Hair Straightener Lawsuit
Recent scientific studies have found that the use of chemical hair straightening products, hair relaxers, and other hair products present an increased risk of uterine cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, and other health problems.
Legal action is being strategized against manufacturers and producers of these hair products for their failure to properly warn consumers of potential health risks.
If you or a loved one used hair straightening products and subsequently developed cancer, you may be eligible to file a claim.
The National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS): Women Who Use Chemical Hair Straighteners Are More Likely To Develop Uterine Cancer
The National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) conducted a health study for more than a decade called the “Sister Study“, which originally looked at risk factors for breast cancer.
Published in October 2022, “Hair straightening chemicals associated with higher uterine cancer risk” found that women who reported frequent use of hair straightening products, defined as more than four times in the previous year, were more than twice as likely to go on to develop uterine cancer compared to those who did not use the products.
Alexandra White Ph.D. (Lead Author on the Study and Head of NIEHS Environment and Cancer Epidemiology Group) stated that:
“We estimated that 1.64% of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70; but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05%. This doubling rate is concerning. However, it is important to put this information into context – uterine cancer is a relatively rare type of cancer.”
Additional Research On Chemical Hair Straighteners And Health Risks
Other studies on the link between dangerous chemicals in hair straightening products and cancer diagnoses include:
- The National Cancer Institute: Use of Straighteners and Other Hair Products and Incident Uterine Cancer
- The National Cancer Institute: Chemical Relaxers and Hair-Straightening Products: Potential Targets for Hormone-Related Cancer Prevention and Control
- Cancer Epidemiology: Hair dye and chemical straightener use and breast cancer risk in a large US population of black and white women
- Carcinogenisis (Oxford Academic): Hair product use and breast cancer incidence in the Black Women’s Health Study
Black Women Experience A Higher Uterine Cancer Risk Than White Women
According to the Resilient Sisterhood Project, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness on the reproductive health of black women, black women are significantly more likely than white women to have advanced stages of uterine cancer and to have more aggressive tumor types (clear cell, serous, high-grade endometrioid, and malignant mixed Mullerian tumors).
The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology conducted a study on the mortality rates of endometrial cancer, finding an increased risk for black women to suffer from aggressive forms of uterine cancer.
Their study identifies two (2) reasons for this increased risk of aggressive uterine cancer:
- Black women have a higher prevalence of molecular and genetic markers for more aggressive forms of endometrial cancer
- Black women are often less likely to receive proper care for the disease, and the disease is often diagnosed at later and more aggressive stages compared to white women.
Congruently, black women use chemical hair straighteners and hair relaxers at much higher rates than white women and also at much earlier ages.
