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Governor of California Files Lawsuit Against Brazilian Blowout.

Written by Christopher Box
Published on June 4, 2011

If you suffer from this beauty problem you will know just what a pain it is – what are we talking about?

Frizzy hair of course! Or hair that is the in-between type - neither perfectly straight or bouncy and curly. Anyone who has this type of hair knows just how tricky it can be to style and keep looking good. Well our hair is our crowning glory after all… 

So when the Brazilian Blowout straightening treatment landed in hair salons all over the country many of us breathed a sigh of relief. No more spending a fortune on de-frizzing products or burning out all of the shine and moisture from our hair with the over-use of hair straighteners. The Brazilian Blowout seemed to be every woman’s answer to the problem of frizzy or wavy hair…

Or so we thought… as the hair-straightening gurus, Brazilian Blowout, are now in trouble with California Governor Jerry Brown, who has filed a lawsuit against GIB LLV, the makers of the popular Blowout straightening formula.

It seems that the Californian attorney general’s office are unhappy with the Brazilian Blowout solution, claiming it contains high levels of the hazardous gas and known carcinogen, formaldehyde. California’s Safe Cosmetics Act already bans formaldehyde and somewhat scarily it is rumored that some hair salons have been handing out surgical-like masks, to cover the mouth and nose, to clients having the treatment.

However the debate as to whether the Brazilian Blowout is safe rages on. A study by "Allure" magazine reported that the hair care products include "at least ten times more formaldehyde than the .2 percent that is determined to be safe by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel.” A panel made up of a group of doctors and scientists who assess the safety of products and recommend safety standards for ingredients found in cosmetics.

What’s more, according to the tests carried out in California, Brazilian Blowout's Smoothing Solution contains around “8% formaldehyde by weight, which is in the range typical of embalming fluid used by funeral homes." Scary stuff indeed!

There’s no response as yet from Brazilian Blowout, however CEO, Monte Devin Semler, has insisted in the past that the product is totally safe to use and also formaldehyde-free. On the back of this the company have launched a new product called Brazilian Blowout Zero. This product apparently does not release any formaldehyde before, during or after the straightening treatment.

Brazilian Blowout still stand by their original product saying it is safe to use but the controversy surrounding the product could mean that many people will start looking for a safer way to beat the frizz factor.

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