Aerosol dry shampoo sprays and hair straightening products have become everyday use items for women around the globe. But products offering picture-perfect hair within a few minutes have a flip side: they may increase cancer risk. Several brands have come under fire for releasing and marketing hair products that could be making women more susceptible to a variety of cancers. Popular brand names like Dove, L’Oreal, and Tresemme have made it to the list of items you should avoid stocking up on.
Unilever, a British multinational firm, recently recalled Dove, Tresemme, Tigi, Nexxus, and Suave aerosol dry shampoos in the US. These hair products were recalled because they were contaminated with benzene. Benzene is known to be carcinogenic. The product recall referred to items made before October last year only. The move came after an independent analytical lab called Valisure found the carcinogenic in hair products. Benzene had earlier been found in personal-care products of P&G, Johnson & Johnson, and Edgewell. Exposure to benzene can result in leukaemia and other blood cancers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said.
Clearly, aerosol hair sprays are in the red. But what about hair straightening products?
Those are not out of the woods, either. A Missouri woman recently sued L’Oreal, a French cosmetic company, alleging that using their hair straightening products led to her developing uterine cancer. The plaintiff has accused L’Oreal of knowingly marketing its hair-straightening products to Black women, failing to warn them of its risks. She claims that the company has known about the presence of potentially dangerous chemicals in its products since 2015, at least.
The lawsuit was filed just days after a study from the US National Institute of Environmental Health Safety (NIEHS) reported that hair-straightening products could substantially heighten the risk of uterine cancer among routine users. Uterine cancer, although rare, is the commonest gynecologic cancer in the US. Its rates are rising, especially among Black women. In this context, the NIEHS study holds greater relevance to black women who use hair relaxers, straighteners, and other such products frequently, often due to societal pressures.
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