I wrote an article on relaxers about 12 years ago when I first considered going natural.
Here's a recent article from Your Black World
Hair care has always been a sensitive issue among Black women and now we are seeing that this preoccupation can have very serious consequences.
Recently, a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology linking hair relaxers to fibroids in Black women was released and made its rounds on the internet, shedding light on the role that common habits can play in our health.
Many of you may have read reports about the study but if you have not, here is a summary of the findings: Scientist followed more than 23,000 pre-menopausal Black American women from 1997-2009 and found that the high rates of fibroids among black women could be connected to chemical exposure through scalp lesions and burns from hair relaxers(Blackdoctor.org).Read the rest of the story
I knew from over 40 years ago, that I would never dye my hair or use any chemicals that are unnecessary -- okay I do wash my hair, and brush my teeth, but I made the conscious decision to not use chemicals to dye, to straighten, to curl, to wear excessive makeup not because I wanted to make a statement to the world, but because I had a gut feeling that the cancers I saw that caused grave illnesses and early deaths of so many women might be linked to the use of these kinds of chemicals...and the damage of trying to be someone else does to your own self image. I have paid the price in small ways -- someone who didn't see past the plainness to see the beauty within is not who I want in my life anyway. The pressure for woman of color to create that image of beauty is so intense that I really thank you for this blog that shows that hair is one way to hide or to explore the beauty of each person, as we each are, just as we are.
ReplyDeleteThanks Toni. I've read where after death they have found relaxer still under the scalp. You know that is NOT a good thing.
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