair, so that's what she ended up - an eight-legged hair lady. No color needed.
At school, there were a ton of kids with temporary hair color, mostly blue and green and the like. On one hand, the kids were having a great time sporting their crazy colors. But, instead of enjoying it, I couldn't help worrying about what chemicals were being absorbed into their skin and, worse yet, how much they ended up breathing in when it was sprayed on their heads?
All I could think of were the PEGs, parabens, EDTA, artificial dyes and who knows what else. Sigh. What's the crazy here? Am I turning into a crazy person? I guess this happens once you start paying attention to all the nasty chemicals we expose ourselves to every day, but still. I guess there's no going back now.
What do you think? Do you think this stuff is safe enough for occasional use? Or do you skip it because of the chemicals?
27 Crunchy Thoughts:
I stopped dyeing my hair a few years ago. I miss it but I only did it to get lighter blonde hair so I'm trying natural things like lemon juice now, takes a long time but won't give me cancer!
In case they want color next time, you can color hair with markers. I did this as a semi-goth teen haha. It's at least less toxic and washes out easily. You will want to do just part of the hair as it takes a long time.
My son will not take part in such a stunt when he gets to that age, despite his wishes. :)
i haven't died my hair in a year, mainly for the environmental reasons. but for temporary colour for the kids how bout food colouring (i guess would only work on lighthaired kids). I mean if it's safe to eat surely it can't be all bad.
also for subtle colour there's henna.
You are not crazy to want to keep you kids from being exposed to unnecessary chemicals. Eliminating exposure to second hand smoke is a given now. No one would say "Aww, quit being a stick in the mudd!" if you were refusing to expose your kids to cigarette smoke. It's hard to tow the unpopular line sometimes but there have to be lots of other parents who had a fleeting thought that hair dye might be not so healthy for their kids but dismissed it because 'everbody else is doing it'. Be bold and other people who were on the fence will rally with you. :)
I'm totally there with you! Sporting green, blue, pink or purple hair became popular for my daughter's classmates during 6th grade. Although I would never agree to let her dye her hair with commericial, synthetic chemical dyes, I did suggest a family henna party! Did a little research, bought the highest quality henna I could find (check out http://www.hennaforhair.com ), and dd, my husband, and myself were all soon mud heads! The henna powder (from a plant) is totally natural, and conditioned our hair, too! Loved it.
Why not get a rainbow wig? True, it is probably made out of petro chemicals but at least you aren't gonna apply toxic chemicals to your scalp, Or check out the drag queens... they have some fantastic wigs, just like our forefathers.
Good for Henry for not wanting to be a leming!
I think it is funny how many things I still don't think through. I'd started spending more money on all-natural shampoos, organic foods, etc. We were avoiding red dyes everywhere, but I didn't think twice about temporary tatoos -- until my son had a horrible rash all over his body. Still not positive it was related, but wouldn't try it again. Wouldn't even have tried it the first time if I'd thought about what I was doing.
For crazy hair, I've seen a lot of the girls who do pipecleaners in their hair. You get the bright colors and you can braid them in and get the hair to stick out at weird angles. A local teacher does this for fairs and carnivals, and it seems popular with the kids.
I used to enjoy putting temporary color in my hair. I had two kinds, the kind that came out of a spray bottle and the kind that came out of a tube and you painted on. Both came out fairly easily.
I had fun with it, but I knew the chemicals meant I probably shouldn't buy any more, so I was using up a tube of a certain color I had. You know what Nair does to leg hair, makes it all crinkly? Well, this is what the hair color did to my hair! No more hair color for me.
My initial reaction was to skip it because of the chemicals and then I remembered I highlight my hair. Still these are young children absorbing chemicals, I would have to skip it.
Just don't turn into Howard Hughes about the whole thing...
I haven't done any color with my daughter and my son is too young but I would jello mixed with egg white if he wanted. I don't think I would use spray on color ... I don't even use hairspray. Besides the chemical ingredients the propellants are bad for lungs.
(Grumpy teacher says) What does this have to do with education? But seriously, in high school it seems like every day is crazy hair day!
I think my husband would DIE if my son wanted blue hair. So I'm guessing it won't be an "environmental" issue in our house.
At some point, you just have to let it go and realize that their parents are making decisions for them. You can really only make decisions for your own kids, unless you take it to the political level and lobby for regulation.
Hair can be temporarily tinted with Kool-ade, which may be more acceptable to some parents. http://www.wikihow.com/Dye-Hair-With-Kool-Aid
As both a public school teacher and as a parenting-aunt, I am not particularly fond of these events, however, I am well aware of the need for kids to have some fun and bonding time at school. These days are usually intended to build community and spirit. I hope that the parents who are inclined say "my kid will never participate in such stunts" will be willing to allow their children to have those shared community experiences, however juvenile they might seem (and believe me, they ARE juvenile and annoying at the elementary level).
There are safer alternatives - henna, as mentioned, and perhaps Kool-ade - that can allow kids to participate without compromises beliefs about chemical exposure.
Well, apparently i`m not as crunchy as you all... my opinion is more that because wash-out hair products are 1. designed to SIT ON TOP of the skin or hair and 2. designed to dry quickly, i would have no qualms about using them for special occasions. however, i would be attempting to limit how much of it i sprayed directly onto the scalp and bare skin (using a dab of conditioner or oil based body product ((cold creme etc)) on the skin will allow it to wipe right off without sinking in at all)
My kids school does this, on Blue and White day. Kids bring the stuff to school. My girls know to stay away from it. We use plenty of ribbon to dress the hair in white (they are both on white team). I suppose I could powder them with corn starch (but I don't really want them breathing in powder all day either). I get its a different issue with boys, unless they have long hair how crazy can they get? Well how about a yarn wig, or other halloween wig for crazy hair?
Good Luck!
What I think is that you should speak to the school principal about your concerns. Since "crazy hair day" is just for fun, they can easily eliminate it, and if several parents complain, they will eliminate it.
It's a good thing I don't have a kid because I couldn't forbid this without my kid whipping out some old photos of me with Purple Manic Panic hair and calling my bluff. Although now since I often have to work in Corporate America, I have a purple wig for those wacky hair days or when I hang out with drag queens :)
I never was fond of the spray on color because it STINKS and leaves my hair crunchy like wearing too much hair spray but I have had to use it for shows, mostly spray on gray as part of age makeup.
If your kids want to make their hair crazy colors a safer way is to use Kool Aid as hair dye.
skip it. im trying to figure out how to get out of bringing 12 plastic eggs to school. they already thing i'm wierd because I didn't want to participate in Valentines Day card exchange...
I dye my hair. I shouldn't. But I do. After my son was born my naturally red hair went mouse butt grey/brown and I wasn't ready. So off to the dye I go. I use a semi permanent dye that mostly sits on top of the hair. It's not ideal, but it is the only thing that I am vain about and that's ok. I would let me kids use temp paint on dye if they wanted, but I am paranoid about inhaled particles etc...so no spray on stuff.
I think days like Crazy Hair Day are fun for kids. Does it have a lot to do with academics? No. But if it's fun for them and can be done without causing harm or great upset then why not. They are kids after all. Same with Valentines and Egg Hunts. Pretty harmless in the long run and fun in the short term. ( of course we use our stock of plastic eggs, over and over and over and our Valentines are homemade and usually recycled from other crafty things.) We aren't perfect, but we try.
You are all making me re-think my kid ID program ...
Over summers I often travel to attend outdoor events for the non-profit I run. My kids, aged 6 and 4, come with me. I'm generally alone with the kids all day at the outdoor events, and I'm stuck to my booth while they wander within sight. And to make 'within sight' work better, I've been using a 'demi' permanent color on their blond hair so that they stand out in a crowd. They've been green and pink and aqua, and loved it. And it's worked.
But now I'm thinking I might not like this idea quite as much as I used to. Sigh.
I'm a few days late, here, BUT... A few years back I picked up a hair color pencil. It's really fat and the center is a lot like chalk. You dip it in water and then draw the color on. It just sits on top of the hair, the same as those sprays, but there's no inhalation aspect to it. Given that and as you said, the fact that it would be a very occasional use type of thing, I could see allowing it.
Ok, I'm really late...but I'm bored at work and killing time reading old posts.
I make my own soap/cleaning stuff/beauty stuff and the only make up I use is mineral powder and yucky-stuff-free mascara. I recycle and compost and conserve like crazy. But my hair has been every color of the rainbow, I have tattoos, and I still paint my toes with regular old nail polish. And I signed the slip to let my 4 year old participate in crazy hair week.
They are raising money for cancer research (yes, I did note the irony) and for $3, they are spraying the kids' hair at school. She may not want to, but I think I know my little one and I think she will be coming home with pink or purple hair.
She's a crunchy little thing, and she's aware of chemicals and carbon footprints. We talk about that kind of stuff when we're shopping or consuming. I just think the appeal of pink hair will be too much for her.
And you know what? I honestly do not think this one time will give her cancer. If she wants to do, go for it...if not, awesome.
I'm trying to ween myself off of the hair dye. It's not so easy in the business world and you're light brown but dyed it black - the roots are just so obvious. I really like my black hair too. But I know it's super horrible for me. So as it grows out I'm trying to step the color down so it eventually blends and I can stop using it.
A great nontoxic one is Cool-Aid - found it online and instead of sleeping with her head in plastic wrap going to try it early in the am and just let her hang out in the house with it on. Just 3 pkgs of cool-aid a little bit of water and conditioner : )
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