In the United States, people spend billions on hair care products. Today, thousands of black women have filed lawsuits against companies that sell chemical relaxers, accusing them of posing risks of certain cancers.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Hair care is big business in the United States. People spend tens of billions of dollars each year on hair products, including chemical relaxers, which can straighten curly hair. Today, thousands of black women are suing relaxer makers in federal court in Chicago. They took legal action after scientific studies linked frequent use of these products to an increased risk of certain cancers. Natalie Moore, a member of Station WBEZ in Chicago, has the story.
NATALIE MOORE, BYLINE: Chicago was once the epicenter of black hair care, with several companies based here. In the 1980s, it was quite common to see and hear advertisements for relaxers on television and radio.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: The fact is that Dark and Lovely has managed to relax over 20 million heads of hair.
MOORE: Some 40 years later, ads like that aren’t as popular. But on Chicago’s South Side, hairstylist LaQuana Johnson carefully preps her client’s hair before applying creamy white chemicals to the wavy new growth.
LAQUANA JOHNSON: I cut it into four quadrants.
MOORE: Johnson prides herself on being a professional and her products require licensing. She doesn’t recommend women buy over-the-counter relaxers to apply at home.
JOHNSON: You don’t really follow the instructions correctly because you’re just not familiar with them because you think, oh, I saw that done at the salon. You know, she did that. She did that.
MOORE: Johnson is convinced her technique protects high school teacher Ebony Grisby-Terry. She is in her 40s and has been using relaxers since elementary school.
EBONY GRISBY-TERRY: I like the length the relaxer gives. I just don’t like doing my own hair. Natural hair requires a lot of maintenance.
MOORE: In its natural state, hair of African origin is curly and dense. Dating back to slavery, texture was considered inferior to white beauty standards. Hair relaxers use semi-permanent chemicals to achieve a straightened look.
In 2022, a National Institute of Health study found that women who regularly used relaxers developed uterine cancer at twice the rate of women who did not use relaxers. Previous studies on the use of relaxers and chemicals have shown higher rates of breast and ovarian cancer, a higher incidence of fibroids, and more aggressive tumor growth.
And it has since led black women to file lawsuits. Many of these lawsuits grew into a federal complaint that 9 out of 10 black women have received a chemical relaxer at some point in their lives. There is now a national effort to recruit black women with ads like these.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Have you or a loved one developed cancer after using relaxers or straighteners? If this is the case, you may be able to sue the manufacturer of the hair product for damages.
MOORE: L’Oréal, Namaste and SoftSheen-Carson are among the parent companies named in the lawsuit. But the companies said the claims made in those lawsuits have no legal or scientific basis. April Preyar, a Chicago-based attorney, cut her relaxer more than 20 years ago and wears her hair natural. She helped recruit women for the trials. It could take decades before these cases are resolved. But Preyar compares relaxers to another product when she thinks about what success might look like.
APRIL PREYAR: I think it’s going to be like cigarettes. No, they’re not off the market, but they do have a warning label on the side. And so women can make an informed decision.
MOORE: A decision about whether the risks that can come with chemically straightened hair are worth it.
For NPR News, I’m Natalie Moore in Chicago.
(soundbite of Kendrick Lamar’s song, “Sing for Me, I’m Dying of Thirst”)
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