The topic of Haircolor and Cancer is still in the headlines. I shared a Medium article in December and the information below is from the recent American Board of Certified Haircolorists newsletter I just received.

I hope this help with any questions or concerns you might have.

IS HAIRCOLOR CAUSING CANCER?

Over the last month we have had several colorists reach out regarding some news reports claiming haircolor was causing cancer. Our good friend Gary Call at KIN had some helpful insight and talking points to share for the stylist and the client.

Have you seen the headlines? "Hair Dyes And Straighteners Linked To Higher Cancer Risk". Once again our salon services are under attack and there will be LOTS of discussion in your chair over the next little while. It is important to arm yourself with some facts to help temper the discussion. Here are some talking points that are direct quotes from a couple of articles:

"Researchers don't know which ingredients in the products might be of concern. The study did not look at the specific ingredients in the products women were using, only at whether they had used the product and whether they developed breast cancer." - If they don't know what ingredients are causing the problem there is no way for the public or professional to begin to manage the issue.

"All women in the Sister Study were already at high risk for breast cancer since they had a sister who had breast cancer." - The study group was composed of women who were already at risk, and in many cases are already carefully watching their health and concerned about possible genetic connections.

"The study findings should be understood in context, says Dr. Otis Brawley, a medical oncologist with Johns Hopkins University. The actual risk found for use of these hair treatments is quite low, he adds, especially compared with other known carcinogens like tobacco or radiation. "This is a very weak signal that these things might be causing cancer in the population," he says." - Note the important part is always left out of the headline - "This is a very weak signal that these things might be causing cancer!"

"Sometimes science just cannot give us the answers that we want it to give us," - yes we need to be aware, but everything in life is done at some sort of risk. Should we just stay home on the couch and hide? But of course there is risk to that too - inactivity, lack of human contact, lack of sunshine, and snacking as a result of being a couch potato are also risky behaviours!

"I would also point out that the combination of obesity, consuming too many calories and lack of physical activity has a much higher relative risk for breast cancer in both black and white women," said Brawley, a former Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of the American Cancer Society." - there are numereous lifestyle choices that affect our health. Look at the entire picture when making personal decisions.

Michael Jones, Senior Staff Scientist in Epidemiology at The Institute of Cancer Research, said: "It is too early to make a firm recommendation on the basis of one study, and further research is needed. The whole literature needs to be evaluated by expert groups, bringing together the evidence to make recommendations" he told Newsweek. He adds there are limitations to the study.

"The Sisters Study is a good prospective cohort study—but women were recruited to the study because they had a sister with breast cancer, so the conclusions wouldn't necessarily hold true for women in the wider population, hence the need for further confirmation."

In the end, keep an open mind, look beyond the headlines and be informed. This will cause LOTS of salon discussion. The purpose of our professional licensing, and the real desire of everyone I know in the Beauty Industry is to protect and preserve the health and well being of every client. The positive benefits of cosmetic beauty enhancement on the improved life experiences and self image of our clients will always be weighed against any possible health risks and each person should make the decisions the feel are best for them.
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Once again, this is NOT a reason to stop receiving any service in the salon, but it is a reason to do some homework and become aware of the myriad of sources of information bombarding us and our clients daily. Technology and instant awareness can be a gift and a curse!

The limits of growing human hair

Although the possibility of artificially growing hairs in the lab has been established for a number of years, it has been limited to the growth of mouse and rat hairs. Scientists would generate the hair by culturing cells taken from the base of the rodent’s follicles, however, human cells did not behave in the same manner: “Cells from rats and mice grow beautiful hairs,” Dr. Christiano explains, a specialist in regenerative therapies for skin and hair disorders and author on the paper. “But for reasons we don’t totally understand, human cells are resistant.”

In order to counter the resistance of human hair cells, Dr. Christiano has been attempting to replicate the 3D environment normally inhabited by them. The first attempt in developing these conditions involved the creation of ‘cell spheres’ inside hanging drops of liquid. However, when the scientists implanted these spheres of human cells inside the mice, the results were not concrete, as some people’s cells created new hair whereas others didn’t. 

Using 3D printing to prevent hair loss

The new study demonstrates a method that utilized the intricate capabilities of 3D printing to help create a more natural microenvironment for human hair follicle growth, allowing it to be grown in a dish. Specifically, the team of CUMC researchers used 3D printing to create plastic molds with long, thin extensions only half a millimeter wide: “We exploit the unique capability of 3D-printing technology to create structures with high aspect ratios (length to width ratio: ~100 for human HFs13),” as described in the paper. These ratios were previously not possible with other fabrication methods, like soft lithography. 

The team engineered human skin to grow around the mold, after which human hair follicle cells were implanted within the wells, and topped by keratin-producing cells (the main structural constituent of hair). Furthermore, the cells were injected with ingredients to help stimulate hair growth, and after a period of three weeks, human hair follicles appeared, and began to create hair. 
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Further optimization and refinement is required for the method, however, the researchers claim that, by using 3D printing, it could lead to an unlimited source of new hair follicles for patients undergoing robotic hair restoration surgery. “What we’ve shown is that we can basically create a hair farm: a grid of hairs that are patterned correctly and engineered so they can be transplanted back into that same patient’s scalp,” Dr. Christiano explains.

Hair restoration surgery often requires relocating transferring 2,000 hair follicles from the back of the head to the front and top. This is mostly reserved for male patients with stabilized hair loss on the back and sides, with enough hair to donate. Most women have the ‘diffuse’ type of hair loss, which represents an overall thinning in all areas of the head, including the sides and back where hair is required for donation. However, the study provides a route to overcome the limited availability of hair restoration surgery for women: “That expands the availability of hair restoration to all patients–including the 30 million women in the United States who experience hair thinning and young men whose hairlines are still receding. Hair restoration surgery would no longer be limited by the number of donor hairs,” added Dr. Christiano.

Other potential uses for the engineered hair follicle using 3D printing includes the screening for new hair growth drugs, which is hampered by inability to grow human hair follicles in a lab dish. In the pharmaceutical industry, no drugs have been found so far through screening, however the team hopes that its cultured hair farms will enable high throughput drug screens to identify new pathways that influence hair growth.

Continuous research into the capabilities of 3D printing at Columbia University
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With this new study, scientists from Columbia University have demonstrated a continuous drive towards pushing the capabilities of 3D printing through a variety of research and experiments. Most recently in April 2019, Columbia University scientists developed a new method to 3D print cooked food, with the intention of overcoming the limitations of current 3D food printers (3DFPs). 

Furthermore, researchers from the university have also shown a method to replicate the external and internal structure of wood using a 3D printer. With the help of imaging, color and voxel mapping techniques, Columbia University engineers were able to mimic the unique texture of olive wood. Finally, in 2017, a team from the university also developed a liquid-based mechanical system made from a 3D printed hydrogel that can be implanted in the body and controlled to release medication at will. 

This news brought to you from 3DPrintingIndustry

I also found this news here at DocWireNews.

One of the well known underlying causes of thinning hair, and receding hairlines is having an iron deficiency. One way to measure iron in the human body is to take the ferritin levels, which can correlate to the amount of iron the body stores.

Ensuring your body maintains appropriate ferritin levels will help prevent the onset of further loss of hair in some cases. Low ferritin levels can preclude more serious health conditions, and should be addressed.

What is A Low Ferritin Condition?

According to the Mayo Clinic, having low ferritin levels is essentially having low iron in your blood.

Ferritin is a blood cell protein that contains iron, and a test that shows low ferritin can help medical professionals understand how much iron your body is storing.
Anemia is a serious medical condition, and having low ferritin levels can be a sign of iron deficient anemia which may also be a precursor to hair loss.

Low ferritin can occur for a variety of reasons including; inadequate intake or nutritional deficiency, malabsorption due to disease or the body’s reduced capacity to absorb iron, excessive loss of iron through various issues including menstruation or gastrointestinal losses, and functional iron deficiency in which iron is stored, but not adequately supplied to the bone marrow.

If you believe your hair loss might be associated to issues of low ferritin it will require a blood test to make that determination and then some medical work up to understand what is actually causing the iron deficiency in the body.

How Does Low Ferritin Impact Your Hair?

Having low ferritin levels, or being iron deficient, has been shown to cause thin, lifeless hair. Iron deficiency can lead to anemia, which puts the body in a state of survival and causes accessory functions such as maintaining and growing hair to cease.

While losing small amounts of hairs on a daily basis is normal, having low ferritin levels can accelerate symptoms of hair loss and thinning hair.

In fact, low ferritin is one of the more common causes of hair thinning seen in women.

Hair is unable to grow in a healthy manner and is likely to fall out before reaching any significant length, which leads to individuals complaining of ability to only grow short hairs in some areas.

As hair is merely falling out prematurely, this issue is reversible once the levels of ferritin are addressed within the individual.

In the 2013 article, Iron Plays a Certain Role in Patterned Hair Loss, the authors discuss their research on the role of low ferritin in hair growth.

As hair is a consistently proliferating organ, it requires sufficient blood supply to grow full, long, and healthy.

The research found that when matched for age and sex, those individuals with low ferritin were more likely to have symptoms of thinning hair.

Participants who took an iron supplement to address low ferritin levels showed improvement in hair density and hair length when compared to the control group.

Another impact of low ferritin on the hair is related to the body’s reduced ability to produce red blood cells, which will reduce the overall red blood cell count in the body.

According to the University of Rochester, red blood cells require iron to form normally and to carry oxygen throughout the body.

At the base of each hair follicle, there is a network of blood vessels that connect to the root of each strand of hair (See Fig. 1 above).

Red blood cells typically carry oxygen to the hair through these systems of blood vessels, which carry oxygen and supports healthy hair growth. Hair is not typically able to sustain normal or healthy growth without adequate supply of oxygenated blood.

Side Effects of Low Ferritin

Having low ferritin levels, or essentially being anemic and low in iron, can lead to a variety of negative symptoms.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute states that the type and severity of symptoms related to low ferritin will vary depending on the level of iron deficiency.
One of the most common signs of low ferritin is fatigue, or feeling tired.

Other symptoms of low ferritin levels are associated with the poor transfer of oxygen throughout the body including dizziness, headaches, or shortness of breath. Further signs include brittle nails and sore or swelling of the mouth and tongue.

One unusual side effect of low ferritin is that it can cause the unnatural craving of non-food items such as dirt or paint, a symptom referred to as pica.

Symptoms of Low Ferritin

• jaundiced, pale or yellow skin
• extreme tiredness
• dizziness
• heavy menstrual cycles
• digestive tract bleeding
• blood in the stool
• shortness of breath
• chest pain
• brittle nails
• hair loss
• pounding or “whooshing” sound in the ears
• restless leg syndrome
• craving non-food items

Ways to Increase Low Ferritin Intake

The only way to determine whether or not you have low ferritin levels is to consult a physician, who will have to perform a blood test in order to ascertain ferritin levels.

If it is determined that you do have low ferritin, this issue can be relatively easy to address.

While low ferritin levels can be addressed through diet, individuals who are known to have deficiencies would likely benefit from some measure of supplementation.

There are many ways to increase the ferritin levels in your body, including eating foods with high levels of iron and taking prepared supplements that are available on the market or in the form of a prescribed medication.

Numerous common food items have varying levels of iron, many of which can be incorporated into a healthy diet.

While there are supplements and medications to help increase ferritin levels in the body, this should be done so in consultation with a medical professional.

Eating a healthy diet, high in iron and other essential nutrients, will help support positive overall wellbeing which reduces the symptoms of hair loss and hair thinning associated with anemia, and a poor diet.

What Are Some Ferritin Rich Foods?

• Red Meat: the largest food groups that contain high amounts of iron to help raise ferritin levels in the body is red meat. While most meat contains some iron, the highest concentration of iron levels will be in the organs such as the liver, heart, and kidney. I wouldn’t recommend too much red meat as it is hard for the body to digest. Some people can thrive on red meat and for others it doesn’t suit their body type at all.
• Nuts: most nuts contain iron levels, and are generally a healthy snacking option that can be eaten on the go
• Dried Fruit: containing high quantities of iron, commercially available dried fruits are a healthy snack to address low ferritin
• Iron Fortified Foods: many foods have had iron added during the production, a simple means to address low levels of ferritin in many people. Many breakfast cereals, and enriched flour, have been fortified with iron

Conclusion

Having low ferritin levels can be a sign of more significant health issues, but may also lead to hair loss or hair thinning without progressing to more serious cases of iron deficient anemia.

There is significant evidence to suggest that low ferritin levels may be associated with hair loss, as it can affect blood flow and oxygenation of the hair follicle.

There are numerous ways to ensure your body has enough iron to maintain high levels of ferritin, including making some healthy adjustments to your diet or using a daily supplement.
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Ensuring your body does not have low ferritin levels is important for your overall health and having strong, resilient hair.
 
This information was found at Hairguard
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The research was trialled in pigs and tested on the liver cancer chemotherapy drug doxorubicin. The device, dubbed the “chemofilter” has a honeycomb structure coated with a polymer which reacts with the drug and prevents it being released – similar to the catalytic convertor in a car exhaust.

In the pig trials the device captured 64 per cent of the drug that would otherwise have circulated around the body, damaging the immune system and causing ulcers, nausea and other symptoms. Side-effects of doxorubicin in humans include hair loss, anaemia and increased risk of infection, as the circulating drugs kill off sensitive hair follicles and blood cells, according to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Dr Steven Hetts, another of the authors, said if it’s shown to work in humans the device could be rapidly approved for patients because it’s a removable implant.

​“We are developing this around liver cancer because it is a big public health threat – there are tens of thousands of new cases every year,” he added.

“But if you think about it, you could use this sort of approach for any tumour or any disease that is confined to an organ, and you want to absorb the drug on the venous side before it can distribute and cause side effects elsewhere in the body.”

This news story is from Independent