I kept getting sick. A lot. I kept getting sinus infections and asthma attacks…being exposed to the fumes, the moment that I was in a same room where someone was doing a hair straightening treatment, I would literally feel it in my chest, and I have to leave the room. I mean it was that powerful for me. My lungs would basically shut down, so the moment I was away from that space, I felt a lot better because I didn’t have to breathe all that stuff, so therefore I didn’t have asthma attack, after asthma attack, after asthma attack every time I was at work.
Fabienne Grisel-Todorov, Hair Professional
I kept getting sick. A lot. I kept getting sinus infections and asthma attacks. And obviously, like I said I’m asthmatic, so clearly I already have that against me, but being exposed to the fumes, the moment that I was in a same room where someone was doing a hair straightening treatment, I would literally feel it in my chest, and I have to leave the room. I mean it was that powerful for me. My lungs would basically shut down, so the moment I was away from that space, I felt a lot better because I didn’t have to breathe all that stuff, so therefore I didn’t have asthma attack, after asthma attack, after asthma attack every time I was at work. I mean when you’re dealing with chemicals you always are exposed to some type of something, but the Brazilian Blowout specifically for me was the kiss of death and it was obvious that I was having a reaction to it. And not just me. I mean, I’m asthmatic, so yes my reactions will be bigger, but I had plenty of my colleagues that also had issues with it like headaches or coughing or other breathing problems, or that they in general just didn’t feel very good being around this treatment. I just happened to have a bigger reaction, but regardless it was not good for any of us to breathe all that stuff. And to find out, you know, formaldehyde is the main component in it, so a bunch of us got issues with it. At some point where I worked was a big salon; big enough that they separated the Brazilian Blowout people into one room specifically, and that helped to some degree… you know, as long as you didn’t pass by it or you know didn’t spend too much time in that room. But even that had problems because the air would circulate throughout the salon… you still start breathing it and feeling it in your lungs. Eventually I just decided to leave because I cannot function properly in a salon when I feel like that.
Originally I’m from Switzerland. To be put on the market there, products go through a lot of rules and regulations, and a lot of hoops and hoops. So you know that when it’s on the market, it should be pretty good! So coming from that culture, when I first came to work in the United States I thought it was the same here. I was like, “Wow, that’s on the market?” You know what I mean? Wow! Could it be legal to put something on the market that’s not entirely safe and actually can cause harm? Or you might not even know if it’s safe? Because it does not have to go through all the different, you know, rules, and they didn’t really study the products for safety. To me, that was interesting because I thought it would be similar–you know, I thought if it’s on the market it must be okay!
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