Featured, General News, Health
By Ejenike Austin
TO the average African, the use of hair relaxer is a means to hair beautifying and styling, but many people are not aware of the adverse effects of using hair dyes and relaxer.
Dr. Jen Candle and Dr. Dale Sander, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Science, explained in an interview that hair products have thousands of chemicals in them and unfortunately, some of the hair care products have carcinogens that are breast cancer risks as they may have endocrine disruptors.
Hair is one of the defining characteristics of humans (mammals). The human body, apart from the areas of glabrous skin, is covered in follicles which produce thick terminal and fine villus hair.
Most common interest in hair is focused on hair growth, hair type and hair care, but hair is also an important biomaterial primarily composed of protein notably alpha karatin.
Hair relaxers use chemicals to straighten hair by breaking bonds found in the cortex layer of the hair and re-forming them while the hair is being held in a straight pattern, the re-forming/restructuring of hair formation consistently will expose the user to breast cancer.
The relaxer cream breaks down the chemical bonds of the hair shaft, disrupting the elliptical shape and reconstructing the bonds in a different way. Though hair follicles themselves are not damaged, the hair can become very brittle and break off. There is also the risk of scalp burns if the relaxer comes into contact with the skin.
The probability of this incidence (cancer) and other diseases is 2 to 3 times higher in Africans than Caucasian women, due to the increased concentration of chemicals. However, the paper makes no causal connections between relaxers and uterine fibroids,
Adverse effects which are being reported are most times neglected and termed as “less important” until the situation gets severe/goes out of hand. However, very few studies have been conducted on the adverse effect of hair straightening product in Africa (Nigeria).
– Aug. 23, 2020 @ 19:04 GMT |
Tags: That Hair dyes and Relaxer can cause cancer - Report
