L’Oréal urged to withdraw hair relaxers after studies find cancer risk
Campaigners are calling on the cosmetics company L’Oréal to withdraw its hair-straightening products that are largely used by black women after research linked it to an increased risk of cancer.
In an open letter, coordinated by the UK feminist group Level Up, campaigners also ask the company to invest in research on the long-term use of chemical relaxers, which make hair easier to straighten.
The letter is signed by a coalition of politicians, campaigners and professionals, including the Labour MP Dawn Butler; Mandu Reid, the leader of the Women’s Equality party; the peer Lola Young; Andrea Simon, the director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition; the author Reni Eddo-Lodge; the actor Lolly Adefope; and the leading #MeToo campaigner Prof Marai Larasi.
The campaign follows scientific research that claims to show an association between the use of chemical hair straighteners containing lye, also known as sodium hydroxide or caustic soda, and cancer. A 2022 study by the US National Institutes of Health found that women who used such products several times a year were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer.
A 2021 study, published in Oxford University’s Carcinogenesis journal, found links between heavy use of lye-containing relaxers and breast cancer, though it found little evidence to support a link between overall hair relaxer use and the risk of breast cancer. However, the researchers said the results of studies, including their own, had been inconsistent. They called for further studies to better establish whether there were links between breast cancer and products with and without lye.
L’Oréal denied the claims of a link and said it was confident of the safety of its products.
In February, nearly 60
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