Straightening products, used to make curly hair smooth, are now singled out by a study by the American Institutes of Health.
These relaxers modify the structure of the hair by a chemical process which stiffens the fiber.
Often decried in recent years for the injunction to fight against the nature of the afro hair they convey, they also see their composition denounced, which can be the cause of alopecia or even hormonal imbalances.
This time, a study reveals that women who use them more than 4 times a year are twice as likely to develop cervical cancer.
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“We estimate that 1.64% of women who have never used this type of product will have developed uterine cancer by their 70s, but for regular users, this risk increases to 4.05%”, explains Alexandra White, who is the lead author of this study published in the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
.
“The doubling of this rate is concerning,” she added, but “it is important to put this information into context, uterine cancer is a relatively rare form of cancer.”
It accounts for about 3% of new cancer cases in the United States.
In France, on the site santepubliquefrance, it is indicated that each year, nearly 3000 women develop cancer of the cervix and 1000 women die from it.