Professional hairstylists have access to a different variety of hair dye products than consumers can find on the shelves of stores. Differences in the strength of said professional hair dyes have raised concerns of heavy metal toxicity. Heavy metals are a common source used in different dyed products as a coloring agent, and depending on the hue of the dye, the concentration of toxins may be increased; therefore regulation and monitoring of these products is important for consumer health. The purpose of this project is to quantitatively measure the levels of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury, and lead in the dyes used by professional hair stylists using total reflection X-ray fluorescence (TXRF). TXRF is a technique capable of simultaneous, trace quantification of metals in a sample. A known quantity of yttrium was added to each sample in order to quantify the various metals. The results are based upon triplicate analyses of each sample along with reagent blanks.
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