According to a recent study, women who routinely use chemical hair straightening appliances are more likely to develop a cancer that is rather uncommon.
The study, which was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, included information from about 34,000 American women over the course of around 11 years (10.9 to be exact). Participants ranged in age from 35 to 74.
It highlights the fact that women who use hair straightening products have an almost three-fold increased chance of developing uterine cancer.
A Reuters report quotes the study’s lead Alexandra White of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Safety (NIEHS) as saying: “We estimated that 1.64 per cent of women who never used hair straighteners would go on to develop uterine cancer by the age of 70, but for frequent users, that risk goes up to 4.05 per cent.” She added that it is important to put this information into context given that uterine cancer is a relatively rare type of cancer.”
In order to draw this conclusion, the researchers took into consideration other risk variables, but they still discovered that women who used chemical straightening treatments more than four times per year had a 2.5-fold greater risk of developing uterine cancer.
Although there were no racial correlations found in the study, the researchers emphasise the relevance of the findings for black women because they are more likely to use these items and tend to start using them earlier. These products contain “endocrine disrupting” chemicals, according to prior studies, which have been linked to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer, according to Reuters.
To determine the precise chemicals responsible for the dangers, more research is needed, said the researchers, who also note that these findings are merely the first epidemiologic evidence of a link between usage of straightening products and uterine cancer.
Parvathy Sukumaran 
