Determination of Cadmium, Lead, Nickel and Zinc in Hair Cream Products on the Nigerian Market

Abstract

In this study, heavy metals like Pb, Cd, Ni and Zn were quantitatively estimated using AAS. The results indicate that among the toxic heavy metals, Pb, Ni and Pb were exceeding the Health Canada permissible limit fixed for hair creams in most of the hair cream samples, but Cadmium was found appreciably well below the permissible limit. At 95% confidence level, p < 0.05, there is a significant difference in the values of the concentration of heavy metals among the hair cream samples used in this study, except for Cadmium concentrations which at this confidence level, p > 0.05, has no significant difference. In conclusion, enforcement of strict and separate regulatory guidelines and promotion of Good Analytical Practice (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) is suggested for hair cream cosmetics by Health Canada and other regulatory agencies in Nigeria. This study presents the status of heavy metals in marketed hair cream cosmetic formulations and also provides a simple and convenient AAS method which can effectively be adopted at Industrial level for the quality control and standardization of hair care cosmetic preparations and other related products.

Keywords: Hair cream cosmetic, Heavy metals, AAS, GAP, GMP