New Report Finds Some Black Hair Products Toxic

A new study released by Black Women for Wellness, a Back women health and well-being advocacy and research group, entitled Natural Evolutions: One Hair Story found many of our beauty products are making us sick. According to the findings:

“Girls who reported using chemical hair oils and hair perms were 1.4 times more likely to experience early puberty after adjusting for race, ethnicity, and year of birth. In addition, other studies have linked early puberty to hair detangler use by Black girls. In one of the studies African American girls as young as two years old started showing signs of puberty after using products containing animal placenta found in many detanglers and conditioners.”

These findings are from five years of extensive research using literature reviews, focus groups, data collection and interviews with African American beauty professionals to determine chemical exposure and correlating health status, of hair care products directed at Black women.

With black women spending 9 billion on beauty products—which is twice as much as any other ethnic group—these findings are grave and eye-opening, and rather scary. Are the new findings making you think twice about your next purchase?