Black women who use permanent hair dye or chemical straighteners could have a greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who don’t use them.
An alarming new National Institutes of Health study suggests that women — and black women in particular — who use permanent hair dye or chemical straighteners could have a greater risk of developing breast cancer than women who don’t use them. And applying chemical straightener or dye to another person’s hair at home could also raise breast cancer risk.
As for chemical hair straighteners, women who used them every five to eight weeks were about 30% more likely to develop breast cancer, regardless of race — although more black women in the study used straightening products than white women. Previous research into whether these dyes could increase cancer risk have been small or produced conflicting results, according to the National Cancer Institute, although there is evidence of hair dye correlating with an increased risk of bladder cancer in hairdressers and barbers. Most research has also looked into the risks of blood cancers and bladder cancer, not breast cancer.
Dr. Dale Sandler, chief of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences research branch and co-author of the report, also noted in a statement that the new research shows correlation, not causation, and “we are exposed to many things that could potentially contribute to breast cancer, and it is unlikely that any single factor explains a woman’s risk.” The women in the study had a family history of breast cancer, for example, which limits the generalization of these findings.
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