How to Avoid Contact Dermatitis in Hairdressing

As a hairstylist or barber, you spend your days and nights beautifying your clients with sensational colors, cuts, and styles. The job can be rewarding, lucrative, and fun. But it also poses certain health risks.

Did you know that up to 70 percent of hairdressers suffer from skin damage? Hairdresser allergies, like contact dermatitis, are both pervasive and painful. Some hair professionals’ skin sensitivities begin when they’re still studying at cosmetology school and continue throughout their careers. So as you boost your clients’ confidence, you may be having very real problems feeling comfortable or confident in your own skin.

But just because hairdressing dermatitis is common doesn’t mean it’s something you have to suffer. By learning the causes of allergic contact dermatitis in hairdressing, you also learn how to prevent contact dermatitis in hairdressing. Find common questions and solutions below.

What is contact dermatitis in hairdressing?

Contact dermatitis is a rash you get when and where you touch something you’re sensitive or allergic to. The rash can look different for different people, says Mayo Clinic, but common symptoms include:

• Redness and itching
• Leathery or dark patches
• Dry, cracked, or scaly skin
• Bumps or blisters
• Swelling
• Burning sensation
• Tenderness

While such hairdresser allergies aren’t contagious, they can be cumbersome and uncomfortable. You may also be embarrassed by how the rash looks on your hands and arms and may worry clients will see it and not want to work with you.

That’s what contact dermatitis looks and feels like. But what causes it? Common triggers for contact dermatitis in hairdressing include:

• Hair bleaches and dyes
• Shampoos and conditioners
• Styling products
• Water and wet hair

Why do hairdressers get dermatitis?

Barbers and hairstylists aren’t the only people who use haircare and styling products. So why are hairdressers prone to contact dermatitis?

Allergies are your immune system’s overreaction to a perceived threat from an allergen. While many people are born with or develop allergies as children, some adults develop allergies later in life. Why adults develop allergies depends on the person and the allergen. But one way adult allergies can develop is at work from repeated exposure.

Take healthcare workers as an example. From gloves, tools, and aerosolized particles, latex is all over hospitals and clinics. With so much latex around their work environment, many healthcare professionals develop latex sensitivities or allergies.

The same thing happens to stylists and barbers at their salons. With skin reactions like irritant contact dermatitis in hairdressing, your skin gets irritated as you use chemicals for dyeing, bleaching, relaxing, or washing regularly. Often, what causes contact dermatitis in hairdressing is this repeated exposure beyond what the average person experiences. In fact, a 2023 study shows hairdressers are more likely than the general population to develop contact dermatitis from common salon products.

How do you prevent contact dermatitis in hairdressing?

Now that you know what they are and why they’re common, how do you prevent contact allergies? Here are two essential tips to avoid contact dermatitis in hairdressing.

Use personal protective equipment for hairdressing.

Personal protective equipment or PPE for hairdressing is what you wear to keep unsafe chemicals from touching your skin. By creating a barrier between you and potential allergens, you’ll decrease the likelihood of developing contact dermatitis while hairdressing and you’ll avoid aggravating any existing hairdresser allergies.

The best PPE for hairdressing is gloves. Wearing gloves while mixing and applying chemicals, like bleach and dye, can protect your skin from repeated chemical exposures and trauma, writes the National Library of Medicine. When shopping for gloves as personal protective equipment for hairdressing, keep these things in mind per South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:

• When using disposable gloves, only use each pair once. Don’t try to wash and reuse them. Throw them away after each use.
• If you use reusable gloves, always keep contaminants and allergens on the outside. Then wash them with soft soap between every use.
• To make sure you don’t end up with a latex allergy like the healthcare workers mentioned earlier, opt for non-latex plastic gloves.

Use lotion every day to keep the hairdresser allergies away.

There’s a reason moisturizers are the stars of every skincare routine. Moisturizers hydrate and nourish, combat the signs of aging, and enhance skin texture and radiance, writes Ciel Spa Beverly Hills. But beyond beautifying your skin, lotions protect your skin.

Daily moisturizing gives your skin a protective barrier, explains Ciel Spa. That barrier safeguards your skin from environmental stressors, like the chemicals you encounter at the salon. Regular moisturizing makes you less susceptible to hairdresser allergies by maintaining optimal hydration levels and building resilience to external irritants and allergens.

If your skin’s already irritated from a breakout of contact dermatitis for hairdressing, lotion can calm your skin down. Moisturizers with ingredients like aloe vera, chamomile, and green tea extract have anti-inflammatory properties that can soothe skin irritation and reduce redness or inflammation, writes Ciel Spa.

South Tees suggests applying moisturizer or lotion to your hands at the beginning and end of every day, after you wash hands, and during breaks. To ensure your lotion gives you all the benefits it can, rub it well into your hands and wrists and in the web spaces between your fingers.

Save your skin with WellnessPro Insurance.

As your clients’ get some needed R&R in your salon chair, you now know it’s also vital to give yourself some TLC to avoid contact dermatitis in hairdressing. But you wouldn’t be the first to tell us that self-care goes out the window when you face an insurance claim from an angry client.

Whether they’re hurling accusations of slips and falls or bad bleach jobs, don’t face your client’s claims alone. With WellnessPro Insurance, you’ll get thicker skin to endure your clients’ complaints. Whether their allegations are founded or meritless, our claims team will defend you against covered claims. And if you end up having to payout for a real or alleged mistake, our insurance can help you pay. Click here to learn more about our specialized hairdresser insurance.