Studies associate relaxers with higher cancer risk
Concern about the health risks associated with chemical hair straighteners has grown over the last year since the National Institutes of Health released a study that found that women who used them frequently were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer as those who did not. Chemicals in the hair products, like parabens and phthalates, disrupt the hormone-regulating endocrine system, researchers said.
A similar study released this month by researchers at Boston University found that postmenopausal Black women who reported long-term use of chemical hair relaxers were at increased risk of uterine cancer.
The studies, however, do not go so far as to say the products cause cancer.
Most treatments for womb cancer result in infertility, and Black women are more likely to undergo hysterectomies.
L’Oréal did not reply to repeated requests for comment. Last year, it said the lawsuits had no legal merit. A spokesperson for Revlon declined to comment. Both companies have filed motions to dismiss the lawsuits.
“What I think we’re dealing with here is a product that is a conduit for severe reproductive harm that manifests itself in a number of different ways,” said Danielle Ward Mason, an attorney who is representing thousands of Black women in cases against the beauty companies. “But it’s all equally tragic. And it’s all emotionally taxing and devastating. And it’s all physically debilitating.”
More than 90% of her clients have had hysterectomies, while the rest have had one or more myomectomy procedures to remove uterine tumors or fibroids, said Mason, a managing partner at Bullock Ward Mason.
‘Nothing can prepare you for this’
The increased attention on the possible dangers of hair-straightening products is little salve for women like Bree-Shawna Watts, 32, who had a hysterectomy last year…
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