Dying Your Hair or Chemically Straightening it Might Cause Cancer?

New research from the US has suggested hair dye and chemical straighteners could either cause cancer or can at least raise a woman’s risk of developing the disease.

A study of 4000 women in the US, over half of whom were breast cancer survivors, has made links between brunette hair dye and chemical hair straighteners and breast cancer.

The results of the study were published in the Journal of Carcinogenesis and found the women most at risk were dark women using dark shades of hair dye and white women using chemical straighteners.

In The Sunday Times in London, Professor Kefah Mokbel, a breast cancer surgeon at the Princess Grace Hospital in London, reviewed the studies and found a 14 percent increase in breast cancer amongst women who dyed their hair.

He suggested women should only dye their hair a maximum of five times a year and should use natural products such as beetroot.

Um… beetroot?!

In another study published by The New York Post, Finnish researchers also found women who use hair dye were more likely to develop breast cancer. Although they couldn’t conclude if it was the actual hair dye that was a direct cause or if women who used hair die were more likely to use other beauty products than other women, which might have been a contributing factor.

Either way, more research is needed to find conclusive results.

Jasmin Singh-brar

Contributor

Jasmin is a final year Journalism student at UTS. As well as a lover of all things coffee, health, fitness and beauty, Jasmin is addicted to seeking out the best lookout spots in Sydney and finding the next best story.

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