Hair dyes

Thank you both for your thoughts. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hello Ann Marie... Welcome to our forum. We have been right where you are after the discovery that something is in the bladder that isn't supposed to be there. I reacted exactly like you... scanning my mind for things I might have done over the years that could have contributed to it. It can drive you crazy for sure, but I finally gave up trying to find some way to blame myself for what had happened.

When I went for my first post-op followup where my doctor went over my final pathology report with me, I told him I had two questions. The first was "Can I still drink coffee?" The second was "Can I still color my hair?" I had found various articles on both subjects on the internet that had conflicting conclusions.

He answered "Yes" to both my questions, meaning he had no concerns about either coffee or personal hair dye being a causative factor. At that time, I had used hair color for probably 25 years like you.

I hope you get positive news when your path results come back. But just in case it turns out to be bc, please try to remember that it is very treatable, especially when caught early. There are many of us here years after our first diagnosis to attest to that. Please let us know how things go.

Other than tobacco smoke, nothing is absolutely surely connected to bladder cancer
(except for some relatively rare things.) However, firefighters and beauticians do seem to have a higher than usual chance of bladder cancer. I think that the case for customers who use hair dyes has not been confirmed.

That being said, just as with most other cancers, it is probably not possible to assign blame to one specific event or agent. Along the way, something went off track in the tissue, and with the millions of biological events going on in the body all the time this is not a surprise. Here is a summary from the National Cancer Institute

http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/myths/hair-dyes-fact-sheet

Wishing you the best of luck....

Sara Anne

Hello,

I just had a bladder polyp removed this week, and I don't know yet if it was cancerous. Of course, I was surprised and now feeling somewhat sad. My head is spinning as I feel like I'm reading too much about it on the Internet.

I've colored my hair for 25 years, and had lots of keratin straightening treatments done. Is dying your hair safe? I've read conflicting stories. What are other natural alternatives that are safe? Henna? Am I overreacting?

Thank you.
Ann Marie