“A revealing Boston University study shows hair relaxers can cause fibroids in the uterus, giving “having unhealthy hair” a whole new meaning.” – Damali Keith
before you start the side eye, let’s take a moment to really focus on what’s being stated here. we all know that there is so much more to be said and found out when it comes to this study but i do think it calls for a poignant note of pause.
we all know that black american women are more prone to fibroids and any other women in our culture. though i’ve never experienced fibroid trouble, i’ve had multiple relatives go through surgeries and one even had to have a hysterectomy because they were so uncontrollable. and yes, if you are wondering they were all relaxed – which, again, at this point, we have no idea how much that really means. i don’t have any thoughts about this study just yet because it begs more questions however, the FIRST thing i thought was:
“Is it possible that we as black women more prone to fibroids solely because of the HISTORY of the USE of relaxers?”
there have been numerous fibroid studies and one of the biggest hypothesis about fibroids is that black american women do not get the daily required amounts of vitamin d which in turn causes problems with fibroids.
the relaxer industry is not regulated by the fda and companies have been bottling up sodium hydroxide for years with no questions asked. we don’t know the long term effect that relaxers could have or are having on our bodies or children’s bodies. take for instance the food industry. for years, no one – as in the general public – made waves about all of the hormones in the food, but now that our daughters are having periods at seven and eight years old and more and more children are being born with autisim, people are finally trying to figure out the connection between the possible dangers of the synthetic hormones found in food if there is one. and as history has shown us, it often takes multiple generations for side effects to show up in populations.
there needs to be much more done with this study because if there is something here, this changes the meaning of creamy crack to something much more literal and no matter what side of the hair playing field you find yourself on, this is all something we will find hits a little too close to home.
What do you think about this obvious preliminary study? Do you feel that relaxers are dangerous and that they could possibly be linked to fibroids? As women, what do you think the next step should be since we’be been presented with this information?
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My dermatologist told she there are so many black women who come to see her because of hairless, she told me in most cases it’s not genetic and there is no medical reason for the hairless. She said years and years of using chemical relaxers cause permanent hairloss in black women and there is no cure. We need to leave those relaxers alone, they are not good for us or our children.
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