We all know things like obesity, smoking and drinking too much can raise your risk of cancer. Now a new study might have you thinking twice about your next trip to the salon; it found a possible link between hair products and breast cancer.
Similar studies have been done before, looking into the potential risks of hair dye. But what makes this study different is that it is one of the first to include African American women.
Tishawn Benson is part of a growing trend among women in the African American community, making the decision to go "natural." She did it for her daughter.
"I wanted her to realize you're beautiful no matter what your hair looks like," she explained.
In fact, Robin Richardson at Beauty Begins Hair and Nail Salon in Maple Heights says 80 to 90 percent of her clients have stopped using chemicals on their hair altogether. She calls it a "generational shift" towards being more health conscious.
"We want to live longer and be healthier people and we stress that every day," Richardson said. "Even if it's just as simple as hair care, it's a great start. A lot of the things that we eat, put on our skin, lotions, things like that have different chemicals in them. Hair products, color with permanent and semi-permanent colors, they're penetrating. So, once it penetrates your hair follicles, your scalp, that goes directly into your system, which we just need to be aware of what's in each product."
Awareness is exactly what Dr. Diane Radford is pushing for. She is the Breast Program Director at Hillcrest Hospital. News 5 met up with her to talk about a new study that finds African American women who used dark hair dyes had a 72 percent higher risk of the most common type of breast cancer, while white women who used relaxers had 74 percent higher odds.
"This is certainly a very provocative study and something that should promote further study," Dr. Radford said. "We should be aware that breast cancer is due to a combination of genetic factors and environmental factors. So, I think we all need to be aware of what we put in our bodies and what we put on our bodies."
The findings are especially important because it is one of the first times African American women have been looked at, specifically in relation to hair products.
"I think African American women in general have been underrepresented in clinical trials," Dr. Radford said.
"Hair is a really big thing, especially in the African American community," added Richardson. "We love our hair. Our hair has to be right. We have to get it together. We take pride in that, so knowing that something could possibly be killing us in the long run, we'll definitely cut it out."
Dr. Radford said more studies need to be done, and just because this one study found a possible association, it doesn't mean you'll get cancer if you use those products.
"I think we have to interpret all data with caution and putting it in context," said Dr. Radford.
She also pointed to leading a healthy lifestyle as the best thing we can do to prevent cancer, and noted that using hair dye in general did not raise the risk.
"Even using hair dye in this study was not associated with increased risk of breast cancer in either African American women or white women," Dr. Radford added.
