Volatile Organic Compound Emissions From Heated Synthetic Hair: A Pilot Study. (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Auguste, Donna; Miller, Shelly L
• Is Part Of: Environmental health insights. Volume 14(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: VOC -- braiding -- African American -- asthma -- personal care products -- indoor air quality; Environmental health -- Periodicals; Health risk assessment -- Periodicals; Environmental Health; Risk Assessment; Environmental health; Health risk assessment; Electronic journals; Periodicals; Fulltext; Internet Resources; Periodicals; Periodicals; 613.105
• DOI: 10.1177/1178630219890876
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1178-6302

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted from a variety of household and personal care products. Many VOCs are known to be potentially toxic or carcinogenic. Synthetic hair is used in hair-styling practices, including practices in African American communities that involve singeing or heating the synthetic hair. The research questions that we sought to answer were as follows: Are VOCs emitted from singed or heated synthetic hair? If so, what are the VOC species and relative masses identified in singed or heated synthetic hair? We tested samples from 2 sources of singed and heated synthetic hair in a microchamber; one source was flame-retardant synthetic hair and the other source was non-flame-retardant synthetic hair. Our findings confirmed that VOCs are emitted from singed or heated synthetic hair for both types of sources. For flame-retardant synthetic hair, we identified and measured mass for species that included acetone, acetonitrile, 2-butanone, benzene, chloromethane, chloroethane, and 1, 2-dichloroethane. For non-flame-retardant synthetic hair, we identified and measured mass for species that included acetone, acetonitrile, chloromethane, trichlorofluoromethane, and 2-propanol.