Product Alert: Formaldehyde in hair treatment
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Alameda
Superior Court, charges that the maker of the Brazilian Blowout brand salon treatment has failed to disclose to salon stylists and consumers that its Acai Professional Smoothing Solution contains formaldehyde, a chemical known for its use in embalming corpses.
This marks the first time the state has enforced the Safe Cosmetics Act, a 2005 law that requires
warning labels and ingredient disclosure for products that include chemicals known to cause cancer, including formaldehyde. The popular product for rendering curly or frizzy hair smooth and shiny for weeks is used in dozens of Sacramento-area salons. A treatment can cost hundreds of dollars.
While the Brazilian Blowout website touts the product as free of formaldehyde and other "harsh chemicals," testing in Oregon and
Canada found the chemical in samples of the product. One series of tests showed an average formaldehyde content of 8.8 percent in the solution.
The results, which also found low-level air exposure during the product's application, led the Oregon division of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue a hazard warning to that state's salons. Several class-action suits have been filed in
California.
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