There’s A Lot in the News About Hair Relaxers and Uterine Cancer: How Worried Should We Be?
Lawsuits against hair relaxer manufacturers – and a study about relaxers — is raising concerns over their safety. Allure asked gynecologic oncologists and the study’s lead author: What does this all mean?
BY DEANNA PAI
November 2, 2022
UPDATE (February 8, 2023, 2:02 P.M. ET): Almost 60 lawsuits against hair relaxer manufacturers are now being consolidated in a Chicago federal court. Allure investigated how concerned we should be about the safety of chemical hair relaxers and straighteners, which one study linked to uterine cancer.
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It was in the wake of this study that lawsuits started to be brought against makers of hair relaxers, including L’Oréal. The beauty behemoth issued a statement online, saying it is “confident in the safety of our products and believe the recent lawsuits filed against us have no legal merit.” Our feeds were flooded with headlines like “Frequent Hair Straightener Use Doubles Uterine Cancer Risk” and “Chemical Hair Straighteners ‘May Cause’ Uterine Cancer.” We talked to three experts, including gynecologic oncologists and the study’s lead author.
