Many women with curly or wavy hair who want sleek hair use hair straighteners. However, these chemical agents are now suspected to increase the risk of uterine cancer. According to a recent American study, hair straightening products increase the risk of cervical cancer if they are used frequently. The cancer risk, which is rare in itself, was twice as high in women who used chemical hair straighteners than in women who had never used these products.
“We estimated that 1.64 percent of women who have never used hair straighteners may develop cervical cancer by age 70, but for frequent users, this risk rises to 4.05 percent,” says Alexandra White, US National Institutes of Environmental Health Safety (NICES). NIEHS). ).
hormonally effective
The researchers studied about 34,000 women between the ages of 35 and 74 over a period of eleven years. During this time, 378 women developed cervical cancer. After accounting for other risk factors, women who used hair straighteners more than four times in the previous year were more than two and a half times more likely to develop uterine cancer.
Less frequent use of hair straighteners over the past year was also associated with an increased risk of uterine cancer, but the difference was not statistically significant.
Previous research has shown that hair straighteners contain endocrine disrupting chemicals, which means they can affect the hormone system. It has previously been linked to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. White and colleagues wrote in Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The study found no association between cervical cancer and other hair products that contain chemicals used to dye, bleach, lighten or perm.
