A study published in October in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute has found an increased risk of developing uterine cancer in women who use chemical hair-straightening products aka, relaxers.
Women who use chemical hair straighteners and relaxers may have a higher risk of uterine cancer, according to researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-finds-possible-link-between-hair-straightening-chemicals-and-uterine-cancer.htmlNIH).
The researchers used data from more than 33,000 women taking part in the Sister Study, a large, ongoing study looking for risk factors for breast cancer and other health conditions.
At the time the women enrolled in the study, they were asked about their use of different kinds of hair products over the previous year, including hair dyes, straighteners and relaxers, and permanents or body waves.
After an average of nearly 11 years of follow-up, women who had reported using hair straightening products were almost twice as likely to have developed uterine cancer than those who did not, after adjusting for other factors that might affect risk. Women who had reported frequent use of straighteners (more than 4 times in the previous year) were about 2½ times more likely to develop uterine cancer.
The researchers did not find links between uterine cancer and the use of other hair products, including hair dyes, highlights, and perms.
Because of this, a Missouri woman, Jenny Mitchell has sued L’Oréal and several other beauty product companies, alleging that their hair-straightening products caused her uterine cancer.
Mitchell now 32 years was diagnosed with cancer when was 28 and had to remove her womb the following month.
In her suit, she claims that her cancer “was directly and proximately caused by her regular and prolonged exposure to phthalates and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals found in defendants’ hair care products.”
“At that time, at the age of 28, my dreams of becoming a mother were gone,” Mitchell told CNN.
Mitchell first used chemical relaxers in third grade. She used the products from about 2000 to March 2022.
“As most young African-American girls, chemical relaxers, chemical straighteners were introduced to us at a young age,” Mitchell said. “Society has made it a norm to look a certain way, in order to feel a certain way. And I am the first voice of many voices to come that will stand, stand up to these companies, and say, ‘No more.’”
Similar lawsuits have been filed against cosmetic companies in California and New York, CNN reported.
