Perms Linked to Uterine Fibroid Tumors and Early Puberty
madamenoire.comA new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology definitely adds a point to the #TeamNatural tally with a published paper from researchers at Boston University linking hair relaxers to uterine fibroid tumors in women and early puberty in young girls.
Led by Lauren Wise of Boston University’s Slone Epidemiology Center, scientists followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997 to 2009 and found that the two- to three-times higher rate of fibroids among black women may be linked to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns resulting from relaxers.
Women who got their first menstrual period before the age of 10 were also more likely to have uterine fibroids, and early menstruation may result from hair products black girls are using, according to a separate study published in the Annals of Epidemiology last summer. Three hundred African American, African Caribbean, Hispanic, and White women in New York City were studied. The women’s first menstrual period (menarche) varied anywhere from age 8 to age 19, but African Americans, who were more likely to use straightening and relaxers hair oils, also reached menarche earlier than other racial/ethnic groups.
While so far, there is only an association rather than a cause and effect relationship between relaxers, menarche, and fibroid tumors, as Tamika Fletcher, co-owner of Natural Resources salon in Houston, pointed out in a Fox report, the hair care industry isn’t regulated by the FDA so there’s no telling what black women are putting in their hair and how harmful those products may be.
These studies go way beyond the damaging effects chemical relaxers may have on one’s hair, women and girls may be damaging their reproductive systems with some of the hair products they use, making it even more critical to know exactly what you’re putting in your hair and in your body.
How do you research the hair products you use and make sure their safe?
Meanwhile, in my room..
- WW: What's that?
- Me: It's a spritzer bottle for my hair.
- WW: What's in it?! It looks DISGUSTING.
- Me: Uh.. water, conditioner & coconut oil.
- WW: OIL? Why the hell would you want that for your hair.
- Me: ... Well, coily textured hair is usually much drier than yours. So while you can't stand 'greasy' hair, we actually appreciate moisture anyway we can get it.
- WW: So your scalp isn't as oily as ours?
- Me: Basically, yes. We have more oil in our skin.
- WW: GROSS, I'd HATE to have oily skin. Pretty sure you got the short stick on that one.
- Me: *side eye*
- WW: No offence tho.. (:
- Me: None taken. Moisturising my hair daily doesn't seem like such a chore when I remember I won't have wrinkles at 45.
Someone asked what was my “Natural hair type” and my response was:
I HAVE NO IDEA WTF YOU’RE ASKING ME.
Then she explained that every hair texture has a category, and proceeded to tell me that I have a 4C hair type and proceeded to say something along these lines; “Girlllll, you are natural, how do you not know these things?! All natural chicks talk about stuff like this, you need to get with the program. Go on youtube and watch some videos”
I’m like:
I deeply apologize, but I do not give a damn… WAIT, YEAH I DO… and I took offense to this, just a little bit.
BUT I had no idea because I went natural for ME, and without any guidance or approval or opinion of someone else…. I’ve been natural for a couple years and not once have I joined a “natural community” or whatever the fuck she was talking about…
I do it for the health, not the trend.
Hair "Grades"
I wonder if people would feel differently about their hair if the Andre Walker hair grading chart was listed from kinky/coiliest to straightest, instead of from straightest to kinkiest. I mean, I know that the chart does not rule our lives, and it does not determine our self esteem. It’s not even the only chart out there (though it’s the one most people are familiar with). In fact, I’m sure there are LOTS of straight-haired girls who wish they had more body in their hair, and wish they had curl. If there weren’t, why would there be curly perms? But I just wonder what it would be like if “coily-ziggly” hair was 1A instead of 4C. I mean, First is better, right? First place, first prize, first in his class? Who wants to go last? People like me gotta be at the VERY END of the chart? THE VERY END? It’s kinda like… dang. Ohhhhhhh-kaaaaaaaaay.
I know that lists have to start somewhere, and there has to be a “bottom” of the list. I also know that it wasn’t designed as an indicator of “value”, or as something that goes from positive to negative. (I’m not even going to go into the fact that the creator of the chart has gone on record for saying that the only hair type he suggests using chemical straighteners on is the 4-type. Just… leaving that can of worms ALONE.) I just really wonder what it would be like.
Rockin’ my 1A fro. Look at my 1A crinkle fry twist-out, y’all. I wonder if it would help people with “difficult” hair textures to feel less like taking care of their hair is difficult, and more like it’s a challenge well worth the undertaking. Lol, or maybe it would be exactly the same. I don’t know. I think connotation matters, though. Now, I already think that my 4C-Z, no-definition-having, 85%-shrinkage-when-wet hair is awesome. The challenges I face are all part of being me, and I know a lot of other feel the same way, too. (Star Trek V, y’all, I NEED my pain.) But I didn’t always feel that way, and I know that there are a lot of people who feel like dealing with their 6Z problems is a handful; there are more hat-days, and longing looks at relaxer than there might be if people looked at the “bottom” of the hair chart as the “top”.
~ ~ ~
P.S. Nothing wrong with relaxer if you want it, I fully believe in a person’s sovereignty over their own body. [/disclaimer]
