Did you see the new report linking hair care products to cancer, particularly for black women? The report found that black women who regularly used permanent dyes to color their hair were a whopping 60 percent more likely to develop breast cancer (and 30% more likely if they used chemical straighteners like relaxers). But we wanted to know more…how worried do we really need to be? It’s not like we’re going to give up all our hair products and relaxers tomorrow. So we went searching for answers beyond just the headlines. Read on for our interview with Kristen Whitaker, MD, an oncologist in the department of Clinical Genetics and Medical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, on what this report really means for black women and what to watch out for.
Q: Ok…how worried should we be about this report?
A: As black women, this study should definitely be alarming as it did demonstrate a significant association between use of hair straighteners and permanent hair dye. With this said, it is important to realize that even though this was a large, well-conducted study, the study only allowed us to show an association between these hair products and breast cancer. It did not show that these products cause breast cancer. For most women, no single risk factor is enough to cause breast cancer and this should be somewhat reassuring.
Q: I read that only 9% of the women in the study were black, does that at all make it less cause for concern?
A: Because this study included 46,000 women, even though only 9% of the study population was black, the numbers of black women in this study are high enough that these study results should still be considered significant. Overall, black men and women are underrepresented in clinical trials, so it’s often challenging to extend study findings to them. As a black physician, I also tell my patients and family members that we should be sure to participate in clinical trials so that we know that new study findings apply to us also!
Q: What can we do if we still want to get relaxers, keratin treatments, or dye our hair regularly?
A: An important take home from this study is that only women who used hair straighteners and permanent hair dyes had this increased risk of developing breast cancer. Also, in the study the risk of breast cancer was associated with the frequency of using the hair straighteners. Thus, moving forward I would advise women to consider using semi-permanent or temporary hair dyes (instead of permanent hair dye) and minimizing how often they use hair straighteners.
Q: As a black woman yourself and a doctor, what’s your takeaway? How would you counsel patients or friends?
A: As a black female cancer doctor, I ultimately feel that we need more research to say for sure how much and with certainty that these products increase the risk for breast cancer. Until that time, I think using more natural alternatives for straightening hair or using semi-permanent or temporary hair dye is the way to go! If women still choose to use chemical hair straighteners or permanent hair dye, they should try to space out how frequently they use those products, as the study demonstrated that the risk for breast cancer was higher the more frequently these hair products were used.