Making people look their best is Victoria Rick’s livelihood. For more than a 14 years Victoria has been perming and highlighting people's hair at her salon in Schofield. To perform those beauty miracles Victoria and her hairstylists use an array of chemicals.
Owner of Victoria's Salon, Victoria Rick, said, "Five years ago they started going along way with our industry; they brought a lot of nice new products in."
It is those chemicals that researchers are suspecting could be putting hairstylist at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig's Disease. With hair dressers spending about 50 percent of their time with chemicals, one Family Practitioner believes the new study could hold some merit, but he believes there is more than one factor than cause these diseases.
Dr. Jonathan Cottier said, "There are a number of theories; none of them I think are definitive; we may look back and say there are multifactor or a host of interrelated factors that work to create this pattern."
He also says there are more factors that cause degenerative brain disorders such as diet, exercise, stress, and heredity. As for hairstylists, Dr. Cotter advises them to try to limit their chemical use to a minimum. Although, he says until there is more supportive research found, he doesn't feel it is much of a threat.
