Could Certain Hair Dyes or Relaxers Raise Breast Cancer Risks?

Everyone loves to switch it up sometimes. Any day of the week may call for a mood change, then it’s off to the salon for a new color or cut. The safety of hair products has always been a debate for years. Should you use relaxers? Is it okay to dye it all jet black, then blonde in the next breath?

Now, new research suggests that African American women who use dark hair dyes face a higher risk of breast cancer, while chemical relaxers and straighteners boost the odds of cancer in Caucasian women.

The findings stem from a study of more than 4,000 women. Use of dark brown or black hair dyes by black women was tied to a 51 percent greater risk of breast cancer. And whites who used hair relaxers had 74 percent higher odds.

But while the study found a possible link between the hair products and breast cancer risk, it did not prove a connection.
“Our findings do not suggest that simply using hair dyes, relaxers or both will cause a woman to get breast cancer,” cautioned study lead author Adana Llanos.

“The reality is that we regularly encounter

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Everyone loves to switch it up sometimes. Any day of the week may call for a mood change, then it’s off to the salon for a new color or cut. The safety of hair products has always been a debate for years. Should you use relaxers? Is it okay to dye it all jet black, then blonde in the next breath?

Now, new research suggests that African American women who use dark hair dyes face a higher risk of breast cancer, while chemical relaxers and straighteners boost the odds of cancer in Caucasian women.

The findings stem from a study of more than 4,000 women. Use of dark brown or black hair dyes by black women was tied to a 51 percent greater risk of breast cancer. And whites who used hair relaxers had 74 percent higher odds.

But while the study found a possible link between the hair products and breast cancer risk, it did not prove a connection.
“Our findings do not suggest that simply using hair dyes, relaxers or both will cause a woman to get breast cancer,” cautioned study lead author Adana Llanos.

“The reality is that we regularly encounter

Continue Reading