Negative Effects of Using Hair Relaxers

The dangers of cancer-causing relaxers weren’t fully revealed until recently because manufacturers concealed this information from the public, despite its being known. Women considered scalp irritation and the recurring burning sensation a regularity — something that was just another step in preserving their chemically straightened hairstyles. What most women did not realize was their hair relaxers actually contained cancer-causing ingredients, known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). These negative side effects were just the start of the hardships these women would face during their unfortunate healthcare journeys.

As researchers continue to connect chemical straighteners with medical issues, women learn that maintaining sleek, smooth hairstyles is far more than an inconvenience—it’s a health risk.

High-Maintenance Hairstyles

While relaxers are considered ‘permanent,’ women must touch up regrowth to maintain the style. This retouch typically occurs every six to eight weeks, depending on the hair growth rate and desired look. Despite being marketed as a solution to easy, carefree locks, chemical straighteners require diligent maintenance through deep conditioning treatments, protective styling, flat ironing, and frequent touch-up applications.

Complaining about these extra steps in a woman’s haircare routine may seem frivolous, but the negative effects of hair relaxer maintenance aren’t inconsequential. Scientific studies found that frequent hair relaxer users—those who used a relaxer more than four times in the previous year—are nearly twice as likely to develop uterine cancer. According to the NIEHS study, a ‘frequent’ user relaxes her hair every 13 weeks on average. Most women handily exceed this interval frequency and apply relaxers nearly twice as often. After repeated applications, countless times per year for decades, the levels of EDCs to which hair relaxer users have been exposed is significant.

Scalp Damage

Touching up relaxers to replicate the looks shown on hair relaxer packages requires applying the cream directly on the regrowth. Avoiding the scalp or rinsing it too soon results in puffy hair near the roots, which isn’t what the packages promise.

Nearly any woman who has relaxed her hair experienced the tingling, burning, and fiery sensation of the chemicals ‘working’ on the roots. This skin contact causes chemical burns and lesions, and in some cases, hair loss. Even if lesions and chemical burns seem superficial, scalp damage due to hair relaxers causes more conditions than the eye can see.

When the skin near the follicle is compromised, the chemicals in a hair relaxer application have an easier pathway to a woman’s bloodstream. Hair relaxer ingredients include a host of EDCs that interfere with the body’s hormones, causing significant biological effects.

Uterine Cancer

Consumers typically assume haircare manufacturers follow safety standards, accurately label their goods, and test products for hazardous chemicals, but the lawsuit against these companies reveals the opposite. Even after a woman stops relaxing her hair, the damage may already be done. EDCs make biological changes to a woman’s hormones that can cause uterine, endometrial, and ovarian cancer.

Even if women were warned that certain factors may necessitate more frequent health screenings, the manufacturers never revealed their cancer-causing hair relaxers may put women at an increased risk. African American women are the most frequent hair relaxer users and they’re also twice as likely to die from uterine cancer than other populations. Advocates are working to untangle the whys behind this, including how cosmetic manufacturers are allowed to continue their history of false advertising and targeted marketing to marginalized groups.

Irreversible Conditions

Countless women experience irreparable harm from cancer-causing relaxers. While a host of factors determine whether endometrial and uterine cancer are fatal, treating these often requires removing a woman’s uterus. Though these procedures may spare a woman’s life, losing fertility and submitting to ongoing health monitoring can drastically affect one’s quality of life and livelihood, to say nothing of the hardships survivors feel when their loved ones succumb to diseases caused by hair relaxers.

If a history of hair relaxer use caused you to develop uterine, endometrial, or ovarian cancer, you don’t have to sit by while manufacturers minimize your health. The lawsuit against hair relaxer manufacturers can help those affected by cancer-causing haircare products hold these cosmetic brands accountable and protect the next generation of consumers.

Reach out to us today—we’re here to help!