So we are following up on the Kanekalon Series and diving right into the final two fibers.
According to Kanekalon-hair.com the other fibers that make up Kanekalon hair is Flame Retardant Polyester Fiber and Organic Collagen Protein fiber.
Let’s dive right into Flame Retardant Polyester Fiber.
According to the website flame retardant polyester fiber is a synthetic fiber composed of polyethylene-terephthalate (P.E.T.). What is PET?
PET
PET is a plastic. Manufacturers combine its building blocks – ethylene glycol (a hydrocarbon derived from crude oil and natural gas) and terephthalic acid – to create a polymer chain. The resulting spaghetti-like strands of PET are extruded, quickly cooled, and cut into small pellets. The resin pellets are then heated to a molten liquid that can be easily extruded or molded into items of any shape.
Surprising to me, but upon further research, I learned that PET is commonly used in commercially sold water bottles, soft drink bottles, sports drink bottles and condiment bottles (like ketchup). It is generally considered a safe plastic and does not contain BPA.
Looking onto EWG Skin Deep for further research, I learned the PET has a toxicity score of 1, which means it’s safe, however the research did indicate that it could be toxic.
So, I wanted to dig a little further and learned that “90% of the PET manufactured worldwide employs Sb2O3 [antimony trioxide] as a catalyst. Antimony trioxide is a suspected carcinogen and is listed as a priority pollutant by the US EPA, the EU, and the German Research Foundation.” Some studies have shown up to 100 times the amount of antimony in bottled water than in clean groundwater. The longer the bottle is on the shelf or exposed to heat or sunshine, the more antimony is likely to have leached into the product.
Even though most of the research has focused on antimony leaching from bottled water stored in PET containers, there is also evidence that antimony from polyester clothing can be hazardous to the wearer, as well.
A 2013 Greenpeace report regarding chemicals in clothing found:
Antimony … was detected in fabrics from all 36 articles investigated, which were composed either of polyester, or a blend of polyester and other fibers.
However, a 2003 Danish government funded report into chemicals found in textiles concluded detected antimony levels were not sufficient to cause health concerns.
Because the current research is still evolving around the use of PET, the government concludes that PET is still safe because the antimony levels are so minimal, that they do not cause harm. I’ll let you be the judge.
Toxic Free Brands?
While doing my research for this series, I was contacted from a brand called EZbraid, the indicated that my research previously on Kanekalon hair is factual and that they do not use any harmful chemicals in their hair products. You know I had to investigate further! I learned that the Spetra Hair used to create their products is made from PET and PP fibers*, according to their patent. Whether or not any additional chemicals such as antimony was used in the creation of their brand has yet to be determined. However, according to the current research, their fibers appear to be non-toxic and safe.
(*PP: polypropylene -PP is used to make yogurt containers, deli food containers and winter clothing insulation. PP has a high heat tolerance and as such, does not seem to leach many of the chemicals other plastics do)
What about the Organic Collagen Protein Hair?
This fiber is mainly composed of collagen protein as a raw material. The research on this was very limited as the website with the original links were dead. However, I found the patent on Collagen Protein fiber. The “process for preparing regenerated collagen fiber which comprises treating regenerated collagen fiber with a monofunctional epoxy compound and a metal aluminum salt”.
The process includes using raw collagen from split hide from animals such as cows. The collagen is this treated with the epoxy compound such as ethylene oxide, propylene oxide and with the metal aluminum salt such as sodium sulfate or sodium chloride is used to heat, hydrolyze, stretched and dried.
While these processes are deemed safe, the science on synthetic plastics and toxins are always changing. Therefore, how comfortable do you feel wearing synthetic hair?
