Black women who permanently dye their hair frequently have higher risk of developing breast cancer

If you dye your hair often like every five to eight weeks, you may want to reconsider after reading this study. According to Fast Company, the Journal of Cancer tracked 46,709 women ages 35-74 over eight years. The results are particularly harrowing for black women: those who used permanent dyes at least every 5-8 weeks had a 60% higher risk of developing breast cancer than those who did not; white women were 8% more likely to develop breast cancer.

Permanent hair dye has also been linked to fibroids and other issues. The science behind is that coarser and darker hair is more stubborn to color thus needing more chemicals to process. The study also drew parallels between hair dye and relaxers used by Black women. It concluded that permanent dye use was associated with 45% higher breast cancer risk in black women and higher breast cancer risk is associated with any straightener use and personal use of permanent dye, especially among black women. These results suggest that chemicals in hair products may play a role in breast carcinogenesis.

Black women have been perming their hair for ages and mostly to assimilate into society. Now, we have scientific proof that assimilating is literally hazardous to our health.

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A post shared by CrownPaint_Colors (@crownpaint_colors) on Dec 5, 2019 at 7:34am PST

What are healthy alternatives?

Using gentle color dyes that are made for afro hair. Crown Paint Colors is a Black-owned brand that makes temporary hair dyes in beautiful colors that won’t harm your hair. You can change your hair color as often as you like without hurting your hair or your health.

Rock extensions
Braid it, sew it or glue it in! Instead of dying your own hair you can wear a wig or lace front or add pieces to your own hair. It gives you the look you want without all the chemicals and heat damage.

But, if you must dye your hair…
Do it as little as possible. I’ve bleached my hair before, too. But I usually bleach once every 2-4 years but guess what? I still have fibroids, so I am going to take my own advice.