Girls and young women are burning their scalps and suffering permanent hair loss through overuse of ceramic hair straighteners.
A leading Sydney hair expert has issued a health warning about the current fashion for the "ironed" look.
Tony Pearce, director of the National Trichology Services clinic in Rozelle, has warned that many women are using the devices incorrectly.
His warning follows the release of medical research showing that hospital emergency departments have had an increase in women coming in with severe burns from the hair irons, which can reach up to 200 degrees.
There are also concerns that some straighteners have a teflon coating containing a chemical that may cause cancer. The US Environmental Protection Agency recently identified perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical used in the making of teflon, as possibly cancer-causing.
Ceramic hair straighteners have become increasingly popular in recent years, with top-end brands, such as GHD, costing up to $300.
Mr Pearce, a trichologist specialising in female hair loss, said using straighteners was fine, in moderation.
"The people who are most likely to use them wrongly are young girls who are trying to pull their hair as straight as possible all the time," he said. "This group are also prone to low iron levels in their body so their hair is already weaker and more liable to damage."
Mr Pearce said some people were using the irons far too close to their scalp, causing burning and blistering. Others were pulling their hair so straight they were pulling out follicles around the hairline.
"If you keep doing that over and over again the follicles become so damaged that they don't grow any more … you can see that they have a receding hairline because of the damage."
British researchers reported on the health hazards of hair straighteners for the first time last year with a study published in the Emergency Medicine Journal.
