Chemical avoidance

I was advised either by my nurse or in the surfeit of information sent home with me, that I could not have my hair coloured while on tx.  Now it doesn't matter for 2 months but how do other people cope with that?  It might be moot if my hair falls out!llol.  

One Pegetron thing said to avoid heavy smoke, aerosols, etc.  Anyone?

Household chemicals.  I like to use weak diluted bleach to disinfect sinks and taps, etc.  I use a scent free toilet cleaner that contains hydrochloric acid but I don't touch it and it doesn't smell and it gets flushed.

Must we really be this stringent?

[paen53]

I think it's just good common sense when it comes to toxins - something we should practice on or off tx. I wonder if all the cautions don't come because our livers are being taxed by the very meds that are hopefully healing us to keep from an additional pounding.Some things we obviosly have to do - like pumping gas.There are less toxic means of coloring hair, I believe, on the market. I never pursued them because mine was so pathetic looking as it was, I used scarves, hats or wigs for the latter half of tx. I did pitch alot of cleaning agents in favor of those microfibre towels that do just as good a job.

[Diane12855]

My doctor told me not to color my hair too. Most people on here say they were never told that. The weird thing for me is that most of the hair that I have lost was gray so I didn't wind up with a line where the hair color stopped and the roots started. Just remember that the liver filters everything we take into our body and everything that gets on our skin. Use gloves and good ventilation and you should be OK with the cleaners.

The idea behind all of this is to help the liver heal. The less it has to deal with, the better. Remember... we can't live without our liver, but we can live without all of the toxins we put into it.

Diane

[nygirl7]

Most of mine fell out too (75%) so it didn't matter to me cause I started wearing wigs pretty early on.  Stupid me my hair grew back brand new virgin healthy hair so what was the first thing I did after treatment? Run out and bleach the hell out of it. Smart move Deb smart move.

One reason you won't want to dye your hair (bleach) is because our hair cracks off and falls out and stuff from the meds - coloring greys I would honestly think would be OK as long as you were not in a confined space. Just like they say don't pump your own gasoline and stay away from fresh paint - on tx you eventually find it's impossible to do all of that and it really doesn't hurt your liver that much I dont think.........as long as you aren't in a closet getting it done.  But that's just my opinion.

[spectda]

Are the chemicals like gasoline and paint supposed to have an impact on the effectiveness of interferon, or is it because they generally toxic to our liver?

- Dave

[Mary4now]

I wonder if Henna would be OK? and what would that look like?  

[nygirl7]

I thought it was to protect our liver from damage all this time - I must have heard that somewhere (but my doc wasn't so smart with HCV really so take it with a grain of salt).

[paen53]

I think it's just good common sense when it comes to toxins - something we should practice on or off tx. I wonder if all the cautions don't come because our livers are being taxed by the very meds that are hopefully healing us to keep from an additional pounding.Some things we obviosly have to do - like pumping gas.There are less toxic means of coloring hair, I believe, on the market. I never pursued them because mine was so pathetic looking as it was, I used scarves, hats or wigs for the latter half of tx. I did pitch alot of cleaning agents in favor of those microfibre towels that do just as good a job.

[meakea]

I read about chemical avoidance before I started treatment too but I don't remember where I read it.  My doc didn't mention it but the source I read it from convinced me that it was a good thing to do.  Because of that, I did not color my hair (but it ended up falling out so much that I wore a wig during the last few months of TX anyway), when I sprayed hairspray in the beginning (when I had hair to spray, I would cover my shoulders with a towel and hold my breath and I used it very sparingly.  I avoided smelling household cleaning items (got my hubby to do the heavy duty stuff) and I had him fill my car up with gasoline.  That might have been going too far, but I was determined that while I was on treatment I was going to be as kind to my liver as I could and my hubby was on board with it so it all worked out.

[Diane12855]

Henna shouldn't be a problem as it is from a plant and all it does is coat the hair shaft. That means that it won't last as long as the chemical colors but at least the boost from the color would be nice. I wish I had the energy to put some on my hair but.......... it took me 3 tries to finish my hair cut so.........

Diane

[GSDgirl]

I didn't perm or bleach my hair during TX but to be honest I didn't really care.  Just like Deb as soon as it grew back WHAM..highlites and a body wave.  

Even healthy people are not supposed to top off of their gas tanks because of the fumes.  

I did use a lot of bleach to clean and still do especially after the grand kids leave with their germy little hands, not just my grkids but all kids.  

[Kristina538]

I wore my hair up and finally found out how grey I was.   I didn't want to expose myself to any toxins, but more than that, if my immune was compromised, I didn't want to risk any complications from hair dying - I'm always concerned I might have one of those horrible reactions to my home hair dye, and if it's happened during tx,  it would've been a nightmare compounded.

I quite enjoyed seeing how grey I'd become;  it wasn't noticeable as it was slow and my hair was up too.   I used bleach, but windows open and with gloves on.

[imhermom]

Thank you!!!!!!  Yes, perhaps the hair thing will become moot as my hair falls out!  At least I have lovely highlights for Christmas!  I do use microfiber (no wonder they call them miracle clothes!!!), I just like to disinfect once in awhile.
Gas for the car I'll ask my husband to keep mine on full or else take his then.  Fortunately because of husband's MCS we are already pretty well chem free around here, my only disinfectant is vinegar and diluted bleach.  Every body product we have is fragrance free and many are all natural.  We don't use aerosols.  So there are a lot of pluses and a couple fo minuses.  I just wonder how much caution is really necessary and are "we" all as susceptible?  

[Susan_1a_CC]

I haven't heard not to color my hair but when my stylist suggested a tx for getting rid of the frizzies I asked him what was in it.  When he told me embalming fluid, well, naturally I declined.  I mean really - embalming fluid!

[meakea]

It sounds like you are very on top of the chemical issue in your home already and kudos to you and your hubby for that!  As far as your hair, there's another more natural product that you might consider that is called Naturetint.  You might want to read about it...much safer that regular hair dye.  I bought some when I was on TX but I never used it because I just didn't have the "ummph" to bother and then my hair was falling out anyway.  If I had colored my hair when on TX, that's what I would have used.

[bostoncream]

any inhaled substance passes through the liver - depending on the shape of your liver - they could be toxic even carcinogenic