Black hair, cancer, and accountability: Emerging nationwide regulation over ‘toxic’ relaxers
In response to recent studies linking chemical hair straighteners, targeting Black and Brown women with natural hair, to specific cancer strains, Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman recently joined the Black women-led legal team that’s spearheading a lawsuit against hair companies that pushed such products for several decades without health and safety warnings.
In New York State, in addition to the 2019 Crown Act, Zinerman and others have already introduced several pieces of legislation to protect against toxic hair chemicals and harmful marketing strategies.
“We do know that when you’re talking about certain types of chemicals, we shouldn’t be consuming them, and putting it on your head is still consuming because it ends up in your bloodstream,” said Zinerman, who’s worn her hair in natural styles for about 32 years. “We want people to be aware. What they are not telling you is how many people have chemical burns, how many people have lost their hair, who have a level of alopecia that they’ll never recover from. Not all of that information is transparent to the consumer.”
The bills include S6528A, which requires that cosmetologists or natural hair stylists be educated about all hair types and textures; AB3877, which requires that hair relaxer products display warning labels when they contain certain dangerous chemicals; A9068, which limits the sale of chemical hair relaxers and permanent hairstyle kits to hair salons or licensed stylists; and A8624A, which creates apprenticeships and opportunities for natural hair care and braiding.
Women aren’t just holding hair companies to industry standards legislatively; they’re also fighting back in the courts. Attorney Heather Palmore of the Palmore Law Group and her co-counsel, Tope O. Leyimu with Motley Rice LLC, are representing 8,393 women in a nationwide multidistrict hair relaxer lawsuit (some of the claimants have already died from a cancer diagnosis).
They allege that the chemicals in hair relaxer products have caused ovarian, uterine, and endometrial cancer, based on scientific studies using National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) data from 2022. They also claim that product manufacturers misrepresented the safety of their hair-relaxing products while specifically targeting women of color and children with “misleading language” on packages and advertisements, using phrases such as “botanicals,” “natural,” “gentle,” “healthy,” “safely elongate tight coils,” and “ultra nourishing.”
“This litigation is special for me because my firm has worked on historic cases—asbestos, big tobacco, or the opioid litigation—but never has there been a case that has hit me so close to home, that I have understood so well,” Leyimu said. “It’s an honor and a privilege.”
For more than a century, hair relaxers have been a staple product for Black and Brown people who wanted to achieve straight hair to adhere to more “white” beauty standards. The hair relaxer industry generates about $690 million annually and is expected to grow to $854 million annually by 2028, said the law group.
“As a child, I yearned for it,” said NAACP Brooklyn Branch Executive Board Member Ciara Walton about straight hair. Walton’s mother was adamantly against her getting a hair relaxer in her youth, even though she used such products herself. “I’m from Jacksonville, Florida, and in the South, that wasn’t something that was a thing for us. It was ‘you wear your hair and get it straight’—you do the thing that makes you hirable.”
Parent companies and hair relaxer brands that have been named in the lawsuits include Avlon, Dabur, Godrej SON Holdings, House of Cheatham, JF Labs, L’Oréal, Luster, McBride, Namaste Laboratories, PDC Brands, Revlon Inc., Sally Beauty, SoftSheen-Carson, Strength of Nature, Affirm, African Pride, Africa’s Best, Cantu, Crème of Nature, Dark & Lovely, Design Essentials, Dr. Miracle’s, Dream Kids, Hawaiian Silky, Just for Me, Mizani, Motions, Optimum Care, Organic Root Stimulator, ORS Olive Oil, Pink Conditioning No-Lye Relaxer, Profectiv Mega Growth, Revlon Realistic, Roots of Nature, Silk Elements, Smooth Touch No-Lye Relaxer, Soft & Beautiful, TCB, and TCB Naturals.
Many of the ingredients in hair relaxers and related products have endocrine disruptors and carcinogens linked to reproductive cancers like cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, vulvar, and breast cancer. These chemicals can hinder the normal activity of the endocrine system and block hormone signals by modifying DNA and cell structure, according to the “Journal of the National Cancer Institute” (“JNCI”).
Black and Hispanic women are disproportionately exposed to these products and subsequently are diagnosed with “aggressive” breast tumors, ovarian tumors, and types of uterine and endometrial cancers with lower survival rates compared to white counterparts, reported the “JNCI.” Symptoms can include bleeding between periods, pelvic pain, and vaginal bleeding after menopause. Less obvious symptoms include abdominal bloating or swelling, back pain, changes in bowel habits, fatigue, frequent urination, weight loss, and pelvic discomfort.
These products have been used for generations in households and hair salons throughout the U.S., and have often been deemed an intricate part of Black culture that allows for assimilation in the workplace, schools, and society overall, said Palmore.
“I think, like many young Black girls growing up, hair was very important in my home. There’s no way to get around it: Hair was an important part of our ritual,” said Palmore. Her mother and cousin recently died of ovarian cancer and were frequent users of relaxers.
“It’s always been about hair, especially in the industry that I work in,” she said. “Your appearance at that time—there was a push to present a certain way. As a trial attorney, I felt myself in front of hundreds of strangers every day, having to be everybody to everybody, meaning the way I chose to wear my hair was an important part of my work because it helped me to connect with certain people.”
Natasha Gaspard of the National Hairstyle & Braid Coalition, Inc. said she remembers as a child, idolizing little Black girls with silky, manageable hair on kiddie perm boxes or in commercials. She viewed such hair as a rite of passage to becoming a young adult. She grappled with the idea of going natural with her hair in college. Eventually, she founded Mane Moves Media, a natural hair and beauty-focused video network creating lifestyle content for women of color.
“I knew I had bought into the lie. I had drank the Kool-Aid,” said Gaspard about her hair. “And the fear was real. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get a job or if my boyfriend would like it. I knew my mom would hate it, and that was one of the biggest deterrents. Growing up, straight long hair was the standard of beauty and I didn’t think I would be beautiful anymore.”
NIEHS Sister Study researchers found that much of the harm these chemical hair straighteners cause is from “frequent use” or more than four times a year. Even with natural hair movements slowing down product use and the advent of no-lye formulas in recent decades, most people who apply relaxers will use them well more than four times throughout the year.
“We have to acknowledge the historical and cultural significance in our country and society that put pressure on us to wear our hair a certain way,” said Leyimu. “Understanding that context is the reason why a person would reach for a hair relaxer.”
In 2023, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban on formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals in hair relaxers. The administration was supposed to unveil a proposal for the ban in April 2024, but hasn’t done so yet.
“Consumer protection—laws are in place to ensure that when you use a service, we have paid attention to all of the potential dangers and mitigated those things so that you have a beautiful experience, but a healthy experience, because that’s the goal,” said Zinerman.
At present, the hair relaxer lawsuit is in the “discovery phase” of litigation in the Northern District of Illinois court, said Leyimu. No lawsuit settlements have happened yet and it’s likely the first hair relaxer trials won’t begin until 2025.
The post Black hair, cancer, and accountability: Emerging nationwide regulation over ‘toxic’ relaxers appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.