I begged my mother for two things over Christmas when I was nine years old: a Barbie dollhouse and a “perm” – the colloquial term we use for chillers. At that time we did not understand that there is a big difference between.
Though hesitant at first, as a mother of four daughters – I am the youngest – she knows my pleas won’t stop until my hair looks like one of the girls on the ‘Just For Me’ box.
I just discovered that recently those models don’t really have comfortable hair.
Before the Christmas holidays were over, what was once a giant dog as straight as bone and as long as my back like I’d never seen it before.
My hair is thick and coarse, so at the time, I assumed that chemical straighteners had to stay in my hair for a longer time to really set and straighten my hair.
So when my mom asked if my scalp was burning – yes, it was! – I pushed through and tried a little more to make sure it would actually work.
Even when I was young, I thought beauty was a pain and straight hair was more socially acceptable – even though no one in my family ever told me that.
That belief was reaffirmed for me on Monday when I entered the school and people responded well to the length and straightness of my hair.
I get relaxed quite often for the next six or seven years after that.
My mother, myself, our friends and family never thought how the use of these chemicals on our hair and scalp could affect our physical health. any.
And we won’t know until more than a decade after my first relaxation and more than a century after chemical straightening is introduced to the Black community in the early 1900s.
The link between chemical hair straighteners and uterine cancer in black women
On October 17, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) announced detect afterward Sister studyincludes data from more than 33,000 women who were followed for nearly 11 years.
The aim was to identify risk factors for breast cancer and other health conditions, and the researchers found something alarming.
During that time period, 378 women were diagnosed with uterine cancer, and those who used straighteners more than four times in the previous year “had more than twice the risk of developing uterine cancer compared with those who did not. do not use this product.”
About 60% of women who reported using hair straighteners identified themselves as Black, Press Release Statuses.
“Because black women use straightening or straightening products more often and tend to start using them at an earlier age,” said Che-Jung Chang, an author of the study. other races and ethnicities, these findings may be even more relevant to them,” said Che-Jung Chang, an author of the study. researcher in the NIEHS Epidemiology Branch in the press release.
Although the study did not include specific brands, there are certain chemicals that may contribute to an increased risk of uterine cancer including:
- Parabens
- Bisphenol A
- Metal
- Formaldehyde
For hair products with other chemical ingredients such as highlights, bleach, dyes and perms, the researchers found no link with uterine cancer.
Thankfully, the women in my life like my sister and best friend, who defied the ‘straight hair’ standard, showed me what my natural hair looks like.
I started my natural hair journey when I was 16 and I haven’t let my hair down since.
Still, I wonder what these findings will mean for me, my loved ones, and other black women in the future.
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