For more than 100 years, Black and Brown women have turned to hair relaxers to adhere to society’s white, Western standards of beauty and professionalism.
Regardless of the brand, hair relaxers accomplish the same goal: reinforcing these erroneous standards. The companies that sell these products do this with catchy slogans, packaging featuring women with pin-straight hair, and quotes such as “How beautiful Black hair can be.”
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While these boxes show smiling models, the truth about the impact of hair straightening products remains hidden in the ingredients list.
Generations of Black Women Sickened
Many women who used these products have been stripped of their ability to have children and suffer from dangerous illnesses like uterine cancer, fibroids, breast cancer, and endometriosis. They’re forced to fight for their lives and reproductive health. They must also confront the harsh reality that a hair care product they often relied on is the cause. Left with questions and feeling as though a part of their femininity has been taken away, they seek guidance, justice, and accountability.
Advocating in the courts for women sickened by these products is a responsibility that I take seriously as a Black man.
I often reflect on the experiences of the women I represent, many of whom are caretakers, public servants, mothers, or people who desperately want to become mothers. These women experience crippling pain and often require medical care — including surgery — which takes away from their quality of life and, often, their ability to have children.
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These hair relaxer-related health problems must serve as a call for action, challenging us to confront the ethics — or lack thereof — that lie at the intersection of commerce and public health.
Using these products isn’t just a personal aesthetic choice. Black women face discrimination in the workplace when they wear their natural textured hair. A 2023 CROWN Workplace Research study found that “Black women are 54% more likely to feel like they have to wear their hair straight to a job interview to be successful.”
But, the target audience for hair relaxer companies is not just grown women. Hair relaxer companies began marketing to children in the 1990s with the brand Just for Me. The harms resulting from such early use have created a generational crisis for Black women.
In 2022, a study examined associations between hair product use and uterine cancer among 33,947 participants aged 35-74 years between the years 2003 and 2009. This study, known as the Sister Study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, examined how genetics and the environment influence breast cancer risk. It revealed that endocrine-disrupting chemicals in hair relaxers disrupt hormonal balance, and lead to uterine cancer and reproductive harm.
Other hair products, like dyes, were not associated with uterine cancer. In sum, this issue is contingent upon hair relaxer use and, therefore, primarily affects Black and Brown communities.
How Did We Get Here?
The development and toxic legacy of hair relaxers began in 1913, when black inventor Garrett Augustus Morgan invented the first permanent straightener for Afro-textured hair.
Later, in 1971, Dark and Lovely manufactured the first lye relaxer. Since lye was eventually found to strip the proteins in hair, Johnson & Johnson marketed the first “gentle” hair relaxer in 1981. This new hair relaxer contained chemicals like potassium hydroxide and lithium hydroxide. Over time, the branding of hair relaxer products has varied to include terms like “herbal,” “natural,” or “botanical.”
It is impossible to avoid the boxes with images of beautiful Black women adorned with straight, smooth hair.
Chicago has long been considered the epicenter of Black hair care. Chicago-based Namaste Laboratories is a personal hair care product manufacturer. Nearby, SoftSheen-Carson also contributes to the market, producing the highly recognizable Dark & Lovely and Optimum lines.
As a Chicago native, I live alongside this booming industry and a community sickened by these products. Walking down the aisles of local drug stores and pharmacies, it is impossible to avoid the boxes with images of beautiful Black women adorned with straight, smooth hair.
Seeking Justice, Accountability, and Change
The fight for justice for women of color goes far beyond securing financial compensation for being harmed by the toxic chemicals in hair straightening products. Legal efforts must aim to address past wrongs and implement stricter regulations and oversight to ensure that products marketed to these communities meet the highest safety standards.
Black women have been irrevocably harmed by the hair relaxer industry, especially its lack of regulation and warnings. Women who use these products deserve proper access to justice that not only seeks to remove them from shelves but also adequately represents their struggles and pain.
It is imperative for the manufacturers and marketers of these harmful products to recognize the damage they have inflicted upon women, whether through cancer or chronic illness. This acknowledgment is essential in addressing the systemic injustices that have disproportionately affected Black people for too long.
Ervin Nevitt is a partner at the Chicago-based law firm Coplan & Crane. As a trial attorney, Erv represents plaintiffs in a variety of personal injury cases.