Beauty salons are places where the technicians/staff personnel and clients may be exposed to high levels of various types of air pollutants. In this study, levels of formaldehyde, benzene and acetaldehyde and their associated potential health risks on beauty salon technicians in Gonabad city were investigated. Indoor levels of formaldehyde, benzene and acetaldehyde were measured in 22 randomly selected beauty salons. Formaldehyde, benzene and acetaldehyde air levels found in beauty salons ranged from 1.02 to 41.4, 1.96 to 43.66, and 41.71 to 79.41 \(\:\:{\upmu\:}\text{g}/{\text{m}}^{3}\) , respectively. Formaldehyde in indoor air of all the salons were within the WHO guideline of 100 \(\:{\upmu\:}\text{g}/{\text{m}}^{3}\) . Levels of benzene were within the NIOSH recommended exposure limit (320 \(\:{\upmu\:}\text{g}/{\text{m}}^{3}\) ), but higher than Korean limit (30 \(\:{\upmu\:}\text{g}/{\text{m}}^{3}\) ) in 40% of the investigated salons. For acetaldehyde, levels of acetaldehyde in 68% of the salons surpassed the WHO guideline of 50 \(\:{\upmu\:}\text{g}/{\text{m}}^{3}\) . Non-carcinogenic risks of formaldehyde, benzene and acetaldehyde were below the threshold limit (HQ = 1), indicating no risks, however, carcinogenic risks over the 30-year period were not acceptable (> \(\:1\times\:{10}^{-6\:}\) ), indicating cancer risk in long term exposure of beauty salon technicians to these chemicals. The results confirm that formaldehyde, benzene and acetaldehyde indoor levels are a matter of health concern, which must be taken into account by health professionals, policymakers and regulatory bodies. The findings of the current study can be used as a basis for reducing technicians’ exposure to toxic aldehydes in beauty salons.
