What Was in My Hair Products? Rethinking 40 years of Chemical Exposure
For approximately 40 years, chemical hair relaxers and permanent hair dyes were simply part of my normal hair-care routine. I never thought of relaxing or coloring my hair as an environmental exposure. It was grooming, beauty, and something I routinely did without questioning what was actually in the products being placed directly on my hair and scalp. Like many consumers, I assumed that products readily available and commonly used for years were reasonably safe. Then, in 2022, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the time, I did not connect my diagnosis with the hair products I had used for decades. However, learning more about environmental exposures has caused me to look at that history differently. Can I say that 40 years of chemical relaxers and permanent hair dyes caused my breast cancer? No. Breast cancer is a complex disease with many contributing risk factors. What I cannot ignore, however, is research showing associations between certain chemical hair products and...