CONCLUSIONS
Few previous studies in hairdressing salons have
described the exposure level of chemical pollution.
The present study demonstrates that hairdressers are
exposed to different pollutants in low concentrations,
but they may be exposed to some high peaks of
ammonia for some minutes several times a day. The
exposure levels were higher in salons with no ventilation than in salons with local exhaust ventilation.
Although the exposure levels of measured chemical
components in this study were low, it is important to
remember that the hairdresser is exposed to several
other agents as well. On the basis of this it would
have been of interest to study the relationship between
chemical exposure in the salons and occurrence of
acute respiratory symptoms among the hairdressers.
This has not been described in the present study and
ought to be examined further in future studies.
Acknowledgements—The authors wish to thank local
Employers Federation for Hairdressers for their suggestions
and Ms. Cabot for the language revision.The study was
financially supported by the Research Council of Norwa