Hairdressing
Hairdressers suffer from contact eczema at a rate of 120 cases in every 100,000 per year.
Causes
One of the main causes of eczema in hairdressing is ‘wet work’. If your hands are in contact with water for over 2 hours a day, or if your hands are wet several times a day, eg if you shampoo 10 or more clients, you are at risk of developing hand eczema.
The other main cause of eczema is contact with the chemicals in hairdressing products when shampooing, colouring or bleaching hair, or when using cleaning products.
Tips to protect your hands against eczema
If you work in the hairdressing industry, there are some simple things you can do to help protect your hands against eczema:
- Wear disposable non-latex gloves when shampooing, rinsing, colouring and bleaching hair
- Change gloves in between clients
- Make sure that your gloves are in good condition, and don’t have any leaks
- Dry your hands thoroughly with a soft, disposable paper towel
- Protect your hands by moisturising them regularly with an emollient (soothing and softening skin product), but use a product that is free from fragrances and preservatives - the fewer ingredients, the better
If you haven’t done so already, why not complete the my hand eczema questionnaire to find out more about your hand eczema, and to let us know what type of work you do?
We will update the website to show how many people in different professions suffer from hand eczema. You could help other people in your profession find out whether their job is commonly linked to hand eczema and reassure them that they are not alone.