A few weeks ago, Esteban Saldana from Drugwatch shared some information with me on the dangers of Chemical Hair Straighteners and wanted to spread awareness on my website.
Drugwatch – Who Are They…
Drugwatch provides consumers with accurate, trustworthy, and up-to-date information about prescription drug side effects, complications from medical devices, and lawsuits related to the failures of those drugs and devices. They have helped people stay informed about numerous health issues surrounding them since 2008.
Drugwatch’s mission is to keep people safe from potentially harmful drugs, medical devices, and procedures by informing them of medical conditions, severe side effects, and ways to take action.Chemical Hair straighteners from different brands (Loreal, Dark and Lovely, Just for Me, etc.) have recently been put into the public spotlight after findings showed that recent use could cause uterine cancer and other issues. Many women use it and Black women may be more affected due to higher usage, you can look at our info here: https://www.drugwatch.com/legal/hair-straightener-lawsuits/
Chemical Hair Straighteners
Chemical hair straighteners break proteins in curly hair to straighten it permanently.
Studies have linked these hair relaxers to an increased risk of certain hormone-related cancers, such as uterine and endometrial cancer. Black women are heavy users of these products and maybe most at risk.How Chemical Hair Straighteners Work
Chemical hair straighteners, also called relaxers, break up the natural chemical bonds that form and hold human curls. Chemical hair straighteners are widely popular because they’re effective at turning curly hair into straight hair. It’s a permanent hair straightening method that lasts until new hair grows out.
A protein called keratin makes up the structure of hair strands. Keratin has molecules known as sulfides. Sulfides can pair together to create a disulfide bond. The hair bends as sulfide molecules reach toward each other to form disulfide bonds. The more the disulfide bonds in a strand of hair, the more it coils and curls.
Different brands of straighteners can affect hair differently. For example, some brands might dry hair out more, making it prone to breakage, according to professional hair stylist Tonya Herrell.
“I used to use this brand called Affirm, and I noticed that it made hair super dry. Clients might not notice, but I did because I know healthy hair. It just wasn’t giving it any life. I switched to a brand called Congo. It’s Black-owned and Black-created, and it keeps the hair lively and shiny,” Herrell told Drugwatch.
My thoughts...
Many Black-owned salons still use Chemical Hair Straighteners and are oblivious to the dangers caused by these products. Growing up with thick tightly coiled hair, my mum would use "relaxer" on my hair just to get the comb through it.
The dining room and the bathroom turned into a makeshift salon and this became our hair ritual every three months. Of course, that was the trend back then. I continued this hair ritual with my daughter, trying out different hair straighteners to see which ones worked best. When she turned ten, I thought it was time for a professional to handle her hair. Suffice to say, that was the beginning of the damage to my daughter's hair. I decided to cut all her hair off and start all over again with her natural hair. Within three years, her hair was back to what it was before the relaxers damaged her hair. When she was seventeen I took her to braid her hair in a house that had been recommended to me, where a small corner of the entrance hall had been designated for hair business. The Cameroonian lady looked at me and then looked at my daughter's hair and said, "This hair is too thick. You have to relax it first before I can braid it." I told her I wasn't going to relax my daughter's hair anymore. She told me everybody was relaxing their hair to get a smoother look for the braids. I told her I didn't care whether the braids were smooth or not, as long as no relaxers came near my daughter's hair.
There are a few naturally sourced hair products for Black hair that I can personally vouch for. I discovered Afrocentric hair products about a year ago and I haven't looked back since.
Next week, I'll bring more posts on Chemical Hair Straighteners and why studies have shown they are not safe.
Do you have a hair disaster story with Chemical Hair Straighteners you want to share? Please drop me a line...
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