Brazilian Controversy Du Jour 10.11.10

After getting my Brazilian blowout done last Wednesday news of its controversy has just surfaced. This was the second time I have gotten it done and I LOVED it. the first time I couldn't even believe there was a product on the market that could make my crazy wild frizz prone hair so smooth, soft and lustrous. The second time I got just as amazing results. Frizz free soft and shiny hair, what more could I ask for? Well.... I guess a safe product?

Anyway, billed as formaldehyde free formula is is the safest of the keratin treatments on the market...or is it?



From WWD: The professional hair-smoothing treatment called Brazilian Blowout — one of the biggest innovations in the salon industry in the last decade — is enmeshed in a controversy that calls into question the safety of ingredients used in its popular salon service. Accusations that the formula contains formaldehyde — classified as a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — has sparked a backlash from several high-profile salons and consumers clamoring for independent lab testing of the product’s formula.

The dustup began after the Oregon Health & Science University’s Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology last week released lab results that indicated the Brazilian Blowout formula ... contained between 4.85 percent and 10.6 percent formaldehyde.

The company, Brazilian Blowout LLC of Hollywood, markets the straightening treatment as formaldehyde free on its Web site and promotional materials. Its manufacturer, Cadiveu Brasil, also touts the formulas as formaldehyde free.

The 90-minute hair straightening process involves clarifying the hair with shampoo, applying the formula strand by strand, followed by blow-drying and flat-ironing the hair.

Brazilian Blowout chief executive officer Mike Brady and co-president and salon owner Devin Semler told WWD in an exclusive interview Thursday that its own recent tests conducted by Acc U Bio-Chem Labs of Glendale, Calif., showed formaldehyde levels ranging from 0.00049 percent to 0.49 percent. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR), an industry organization charged with assessing the safety of ingredients used in cosmetics, has declared that in order for a beauty product to be considered safe it should contain 0.2 percent of free formaldehyde or below. Prior to this test, the firm was going by results performed by Cadiveu Brasil, which is based in the South American country, which showed even lower levels of formaldehyde, 0.0002 percent.

Brady said that if the formaldehyde levels found in Oregon are true, then the finger should be pointed to its manufacturer, Cadiveu Brasil.

Patty Schmucker, a consultant for Cadiveu USA, a U.S. counterpart of the Brazilian firm which was formed three months ago, said the results found in Orgeon are a result of Brazilian Blowout tampering with formulas.

Brady denied this accusation.

“I am very concerned because I want to do everything right,” Brady said, adding that what may be his only choice going forward is to sever ties with Cadiveu and establish his own, U.S.-based, FDA-regulated manufacturing plant that would batch test every shipment.

In a move that casts a doubt on the formula’s “formaldehyde free” claim, Frédéric Fekkai salons removed Brazilian Blowout from its service menu in September, just several months after offering it at each location. Its parent company, Procter & Gamble Co., had tested the formula and found levels of formaldehyde.

“We wanted to make sure this product was living up to its claims,” said P&G spokesman Brent Miller on why the company tested the formula. “The product billed itself as formaldehyde free. Our testing showed that it contained high levels of formaldehyde and, as a result, we no longer offer the treatment,” he said, adding there was a substantive difference between the level deemed safe by CIR and the level of formaldehyde found in the Brazilian Blowout. “We feel very confident in our science,” said Miller. "

What do you all think about this?
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