New Delhi: In a stark cautionary tale of celebrity worship gone awry, a 20-year-old Chinese woman has been struck down by kidney inflammation after religiously dyeing her hair every month to mimic her idol’s ever-shifting looks.
Known only as Hua, the young fan’s quest for stylistic sync-up led her to Zhengzhou People’s Hospital, where doctors uncovered a sinister link to the very products she trusted.
Hua’s ordeal began with innocuous red spots on her legs, escalating to crippling joint pain and gnawing stomach aches. Dr Tao Chenyang, her attending physician, revealed that Hua’s salon visits — timed precisely with her star’s promotional makeovers — exposed her to a cocktail of harmful chemicals. “Hair dyes harbour toxic substances that can trigger renal and respiratory failure, even raising cancer risks,” Dr Tao warned.
Many formulations, he noted, lurk with heavy metals like lead and mercury, silently eroding health over time.
Social media erupted with speculation, pinning the blame on K-pop idols notorious for their kaleidoscopic hair transformations. Netizens, quoted by the South China Morning Post, decried the frenzy: “No star is worth chasing at the cost of your kidneys,” one fumed. Another quipped, “Bleach plus dye? That’s a health hazard, not an homage.”
Echoing Hua’s plight, a US ex-hairstylist, Hector Corvera, sued L’Oréal and nine other giants earlier this year. Diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2023 after decades of dye exposure, Corvera recalled his urologist’s wry diagnosis: “Hmm, that explains it.” Filed in Los Angeles, the suit accuses the firms of negligence in product safety, claiming the chemicals directly triggered his illness.
As trends dazzle and dyes promise reinvention, Hua’s story urges a pause: beauty’s allure shouldn’t come at the price of life itself.