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| THE VOICE MAY 2023
News Feature
Hair relaxers ‘causing Calls for more research into condition disproportionately impacting Black women. By Leah Mahon and Sinai Fleary
H
AIR RELAXERS could be causing higher rates of fibroids among Black women, a study has found. Relaxers and leave-in conditioners were linked to an increased risk of the more aggressive form of breast cancer at a younger age, according to research by Boston University in the US. Estrogen hormone compounds contained in some Black hair products were singled out as the culprit. The link with increased fibroids is also under the microscope, with the Black Women’s Health Study of 23,500 premenopausal women finding that women who used hair relaxers were 17 per cent more likely to develop fibroids compared to women who did not use these products. While there is a lack of research in the UK into this area, the red flag will surely alarm Black women in Britain, too. Fibroids are non-cancerous growths of muscle and fibrous tissue that develop in and around the womb. In addition to fibroids disproportionately impacting Black women, the negative experience of late diagnosis also weighs heavily on sufferers. Eighty per cent of AfricanCaribbean women are predicted to suffer from fibroids by the age of 50, in comparison to 70 per cent of white women, NHS research has found. Celebrities such as West End star Beverley Knight have had fibroids removed and singersongwriter FKA Twigs has also undergone surgery for the condition. Black British women who are suffering from the debilitating condition say they are being ignored by medical experts. The Voice spoke to several Black women who revealed that fibroids had been ‘missed’ in scans, and their complaints of suffering pain were not taken seriously. Many women are unaware they have the condition because they do not have symptoms, countless women who have been diagnosed experience painful or heavy periods, abdominal and back pain, con-
stipation and pain or discomfort during sexual intercourse. Some medical experts are now calling for more research into the health phenomenon, and for Black women who are desperate for answers to receive better healthcare. The exact cause of fibroids is unknown but there have been some links to the hormone estrogen, and chronic stress levels due to racism. Vanessa Davis, 25, had been relaxing her hair for at least six years before stopping altogether at 20 and happened to be diagnosed with early stage fibroids in March 2023. The office worker told The Voice: “I had no idea at the time, of course, that there was going to be research that speculated that relaxers were linked to fibroids, otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have started using it. “I know other family members that have experienced fibroids have also happened to be relaxing their hair as well.”
ANXIETY
Ms Davis has also battled the condition adenomyosis since she was 19-years-old; a debilitating condition which causes the lining of the womb to bury into the muscular wall of the womb which makes periods unbearable. She says she now lives in constant anxiety and fear about how the recent diagnosis of fibroids will begin to affect her health with her already painful monthly cycle. She admits she was warned by medical professionals years before that she would develop the problematic health issue which was only discovered by chance while medics probed her condition with adenomyosis. She says she “demanded” to be referred because she was still in excruciating pain despite being prescribed painkillers. “I was just told that it was normal to be in that much pain [for adeno-
myosis] and I never thought that it was; it was always going to go down as you get older but the pain got worse. I started to develop a lot of nausea, over the years tiredness or fatigue,” she recalls. “So I started to have scans. The first scan I had, I was about 19 years old. The doctor said we can’t see anything CONDITION: for now, including fiVanessa Davies was broids. diagnosed with early “We can’t see any stage fibroids fibroids. But I guarantee you within the next
five to 10 years, you’re going to have fibroids, because that’s something that we notice in Black women.”
PAIN
Ms Davis, who says she had her pain dismissed and endured three scans before finally having her adenomyosis officially diagnosed, recalls how doctors told her they didn’t know why she and countless other Black women are more prone to falling victim to fibroids. In research published in the Carcinogensis Journal by
Oxford University in 2021, it found that Black women who used lye-based relaxers at least seven times a year for over 15 years or more had around a 30 per cent increased risk of developing breast cancer, with some speculating that the risk could also be associated with fibroids. Lye, also known as sodium hydroxide, is a heavy-duty chemical used to unblock drains which can be found in popular hair brands with products targeting Black women and girls. Campaigners in the UK and US have called on the beauty
