If you were considering ditching your relaxer to improve the health of your hair, now there might be good cause to avoid them for your body’s health, too. A new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports that the use of hair relaxers may increase the risk of uterine fibroids.
This new research reveals that in a sample of 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women between 1997 and 2009, Black women had reportedly two or three times higher rate of uterine fibroids. In the case of young Black girls, their research shows that there is an association between African-Americans girls who use straightening and relaxer hair oils and the onset of their menstrual cycle. This is earlier than other racial groups including African Caribbean, Hispanic, and White women. The Mayo Clinic defines uterine fibroids as noncancerous growths of the uterus that often appear during your childbearing years.
Researchers fear that Black women are being exposed to chemicals that gain access into the body through lesions on the scalp by burn from hair relaxers.
Will you be thinking twice before your next relaxer?