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Relaxer hair products and cancer
this past weekend I heard several reports about lawsuits against several companies that manufacture Hair Relaxers that are commonly used by African American women to straighten the curl. Of course, Atty. Benjamin Crump was involved with this also. From a scientific standpoint do any of these suits or the theory behind this suit have any real merit?
Hair Relaxer Uterine Cancer Lawsuit (Oct 2022 Update) (schmidtandclark.com)
Hair relaxer and cancer: Woman claims hair-straightening chemicals caused her uterine cancer in lawsuit filed by Ben Crump - ABC7 Chicago -
8 Replies
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They showed a correlation but no theory of causation.
This is like saying ice cream sales cause shark attacks because they are correlated. see https://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations
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I sort of thought the same. :
There are definitely people that have used chemical relaxers for more than 20-30 years who haven’t been identified as to have uterine cancer. She may be a novel case.
How many people actually eat ice cream near sharks? :smirk:
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Also, researchers in the study couldn’t identify which ingredient(s) could be responsible for this finding, which they mention is a weakness in this study (they argue that parabens and formaldehyde are present in these products, but disregarding parabens, formaldehyde has long been replaced for other chemicals). The study is definitely sounding, but more studies are needed to clarify.
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Parabens aren’t normally used in a relaxer either. They’re reaching.
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Safety concerns , esp. “endocrine disruption”:, re. parabens have no real significance. Doubt there’s chemical family more closely examined and they are still considered by folks like CIR, FDA and SCCP (EU) safe in use.
Formaldehyde concern re. cosmetic preservation is another great absurdity, esp in context of the study. The stuff is used at low levels and is too reactive to ever enagage.. For releasers, you’d find about as much formaldehyde in a bottle of shampoo as fruit like apples, plums
EWG et al. gets no donations, no one to to buy their endorsement unless they scare monger.
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For the study, uterine cancer is more common in black women. As black women are more apt to use hair straighteners, one would expect that increased uterine cancer associates with use of hair straighteners.
Could be cause and could be just coincident with practice of primary user group.
The reach for parabens and formaldehyde shows researcher’s very limited depth incontext of cosmetic ingredients.
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I have relaxed my hair for almost 20 years, two times per year. This year I decided to go natural and not use them anymore. I just decided to embrace my afro hair texture, my scalp is happier, no more burns…
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@mariamu96
Goodness, I have friends that would relax their coily hair every month. Glad you embrace your natural hair…
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