Health
Hair Straightening Products Are Now Linked To Uterine Cancer
The list of health risks just keeps getting longer and longer.
Don’t reach for the creamy crack or Brazilian just yet, sis. Hair straightening and smoothing products are back in the news for their toxic ingredients.
Studies have previously linked chemical relaxers to a wide range of health and reproductive issues, including breast and ovarian cancers as well as infertility, uterine fibroids, and early hysterectomies. Now, a new study is adding uterine cancer to the mix.
[SEE ALSO: Report: Target & Rite Aid Commit To Screening Black Beauty Products For Toxic Chemicals]
With products marketed to Black women already being the most toxic on the market, the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Safety (NIEHS) Sister Study shines yet another light on the issues and health risks faced by simply styling their hair.
According to NIEHS, women who ever used straightening products faced “80% higher adjusted hazard of uterine cancer among women.” In addition, women who used straighteners, relaxers, or pressing products more frequently — at least four times in a year — were nearly two and a half times (247%) more like to develop uterine cancer.
“We estimated that 1.64% of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70, but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05%,” said study leader Alexandra White in a recent statement.
Of the 33,947 women tracked for an average of 11 years, 378 women developed uterine cancer.
While White noted that uterine cancer is “relatively rare,” the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), notes that it is the most common gynecologic cancer among Black women.
The study does not, however, highlight what chemicals could be causing the increased cancer risk.
“These findings are the first epidemiologic evidence of [an] association between [the] use of straightening products and uterine cancer,” White and colleagues wrote in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute. “More research is warranted to … identify specific chemicals driving this observed association.”
Quite honestly, it may not matter. Previous research shows that even when identified, many products don’t even list the known carcinogens on their labels. Just this past February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a study noting that some hair smoothing and straightening products also contain or release formaldehyde, which is known to cause respiratory issues, such as asthma, as well as cancer. That ingredient is not listed on the labels.
The report also comes on the heels of viral hashtags showcasing a small, but growing segment of Black women using chemical relaxers or increasing their use of other temporary hair-smooothing processes, such as keratin or “Brazilian” treatments.
“Because Black women use hair straightening or relaxer products more frequently and tend to initiate use at earlier ages than other races and ethnicities, these findings may be even more relevant for them,” Che-Jung Chang of NIEHS said in a statement.
